T.O. Weekly 23: Mexican Congress Honors Memory of Al Rojas; IWC Newsletter; France POID Editorials

Posted on April 5, 2021

The ORGANIZER WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Issue No. 23 — April 5, 2021

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IN THIS ISSUE:

(1) Honoring the Memory of Al Rojas: (a) Mexican Congress Observes One Minute of Silence; (b) La Jornada publishes excerpts from Rojas family letter to Mexican President López Obrador

(2) IWC Weekly Newsletter No. 183 (attached): Reports from Kazakhstan, Tunisia and Philippines

(3) France: Editorials by Daniel Gluckstein in latest two issues of La Tribune des Travailleurs (Workers Tribune)

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(1) Honoring the Memory of Al Rojas

(a) Mexican Chamber of Deputies observes one minute of silence for Al Rojas

Here is the link to the one-minute of silence:

The Friday, April 2, session of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies (equivalent to the House of Representatives) was convened with a brief statement by Dulce María Sauri, president of the Chamber of Deputies, who requested a minute of silence for (1) Carlos Ramos Rosales, official photographer of the Chamber of Deputies who just passed away, and (2) Al Rojas, who died on March 20, 2021. This is what Deputy Sauri said about Al Rojas:

“At the request of Deputy Gerardo Fernández Noroña, I request that we observe a minute of silence to honor the memory of Al Rojas, a leader and fighter for the rights of migrant workers, who passed away March 20 at the age of 84.”

After which a minute of silence was observed.

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Al Rojas and Desirèe Rojas in Pittsburgh, PA during grape boycott campaign

**(b) La Jornada newspaper publishes major excerpts from Rojas family letter to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador**

Below is the link to the article published in the Sunday, April 4, issue of Mexico’s mass-circulation daily newspaper La Jornada. It reports the death of Al Rojas and features the call by the Sacramento chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, urging him to ensure that the right of the San Quintin (Baja California) farmworkers to form an independent union of their choice — and to bargain a collective agreement — is respected and enforced. “This,” La Jornada writes, quoting Desirèe Rojas, Al’s daughter, “is what my father wanted.”

Here is the link to the article in Spanish:

https://www.jornada.com.mx/2021/04/04/politica/008n3pol#.YGnEAOtqWc0.whatsapp

See translation of the La Jornada article below:

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Al Rojas addresses binational conference in Carson, CA in December 2017.

U.S. Labor Council Asks President López Obrador to Support Farm Workers

La Jornada Newspaper

Mexico

Sunday, April 4, 2021, p. 8

The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement of the AFL-CIO,[1] based in the United States, asked President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for his administration to support the San Quintín farmworkers in their efforts to have a democratic union to replace the existing company unions in their region.

In a letter, Desirée Rojas, daughter of Albert Al Rojas, a recently deceased labor rights activist on both sides of the border, states that, “our family calls upon you and your administration to extend your fullest support to these farmworkers in San Quintin.”

“We also request,” the letter continues, “that you insist, with the full backing of Mexico’s new Federal Labor Law, that Driscoll’s and Andrew & Williamson allow workers to form the union of their choice, with a contract that contains a living wage and all other protections on the job, thereby putting an end to the ‘protection contracts’ with the company unions. This is what our father wanted more than anything else; this is what he organized to achieve daily till the end of his life.”

“We strongly believe,” the letter insisted, “that one of the best ways to honor his memory is for your administration. Mr. President, to support the San Quintin farmworkers.”

Albert Rojas passed away on March 20 in Sacramento, California. “I am writing this letter to you because our father was also a longtime friend of yours,” Desirée Rojas states, adding that her father’s story is the story of millions of migrant families in Mexico.

He was one of the founders of the United Farm Workers Independent Union – International Teamsters Union (UFW-IBT), which in the mid-1960s merged with the National Farm Workers Association, led by Cesar Chavez, and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO. The merged union became the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), AFL-CIO.

In Mexico he fought fiercely for the right of people not to be forced to migrate to the United States, and he was heartbroken to see indigenous communities dismantled under the effects of NAFTA.

He defended fervently the struggle that began on March 17, 2015 in San Quintin, Baja California, when some 80,000 farmworkers rose up in demand of an “independent union and a fair collective bargaining agreement with the giant Driscoll’s and Andrew & Williamson corporations.”

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Translator’s Note: The letter from the Rojas family actually was sent out on the letterhead of the Sacramento chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA-AFL-CIO, Change to Win). Desirèe Rojas is the president of Sacramento LCLAA.

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(2) IWC Newsletter No. 183 (April 2, 2021) — Attached

Dear friends and comrades,

In the present issue [see attached], number 183, of the Newsletter published weekly by the International Workers Committee against war and exploitation, for a workers International (IWC web) :

Kazakhstan

Workers’ strikes on the rise

Correspondance from Kazakhstan

Tunisia

In the call centres of Téléperformance Tunisia, general assemblies prepare the strike:

An interview with Ali Ourak, General Secretary of the Information and Communication Technologies Union of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), a worker at Téléperformance Tunisia.

Philippines

We need to speak against the bloody slaughter of activists

A press release by Partido Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines)

Fraternal greetings.

DANIEL GLUCKSTEIN

NAMBIATH VASUDEVAN

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