Speaking for Ourselves • y w i Ameri n Studi Center to for i tance beca the union office I eked con­ tac with local i n-P ific com­ muni ty group. "We need Vietname e translator," S otne id. The UA W needed a translator be­ ca it f ced a crisis: decertifica­ tion c mp ign. As wi th mo t decertification campaigrs, thi one had been hatched by Jonathan execu­ tive . But it d the upport of many employ upset by their union' failure to protect worker rights and combat m nagement wage and benefit take-aways. Moreover, this decertification �ign had larger ramificatio . Co ely watching were execu­ tives from nearby plants, all with UA W contracts coming up within a year. Clearly, a union defeat at Jonathan would set off other decer­ tification drives. Skotnes had already held meet­ ings with ome plant workers and l�med that they were angry about the poor services provided by the local union and the lack of com­ munication from union staff. "Many are also very upset about a strike three years go," he aid. "Our mem­ bers struck when management tried to take away their ·bealth plan. But we lost the trike, and our members bad to return to work without the health plan they needed." So far no Vietnamese members had attended Skotnes' meetings. He added that local union officials knew nothing about how the Vietnamese JONA THN INDUSTRIES stood on the decretification question, and he found this ignorance appall­ Jonathan Industrie in Orange . mg. County could be any of the hundreds "I think our Vietnamese members of small companies that dot the are the key to victory," he stressed. Sourhern California landscape. Workers at Jonathan make computer "We need to hold some meetings equipment, but they could just as to find out what they think. We need well make stereo components, to get union materials translated into hardware supplies, processed food, Vietnamese. T.he company has al­ or gannents. ' ready put out anti-union leaflets in both Vietnamese and Spanish." Like most light manufacturing I suggested that Skotnes contact plants in the region, the workforce experienced major changes in the Anh Tran, a graduate student in our 1980' . At one time, workers were Asian American Studies program. A mainly American-born: Mexican- Vietnamese refugee, Anh had special Amen'can a� white Ho b sensitivity to the needs of her com- ,., . wever, y the late 1�, new immigrants and munity. refugees from Latin America and However, Anh expressed some Alia comprised the majority. By misgivings about serving as a trans- 19S7 Vietnamese refugee ac- lator for the union. "I don't know COJ1J1ted for a quarter of Janathan's anything about unions," she told 250 production employees. Skotness. "And, anyway, what has The United Auto Workers repre- this union actually done to help the sen Jonathan workers. like most Vietnamese people at that corn- unions, the UA W local h s not pan)'?" responded well to the rapid Skotness told her that undoubted­ demographic shifts occurring in the ly the union officials had made some reJlon. There is DO one in the union mistakes, and that the Vietnamese office who peaks Vietnamese. And probably had as many criticisms as the� are � programs designed to other workers. "I want to find out recruit Vietname e members into what the Vietnamese are thinking. I union activities. want to ask their support for the Nevertheless, UA W local om- union. If me union wins, there i a cials, like other labor leaders, tend to chance that we can improve the situa- tion." blamelhe new Asian workers them- selves for their lack of union par- Skotnes addCd that before tatqng ticipation. According to this the post as a UAWorganizer, he had argument, there is something in- worked in a shop similar to Jonathan. herentinAsiancultures that prevents He had helped the Vietnamese in new immigrants and refugees from the shop become active in the union, appreciating unions. although initially the union official 1bia type of thinking is pervasive did not know how to repspond to among labor leaders. I believe it is their new members. rooted in the peculiar history of or- After listening to Skotnes, Anh ganizcd labor and the Asian-Pacific decided to translate at the meeting, orter. but said her main role would be to gather complaints the Vietnlme5C might have about their union wor - ing conditions in the plant and trans­ late the. union' response. "I think it's wrong tbat the only time the union wants to oold a meet­ ing with the Vietnamese people is when it needs their help," she aid. YG u o Reprin ed from Labor No Anyone tudied 1 bor . tory n that American unio ere built on fOuOOation of anti­ Asian raci m. In the late nineteenth century, the American Federation of Labor rose to prominence with i campaigns to "protect American job " by expell­ ing all Chinese d Japanese im­ migran . During the next 100 yea , 1 bor· le �ers-with very few excep­ tions-lobbied to ban all immigra­ tion from la, barred remaining immigran from joining unio , and led mob to beat, and sometim kill, tho e who could not be banned, barred, or expelled. Even as recently as World War II, union leaders-again, with very few exceptions-agi tated for the eviction and internment of J panese­ Americans. . Time have obviously changed. Today, no unions exclude workers on the b i of race, and some unions are actively recruiting Asian-Pacific members. Yet the depth and intensity of anti-Asian entiments--rooted as they are in labor history-raise a critical question: what legacy has this racism left? Perhaps. the best way to approach thi question i from the perspective of the newest Asian-Pacific workers: the Vietnamese refugees in Southern California. . "We need help." The man king for help, Keith Skotnea, a UA W organizer as- i&J1ed to help the local union at Jonathan. He contac1ed me in late TH When Anh met with the Viet­ nam e wor rs and local union of­ ficial , he quickly learned about the tti tude of labor to ards Ali n- P cific people. vote for the union. But if the union wins, we want thin to change." Three wee later, employee voted by mall mar n to retain were pan of the winning m [ority, Perha the tory