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APALA logo. Photo courtesy of APALA.

Report Released on the Plight of the Asian Pacific American Worker

By Ji Hyun Lim
AsianWeek Staff Writer

Several Asian Pacific American community and labor organizing groups, along with Assemblymember Judy Chu, gathered at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor on Aug. 9 for an unprecedented press briefing on an “Asian Pacific Islander workers’ hearing” that documented the plight of the APA worker in California.

The report, issued by the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO and the UCLA Labor Center for Labor Research and Education, highlighted issues such as civil rights, immigrant rights, the right to organize, access to quality healthcare, corporate accountability to workers, language rights and research and education on APA working families.

The California Public Assembly Committee on Labor and the California State Assembly API Caucus convened this public hearing based on this report and clarified working-family issues as a top priority in the APA community. The hearing was held on May 17 in Monterey Park, Calif.

John Delorro, president of APALA, pointed out that there is a huge disparity between rich and poor APAs, who in the past have largely been ignored and stereotyped as model minorities with no problems or needs. He argued that many APAs are actually in grave need of assistance. Fifty percent of Southeast Asians are at or below the poverty line nationally and out of all racial groups, Korean Americans rank at the top with no health insurance, he said.

“We talk about the APIs and the U.S., and it’s A Tale of Two Cities,” Delorro said. “[But] APALA is laying out a program to demonstrate that API working families are a merging political force.”

California state assemblymember Judy Chu. File photo.

He cited that the Chinese Daily News, the largest ethnic paper in the United States, successfully campaigned and became the first APA newspaper with a workers’ union. Since this victory, he points out that there have been subsequent union organizing in places including Queen of Angels Hospital, which has a large APA health force, Garfield Hospital in Monterey Park and the Los Angeles and San Francisco airports.

“That’s a development that we wouldn’t have seen five to 10 years ago,” Wong explained. “APALA brokered a relationship with Chinese Daily News and reached out to the newspaper guild [to coordinate such an effort].”

Similarly, the Korean Resource Center — in its 19th year —is continuing its efforts with the immigrant community through advocacy work and immigration rights. During the press conference Inbo Sim, director at the Korean Resource Center, discussed issues such as the Social Security mishap. According to Sim, letters were sent by mistake to immigrants telling them that their Social Security numbers did not match with Social Security Administration records. Many workers were fired soon after because they were considered “undocumented.”

“Everyone was panicking. It confused lots of folks,” Sim said. “We think part of labor rights is improving immigrant workers rights. Unless we improve the conditions for the workers, we’re not going to have a prosperous community. Unless the labor community starts addressing immigrant issues, we’re going to have a very hard time protecting our rights.”

Despite the numerous issues facing the APA community, DeLorro expressed a hint of optimism that programs such as the Asian American Leadership School — conducted in May by the UCLA Labor Center — would continue the trend toward more organizing. He pointed out that APALA has been actively involved in developing a joint program with AFL-CIO to recruit and train future organizers, and trainings have been held all across the country to incite solidarity action.

“Unions are always looking at comprehensive ways to win union campaigns, which include generating community support, government support and finding vulnerabilities in the companies in order to put pressure on [employers] to stop these unfair labor practices,” Wong said. “It’s always a challenge to get the employers to obey the law and respect the rights of the workers.”

Assemblymember Chu also expressed deep concern for APA workers who were monolingual or undocumented and did not have the resources to organize a labor union. She argued that in order to prevent employers from taking advantage of the vulnerability of the undocumented worker, unions are a necessary tool used to defend the rights of all workers.

“We want the workers to know that the department is available for them,” Chu said. “They can call my office and APALA. We want to get the word out that there are resources and there are people who want to fight for the rights of these workers who are being exploited on the basic levels.”

APALA is currently supporting a labor-sponsored initiative to push for comprehensive immigration reforms. Based on the Assembly hearing report, another town hall meeting will be held on Aug. 17 at Monterey Park as an attempt to unite APA workers and discuss working-family issues.

“The town hall is only a beginning step,” DeLorro said. “After the town hall meeting, we’re going to launch an aggressive program to advocate for API working-family issues. Our main message [is that] API working families are a political force. I anticipate a more united and coordinated effort where we can fight for API family issues, have a more united front [and allow] API family voices to be heard.”

Reach Ji Hyun Lim at jlim@asianweek.com.