by Juliet Blalack
ICE, OUT OF EMERYVILLE! Members of group Unite Here Union, protest outside the ICE Special Agent offices in Oakland.(photo by Jennifer Delgado)
Protestors demanded immigration officials leave Emeryville last Thursday, in the latest development of local hotel workers’ battle with the management of Woodfin Suites Hotel.
The crowd marched carrying signs such as “Tear down the wall of death, stop the raids” and “stop the raids no more deportation.”
They gathered outside the office of the local ICE ((Immigration and Citizenship Enforcement) at Broadway and 15th streets in Oakland at 12:15 p.m., according to Jon Rodney, the communications official for East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE).
“By pursuing workers affected by Measure C, ICE is helping employers scare their workers into silence and avoid following labor laws. That undermines labor standards for all workers, no matter where they’re from,” said Wei-Ling Huber, President of UNITE HERE Local 2850.
Emeryville voters passed Proposition C, which guaranteed living wage for hotel workers, in 2005.Woodfin Suites Hotel management tried to overturn Prop. C and did not pay its workers in accordance with the measure, according to EBASE’s website.
After employees began drawing attention to the wage violations, the management fired 12 housekeepers.
In February, the managers contacted U.S. Representative Brian Bilbray, who then asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to investigate the immigration status of the hotel workers. Woodfin CEO Samuel Hardage donates to Bilbray’s campaign and lives in his district, according to the East Bay Daily News.
ICE officials took documents from both Woodfin and the Hilton Garden Inn, and then told managers they needed to fire 12 employees.
During this time, they arrested a dishwasher who was employed by the hotel for 18 years, according to EBASE.
“I am deeply concerned by the allegations that another member of Congress – acting on behalf of a campaign contributor – may have gotten a federal agency to intervene in that dispute in a way that hurts workers in my district,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, in a statement made available to the East Bay Daily News as stating.
