04/30/08:A citizen and an immigrant:Alex Gillis has become the face of immigration activism in Madison - Union de Trabajadores I
A citizen and an immigrant:Alex Gillis has become the face of immigration activism in Madison
The Capital Times
Pat Schneider — 4/30/2008 6:03 am
The roar of "Si, se puede!" ("Yes, we can!") that galvanized immigrant workers has been replaced this season by the plea "No mas redadas!" ("No more raids!"). But when workers and their allies rally Thursday at Brittingham Park in Madison, Alex Gillis again will be in the thick of things -- greeting the demonstrators, leading the cheers, talking with the media.
Gillis has no illusions about a resurgence of the mass marches that spilled into streets across the country in spring 2006 to mark the emergence of immigrant Latinos as a political force, but he's hopeful a sizable crowd will turn out to celebrate a broader "Workers Day" agenda.
A founder of Union de Trabajadores Inmigrantes, or Immigrant Workers Union, Gillis has become the face of immigrant worker rights activism in Madison. His unusual background as a U.S. citizen who spent most of his life in Spain helped make that possible, along with an engaging personality and a passion for activism that goes back to his student days.
Arriving in Madison in November 2001 at the invitation of family friends, Gillis, now 31, saw the pall in political activism that fell over the country after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Still, Gillis was won over by the city and its venues for live jazz performances, and a visit originally planned as a three-month stay to sharpen his English skills has been extended indefinitely.
Gillis' father, an African-American from New York City, met his Spaniard mother in Madrid through mutual friends who were students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he says. And it is in the U.S. civil rights movement, through which African-Americans won legal equality, that he finds inspiration to keep working in the face of repression, Gillis says.
To earn money in Madison, Gillis held a series of odd jobs, but worked mostly as a cook in several restaurants, where he became acquainted with other immigrant workers from around the world, most of them Spanish-speaking.
Today he works as an audio-visual manager at a Madison conference center, but says the only reason he got out of the kitchen while his fellow workers did not is "because I have papers."
"Everyone here has talents, they are willing to work hard," Gillis said in a recent interview. But undocumented workers are trapped in low-paying jobs with little hope of improving their situations, he said, and "people are vulnerable to abuse."
What struck Gillis, who cut his activist teeth leading student demonstrations while at a technical institute in Spain, was the absence of organizing efforts within the Madison immigrant worker community.
The Immigrant Workers Union emerged from the remnants of Organizacion 10 de Abril (April 10th Organization, named for a day of massive nationwide protests), a loosely knit coalition of area activists who organized two marches in 2006. The group works with other organizations that assist Latinos, including Centro Hispano, Centro Guadalupe and the Workers' Rights Center.
Gillis counts 30 dues-paying members, many more occasional volunteers and a core group of just eight who keep the organization going. Most of the members are low-wage workers, many of whom hold down two jobs.
Immigrants often find that their dream of coming to the United States for a few years before returning to their native countries with money to make a new start crumbles when they can't make ends meet here on their minimum-wage jobs, Gillis says.
The low number of U.S. visas available to low-wage workers from Mexico makes it nearly impossible to enter the country legally, he says. What's more, U.S. trade policies allowed corn to swamp the Mexican market starting in the mid-1990s, forcing farmers from their fields to "sweatshops" in the cities.
"They are making a way to survive because where they are from it's even worse," Gillis says of immigrant workers. "We are not taking jobs from anybody, we're part of a growing economy."
Organizing the anonymous
But organizing workers are trying to keep as low a profile as possible, he says.
The massive demonstrations in 2006 were met by a clampdown on undocumented workers, Gillis says. The federal government beefed up its ranks of agents, and in the past two years, Immigration and Custom Enforcement has stepped up the arrest, detention and deportation of unauthorized workers.
The Patriot Act that emerged from the 9/11 terrorist attacks makes undocumented workers even more vulnerable; they can be held for up to six months without charges being brought, if the government says they are a threat to national security.
"The government is trying to solve through repression and incarceration something they should solve through reform of the immigration system," Gillis says.
"People are afraid to be public in a political action," he says. "And with two jobs, they don't have time for meetings to organize."
The Immigrant Workers Union communicates with workers through a column in the La Comunidad newspaper, a radio show on WORT and announcements on community access television.
"Madison is a very welcoming city," Gillis says, because it has a solid core of supporters of immigrant rights in the political left, labor and faith communities. "But I'm a little concerned that we don't see that translating into policy-making."
He points to San Francisco, where stepped-up immigration enforcement prompted city authorities to mount billboards encouraging undocumented immigrants to apply for services, and New Haven, Conn., where municipal ID cards replaced state cards made unavailable to unauthorized residents.
In Madison, police don't enforce immigration laws, and Dane County social service agencies don't ask about immigration status. But, as came to light early this year, Dane County Jail officials routinely notify immigration authorities when it has undocumented people in jail.
Invoking the courage of 1950s black civil rights activists, Gillis says he's confident that Latino immigrant workers will rise up when the time is right for them.
"It takes time for the people to understand that this won't go away, they have to keep fighting," he says. When the people are ready, the organizations will be ready to help channel action. "That is why UTI is here."
Rally
Thursday, May 1: A rally for immigrant and labor rights will mark International Workers Day, starting at 11:30 a.m. at Brittingham Park on West Washington Avenue. Organized by the Immigrant Workers Union, participants will march to the City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., for music and speakers.
