24-HOUR FAST AND VIGIL AGAINST UPS ILLEGAL FIRINGS CONTINUES THRU THE NIGHT
Comite 10 de Marzo
Contacts:
Reverend Jose Landaverde 773-968-4258
Martin Unzueta 773-653-3664
Jorge Mújica 773-852-8815
24-HOUR FAST AND VIGIL AGAINST UPS ILLEGAL FIRINGS CONTINUES THRU THE NIGHT
Eight UPS workers, plus several volunteers from labor unions and
communities are holding a 24-hour vigil and fast at the gates of UPS
Costumer Service Center in Chicago, protesting the illegal firing of
up to 200 workers.
United Parcel Service, having contracts with the Federal Government,
is required to use a program called E-Verify, to check documentation
on newly hires. But UPS abused the program and re-verified the
documents of thousands of workers, finding many errors in the national
databases of the Social Security Administration. Furthermore, without
deep knowledge of the many and complicated details of immigration
laws, proceeded to fire hundreds of immigrant and US citizen workers,
possibly violating federal and Illinois laws.
Employers are required to verify an employee’s eligibility to work at
the time of hire, on a 72-hour period, but UPS re-verified its current
employees, some of them with over 20 year seniority, and then
proceeded to fire those whose data did not match some databases.
Mistakes in the Social Security Administration database (up to 18
million,) could be due to maiden vs married name, difficult to
understand foreign last names and simple typos.
E-Verify has more than a 50% margin of error. It is another example of
a broken immigration system. Sympathetic labor unions, clergy and
community activists are asking United Parcel service to stop abusing
the system and allow immigrant workers to return to work immediately.
Starting on Wednesday, April 7th, at 2 p.m., workers, clergy and
community members are holding a 24 hour fast and prayer vigil across
the street from UPS’ Customer Service Center, 1400 S. Jefferson. Media
is allowed to attend at any time until tomorrow at 2 p.m.
A PRESS CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD TOMORROW AT THE LOCATION, AT 10 A.M.,
with participation of labor unions, community leaders and activists
and members and representatives of several local churches.
--
Jorge Mujica