March for dignity and against soft raids at Pacific Steel Casting Company

On February 17th @ 10 AM 200 undocumented workers recently fired in an immigration sweep will make history - Join us!

The news of the firings came just before the holidays last December. Some of us workers had given decades of our lives to the Pacific Steel Casting Company in West Berkeley. We worked in awful conditions, were denied proper breaks, lacked adequate eating facilities and paid into a pension we are now being denied access to. We depended on this job to provide for our families, pay rent and put food on the table.

However after years of benefiting from a lower paid undocumented worker base, the company submitted to a federal immigration audit which led to 200 of us being fired. The audits check the validity of Social Security numbers and demand the firing of any worker who is undocumented and cannot provide a social. There have been tens of thousands of these audits throughout the country devastating immigrant families and communities as part of a federal policy that seeks to cause so much pain and hardship to migrant families that they might "self deport". The policies have caused much pain in our community but the self deportation theory has proven a failure.

In this particular case the workers refuse to self deport or to walk away with their heads down in defeat. The workers have organized themselves to fight not only for their own losses but also against the exploitation of their citizen co-workers. A massive class action lawsuit is in court against the company for systematically denying all workers undocumented and documented proper lunch breaks and an adequate cafeteria.

We workers call on the people of Berkeley (a sanctuary city for migrant people) to stand in solidarity with our cause. Join us in a march for justice but more importantly for dignity.

Come out on Feb 17th and demand an end to the silent raids that leave hundreds of thousands unemployed and unable to provide for their families. We will meet in front of the Berkeley City Hall and we will March with our heads held high, undocumented and unashamed.

Asking your solidarity,
Committee of fired workers from the Pacific Steel Casting Company