The Capital Times
Pat Schneider — 4/30/2008 6:03 am
The roar of "Si, se puede!" ("Yes, we can!") that galvanized immigrant workers has been replaced this season by the plea "No mas redadas!" ("No more raids!"). But when workers and their allies rally Thursday at Brittingham Park in Madison, Alex Gillis again will be in the thick of things -- greeting the demonstrators, leading the cheers, talking with the media.
Gillis has no illusions about a resurgence of the mass marches that spilled into streets across the country in spring 2006 to mark the emergence of immigrant Latinos as a political force, but he's hopeful a sizable crowd will turn out to celebrate a broader "Workers Day" agenda.
A founder of Union de Trabajadores Inmigrantes, or Immigrant Workers Union, Gillis has become the face of immigrant worker rights activism in Madison. His unusual background as a U.S. citizen who spent most of his life in Spain helped make that possible, along with an engaging personality and a passion for activism that goes back to his student days.
Arriving in Madison in November 2001 at the invitation of family friends, Gillis, now 31, saw the pall in political activism that fell over the country after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Still, Gillis was won over by the city and its venues for live jazz performances, and a visit originally planned as a three-month stay to sharpen his English skills has been extended indefinitely.
Gillis' father, an African-American from New York City, met his Spaniard mother in Madrid through mutual friends who were students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he says. And it is in the U.S. civil rights movement, through which African-Americans won legal equality, that he finds inspiration to keep working in the face of repression, Gillis says.
To earn money in Madison, Gillis held a series of odd jobs, but worked mostly as a cook in several restaurants, where he became acquainted with other immigrant workers from around the world, most of them Spanish-speaking.
Today he works as an audio-visual manager at a Madison conference center, but says the only reason he got out of the kitchen while his fellow workers did not is "because I have papers."
"Everyone here has talents, they are willing to work hard," Gillis said in a recent interview. But undocumented workers are trapped in low-paying jobs with little hope of improving their situations, he said, and "people are vulnerable to abuse."
What struck Gillis, who cut his activist teeth leading student demonstrations while at a technical institute in Spain, was the absence of organizing efforts within the Madison immigrant worker community.
The Immigrant Workers Union emerged from the remnants of Organizacion 10 de Abril (April 10th Organization, named for a day of massive nationwide protests), a loosely knit coalition of area activists who organized two marches in 2006. The group works with other organizations that assist Latinos, including Centro Hispano, Centro Guadalupe and the Workers' Rights Center.
Gillis counts 30 dues-paying members, many more occasional volunteers and a core group of just eight who keep the organization going. Most of the members are low-wage workers, many of whom hold down two jobs.
Immigrants often find that their dream of coming to the United States for a few years before returning to their native countries with money to make a new start crumbles when they can't make ends meet here on their minimum-wage jobs, Gillis says.
The low number of U.S. visas available to low-wage workers from Mexico makes it nearly impossible to enter the country legally, he says. What's more, U.S. trade policies allowed corn to swamp the Mexican market starting in the mid-1990s, forcing farmers from their fields to "sweatshops" in the cities.
"They are making a way to survive because where they are from it's even worse," Gillis says of immigrant workers. "We are not taking jobs from anybody, we're part of a growing economy."
Organizing the anonymous
But organizing workers are trying to keep as low a profile as possible, he says.
The massive demonstrations in 2006 were met by a clampdown on undocumented workers, Gillis says. The federal government beefed up its ranks of agents, and in the past two years, Immigration and Custom Enforcement has stepped up the arrest, detention and deportation of unauthorized workers.
The Patriot Act that emerged from the 9/11 terrorist attacks makes undocumented workers even more vulnerable; they can be held for up to six months without charges being brought, if the government says they are a threat to national security.
"The government is trying to solve through repression and incarceration something they should solve through reform of the immigration system," Gillis says.
"People are afraid to be public in a political action," he says. "And with two jobs, they don't have time for meetings to organize."
The Immigrant Workers Union communicates with workers through a column in the La Comunidad newspaper, a radio show on WORT and announcements on community access television.
"Madison is a very welcoming city," Gillis says, because it has a solid core of supporters of immigrant rights in the political left, labor and faith communities. "But I'm a little concerned that we don't see that translating into policy-making."
He points to San Francisco, where stepped-up immigration enforcement prompted city authorities to mount billboards encouraging undocumented immigrants to apply for services, and New Haven, Conn., where municipal ID cards replaced state cards made unavailable to unauthorized residents.
In Madison, police don't enforce immigration laws, and Dane County social service agencies don't ask about immigration status. But, as came to light early this year, Dane County Jail officials routinely notify immigration authorities when it has undocumented people in jail.
Invoking the courage of 1950s black civil rights activists, Gillis says he's confident that Latino immigrant workers will rise up when the time is right for them.
"It takes time for the people to understand that this won't go away, they have to keep fighting," he says. When the people are ready, the organizations will be ready to help channel action. "That is why UTI is here."
Rally
Thursday, May 1: A rally for immigrant and labor rights will mark International Workers Day, starting at 11:30 a.m. at Brittingham Park on West Washington Avenue. Organized by the Immigrant Workers Union, participants will march to the City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., for music and speakers.
Submitted by wnpj on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 2:28pm.