The U.S. has a long history of using its forces and laws to put down Labor. In the late 1800s Pinkerton agents, paid by the DOJ, became famous for infiltrating the Molly Maguires. In the early 1900s, state militias and local police were used to break strikes by breaking heads.
Today, the criminal immigrant isn't an Irish miner; it's a Mexican warehouse worker, meatpacker or hotel maid. And today's Pinkertons are ICE agents working outside their own rules and the rule of law to coddle exploiters and criminalize the exploited.
The latest incident is occurring in Long Island City, Queens, where the Teamsters of Local 805 are working to organize nearly 900 warehouse workers at a FreshDirect warehouse.
Strangely, the company wasn't worried about its workers' immigration status as long as the workers didn't complain about their .60 per hour wage and minimal benefits. Some of the immigrant employees had worked for the companay for as many as five years. But as soon as those same workers started signing Teamster cards over the summer, things heated up.
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www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/13/161156/65/349/421724
Original: ICE Raids Used to Harm Union Organizing