PRESS RELEASE
–For Immediate Release: July 2, 2018–
Contact: John Doherty (617) 592-2230 jdoherty@iupat.org
The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) Joins #FreeOurFuture Rally in San Diego to Protest Inhumane Immigration Enforcement
The IUPAT, affected families, and community allies demand accountability for the inhumane treatment of immigrant workers and families.
We stand against the criminalization of working families. When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Trump’s administration are free to raid workplaces without regard to those families or their communities, they become a tool that prevents workers from exercising their right to organize and instead they cement exploitation and extortion.
We reject the idea that the suffering of immigrants is necessary or justifiable for the advancement of American families; we will not allow the 1% to continue to divide us. We have a vision for a united and strong labor movement of all working people.
We believe all families belong together but poverty, racism, and agencies like ICE, separate them and keep them apart. We believe the answer to our country’s issues, is good jobs not jails.
We absolutely reject the hypocrisy of criminalizing workers based on race and ethnicity, while expanding a for profit prison system that systematically targets workers and people of color in this country.
The IUPAT is committed to a country where working people are safe and thriving. That means abolishing the barriers to their well-being, including ICE in its current form, and reimagining a new way for our nation that keeps our true values at heart.
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THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PAINTERS AND ALLIED TRADES (IUPAT)
Represents a growing community of over 160,000 active and retired craftspeople in the United States and Canada. The IUPAT membership extends far beyond the workplace.
Recognized as one of the most active unions in the labor movement, IUPAT members help shape their communities in many ways: through an abiding commitment to service, by fighting passionately for workers’ rights that benefit all working families, and through effective worker education and mobilization.