Call for a Los Angeles regional general strike against Trump's attacks on immigrants and labor

by the Chicago and Bay Area chapters of Workers Strike Back

Workers Strike Back is mobilizing to emergency protests on Sunday 6/8 and Monday 6/9 in Seattle, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities to demand the freeing of California SEIU President David Huerta and to organize for strike action to stop the abductions, deportations, and all Trump’s attacks.

The arrest of David Huerta, President of the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW) while demonstrating against the racist attacks of Trump's masked federal police on the immigrant population of Los Angeles, demands a response from the leaders and rank and file of organized labor.

Huerta's arrest happened as courageous community members were using their bodies to block the ICE thugs from attacking their co-workers, friends and neighbors, sisters and brothers. Trump's deporter-in-chief, Tom Homan, is now threatening to deploy thousands of National Guard troops, pointing towards imposing what amounts to martial law. At the same time, Governor Newsom calls on protestors to remain peaceful while his fellow Democrat, Los Angeles' Mayor Bass, is sending in the notoriously violent LAPD to attack protesters and protect Trump's masked ICE enforcers - in violation of LA's status as a sanctuary city and California's as a sanctuary State. But it's not news that working people cannot rely on the Democrats. This is an attack on the working class and it requires a working-class response. The union movement should immediately call on its members, and all workers, to refuse to work until the LAPD, National Guard, and ICE, are withdrawn.

The greater LA area is home to roughly one million unionized workers, almost half of whom are of Latin American descent. Unionized industries range from Boeing and other aerospace workers, to the dockers, truckers and others who serve the ports, to the very high profile unions in the movie and theater industry, and the public sector including the University of California. Union members include thousands of overwhelmingly female in-home supportive service workers and child care providers, who like the equally huge construction industry workforce are disproportionately immigrants. 

The Port of Los Angeles is the #1 container port in the Western Hemisphere, ranking 18th in the world; when combined with the port of Long Beach, this massive regional port complex is #9 in the world, handling a cargo value of one third of a trillion dollars last year - almost a third of US port traffic.

A regional general strike in the greater Los Angeles area could use the power of organized labor to devastating effect.

Trump's attacks have already caused a split in the ruling class, with even California's weak Democratic governor forced to come out and condemn them. Workers need to follow this up by downing tools, parking trucks, closing production lines and coming out in mass demonstrations to demand an end to ICE raids. 

We invite unions, locals and other organizations to join us in this call to action. More than ever the working class needs a united front.

An injury to one is an injury to all!

Protesters during the mass Day Without and Immigrant protests in 2006