Employers Should Support Immigrant Workers on May 1

Employers Should Support Immigrant Workers on May 1
A Public Statement from the Pro-Justice Coalition, Lumberton/Red Springs, NC

The immigrant community has called for a general strike over the immigration issue on Monday, May 1, 2006. The national plan is for a stoppage of economic activity that day: no work, no school, no shopping,

Immigrant workers, both locally and nationally, have shown strength in numbers recently by protesting the proposed criminalization of immigrants and by calling for comprehensive immigration reform. For May 1, the call is to let the whole nation know how important the immigrant labor force is to economy by not showing up to work by the tens of millions and not spending money.

The local immigrant community met recently and formed the “Pro-Justice Coalition” to plan our participation in this effort, to be unified and to make our voices heard throughout the state. The result of our planning is as follows:
On Monday, May 1, 2006, supporters will gather at 4 PM at the Lumberton Fairgrounds. We will march to City Hall at 5 PM, with a rally to follow at 6 PM. It will be a peaceful demonstration to express our solidarity and to protest proposed legislation that would criminalize undocumented immigrants.

As a Coalition, we want to maintain good relations between employers and employees; there is nothing personal against any specific company. This is a broad call to value local immigrants by passing comprehensive immigration reform at the national level.

We formally request that all area employers

* Grant your employees a day off on May 1, with no consequences for their absence.
* Join us in the call for comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship for our hardworking immigrants.

Should you offer this support, your company will be widely recognized as a good faith employer.

The Pro-Justice Coalition can be reached at (910) 843-3440, (910) 739-2022, or (910) 736-5313.