could conclude with this happy ending. But thi , "I think it's wrong that the only time the union wants to hold a meeting with the Vietnamese people is when it needs their help" Anh.Tran "[The union Officials] did not even want to listen to the Viet­ namese," said Anh. "Only Keith [Skotnes] was willing to listen, and finally he had to tell the other offi­ cials that they needed to hear what the Vietnamese were saying. But even then, they did not really listen. "[The union officials] kept saying the Vietnamese did not understand the union and had to get more in­ volved by learning English. But if they reallt' listened, they would know that the Vietnamese supported the union but needed to know why certain bad things had happened." Anh learned that Vletnamese were still puzzled by the settlement of the strike three years earlier. No union official had been ever told them why the strike had been lost. "We were out on the picket line every day: one man told the offi­ cials. "We, the Vietnamese, stopped the delivery trucks. And then one morn­ ing, the union told us to go back to work. And then later we found out we had lost our health plan. We wanted to keep on fighting. So why did the union give up?" Another man strongly criticized the union officials for faiiing to help not only the Vietnamese but also the new Latino immigrants. "The super­ visors give us and the Latinos the worst jobs," he said. "We keep u­ king for help, but nothing happem. It seems that the union only helps those woo speak English." , "We' Vietnamese," another man added, "want to help the union. But mostofusdon'tspeakmuchEnglish. We want to go union meetings are in English. Why can't the union have a Vietnamese translator at the meetings 0 we can participate?· Throughout the disc ion, the Vietnamese had many things to. say. But none of the union officials , except for Skotnes, really listened. Only on the critical decertifica­ tion question did the officia listen intently, and on this question tbey . liked what they heard • ·We support the union," urn­ marized one worker. "The company bas made many promises, but we don't trust the company. We will story does not end here. 'NOTHING CHANGED' Four months following the vic­ tory, Anh Tran received an urgent call from one of the Vietnamese workers. "I was ned last night," he told her. "My supervisor says I refused to follow his orders and that I threatened to hit him. It's not true! So I went to the union said they can't help me." . Anh spent the afternoon frantical­ ly trying to reach the man's union representatives, but could not get • Ir m re non, he p le med that e w Skotnes d been organizing campai hortly ter the victory at Jonathan. Ho ever, later th t evening Skot called �'li tened to her tory, nd id be would call the local union' the following morning. "Nothing seem to h ve changed," aid Anh ftly. "The union on the election, but now this man is fired unj tly, nd be can't get help." Yet, due to Anh' intervention, things did change slightly. The union took up the fired worker' case, filed a grievance, and won his job back. Aggre sively preparing the grievance wa Tony, a young Chicano hop teward who wor ed with Vietnamese in the plant and knew of their trong upport of the union. Vietnamese in the plant greeted the new of the reinstatement and applauded Tony's efforts. But they also stressed that they were till wait­ ing for an official re ponse to their request for a translator at union meet­ ings. And 0 the story remains un­ finished. For while Vietnamese workers have won some victories, they are till fighting to gain full recognition and equality within their own union .. de nitely batbor reo lan-Pacific peopl e 0 to build their on. Perba the stereo ypes due to their f - norance bout ne immigran and refu and their lac of day-to-day con ct with ne communi . But the problem rep n mething deeper than individual racial at­ titudes or ignorance. The problem i rooted in history. Rae m has always been a per­ lve factor in American history, aoo anti-Asian rae' m has been a defining fe ture of American his­ tory. Just we can only understand American history by knowing about the en lavement of African­ American people, so can we only unders tand the development of American unions by knowing the. legacy of tact m against Asian­ Pacific peopl . When we see labor history from thi per pectlve, certain "peculiarities" existing in unions today become decipherable. We begin to understand why unions in Southern California have yet to hire Asian-Pacific organizers despite the growing numbers of immigrants and refugees in thi re on' workforce. We begin to understand why so many union leaders have little familiarity with 0 r communiti d pite our presence in America for nearly 150 years. We begin to real­ ize the massive amount of education we must do to remove the institu­ tional barriers facing us. As we approach the twenty-first century, the time has long passed when unions can exclude Asian­ Pacific Amertcans, But the time i yet to come when union will embrace our peoples as isters and brothers. . Glen Omassu is a staff member of tbe UCLA Asian American Studies Center. He is a former Teamsters chief shop stewarc( and a founding member 0/ the Alliance of Asian Pacific Labor, AFL-CIO. HISTORY Nearly a century has passed since the American Federation of Labor and its celebrated leader Samuel Gompers launched campaigns to expel, bar, and ometimes kill Asian­ Pacific immigrant workers. Today, most union leaders know nothing about this history. Yet the legacy of anti-Asian racism continues to in­ fluence unions today. Certainly UA W officials repre­ senting Vietnamese workers at Jonathan are not racists. But they HIGHLAND. PARK FA ILY YMe U ER FUN CLUB 13220 Woodward Avenue Highland Park, MI 48203 (313) 868-1948_ SUMMER FUN CLUB Why not give them an enJoyaRl'e, exc!lJng. experience In the YMCA's Summ Foo Dub Program. The too Jt.nt 15 nd last unl' August 21 (Monday thru Frtday). Boys and Girts ages 8 to 12 participate In a nll11ber � IIdJvIIea lind field trfpa. A bag lunch wII be provtded June 17 - August 14, 1�. pwwo".., pr