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Press Releases

APALA Blasts Trump’s Executive Order for Inciting Hate, Lying about Immigrant Workers

4/23/2020

 
For Immediate Release: April 23, 2020
​Contact: apala@apalanet.org

Washington, DC - Last night, President Trump signed an Executive Order that blocks most new green cards, in hopes of scapegoating immigrant workers for his failure to act on COVID-19 and thus further damaging the American economy. We know that Trump’s statements are a flat out lie because the Executive Order carves out exceptions, without increasing health and safety protections, for essential workers and seasonal H-2B farm workers who are keeping our hospitals running and grocery stores stocked. Trump and his cronies have failed to protect working people during this pandemic and instead of taking real actions, he is taking the age-old route of scapegoating immigrant workers. 

Executive Director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO, Alvina Yeh states, “Instead of doing his job to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump has stolen PPE from hospitals and states, has spread misinformation about COVID-19, and leading to thousands of American deaths. Now, Trump is trying to pit vulnerable workers against immigrant workers as if they are mutually exclusive communities. The labor movement knows this is a false dichotomy that seeks to distract us from his failures. We are a community of black immigrants, Asian immigrants, Latino immigrants, disabled immigrants, and we are the ones caring for our communities and keeping America running during this pandemic.

Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are all too familiar with attempts by leadership to put blame for tough economic conditions onto the backs of immigrant workers. Trump’s administration is already separating millions of families every day that they fail to effectively address the COVID-19 pandemic: now they want to separate even more families across and at the border. We denounce Trump for inciting fear and hatred against immigrant communities. Trump wants to claim that he’s helping black and low-income workers with this executive order, but we know the truth. Black and brown workers are disproportionately dying of COVID-19 because of Trump’s racist policies and willful inaction on the crisis. We need a real plan for working people. This is not it.” 

Learn how you can fight back! 
Join the Value our Families Coalition for an important webinar focused on the policy implications of the Executive Order and how we can organize against them. 

Date: Friday, April 24th at 10am PT / 1pm ET 
RSVP: bit.ly/424eowebinar

APALA Mourns Passing, Celebrates Life of Former Exec. Director Jin Sook Lee

4/14/2020

 
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STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Washington, D.C. - Leaders, members, and allies of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance mourn, remember, and celebrate the life of former Executive Director, Jin Sook Lee. Jin Sook served as APALA’s second Executive Director. In this role, Jin Sook was crucial in building relations between the labor movement and the Asian-American community. Later Jin Sook moved to Korea to work with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. Most recently, Jin Sook served as the Global Campaigns Director at Building and Wood Workers International. She has dedicated her life to social justice and the international movement for workers’ rights and gender justice. She is survived by her husband Kyung Kyu Lim, and their daughters Hansoo and Yunsoo.

Kent Wong, APALA Founding President of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Vice President of the California Federation of Teachers, said,
"Jin Sook embodied the spirit of global labor solidarity.  She understood the link between the struggle for workers rights in the U.S., Korea, and throughout the world, and dedicated her life to peace and justice." 

Cathy Feingold, Director of the AFL-CIO International Department said, 
“Jin Sook was a leader in our global labor movement who never stopped fighting for justice. As the Building and Wood Workers’ International Global Campaigns Director she helped lead our movement’s work to fight for migrant, racial and gender justice. I had the honor of knowing Jin Sook for over 20 years. We both entered the US labor movement as young women with a commitment to global worker rights issues. She directed the US Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance before heading to South Korea to work with the labor movement there. Despite our geographic distance over the years, we always found times to meet for long conversations to discuss families, strategies and dreams. Her commitment to workers in the US and globally had a positive impact on so many lives. She will be deeply missed. Love and solidarity to her family and her broader labor family. May she rest in power.”  

Matt Finucane, APALA’s first Executive Director, NEA, said, 
“Jin Sook was a true champion of workers, women and immigrants everywhere.  We were lucky to have her as part of the APALA family, and will always be inspired by her commitment to others and her many accomplishments."   

May Chen, APALA Founding Member, former International Vice President UNITE HERE, said,
“I had the honor of knowing and working with Jin Sook Lee at APALA and on international affairs issues. I watched her grow from an energetic, idealistic young activist into a mature, capable, effective organizer and advocate. She was intelligent, beautiful and dedicated, and she carried out all her work with grace and integrity. She was a wonderful, strong Asian woman leader, and we will miss her very much.

I was always amused and struck by the contrast of Jin Sook's calm, quiet demeanor with the deep, tough, militant drive she brought to the labor movement. I remember a delegation of Korean union activists she asked me to help out in New York for a protest at the headquarters of Citibank. To me, it was interesting and unthinkable to see bank workers involved in union organizing. The young workers from Korea were spirited, loud and militant, and ultimately effective at getting Citibank's attention to their issues in Korea.”

Gloria Caoile, APALA Founding Member, APALA Nevada Political Director said,
“Words are not enough to describe Jin Sook’s passion for the fight for workers’ rights. You’re in my prayers Jin Sook! And I’ll go ‘one more year’ in your memory!”

John Cavanagh, Director of the Institute for Policy Studies said,
“Wanted us all to pause for a second to honor the beautiful life of Jin-Sook Lee, who worked at IPS for 3-4 years in the 1990s.  IPS was early into our quest to become a diverse workplace, and a workplace where all were accorded respect. We had passed a new set of personnel policies laying out affirmative action goals, and goals of achieving a far more equitable workplace.  Jin-Sook joined me on the "Isms Committee" during that period, and we reached our goal of over 50 percent women by 1997, and were on our way to greater racial diversity. She shouldered institutional responsibility. She came out of organizing in the Korean community in the U.S., had two amazing sisters in that world, and embraced IPS's international work. 

When she left IPS, I introduced her to Barbara Shailor, then head of international affairs at the AFL-CIO, and Barbara hired Jin-Sook to direct the labor alliance of Asian-Pacific American workers.  Jin-Sook then moved into the global labor movement where she was a champion of migrant, gender, and racial justice. I got to see her when she came to the US to the AFL for meetings.”



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Labor Constituency Groups Highlight Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on Workers of Color

4/1/2020

 
STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 2, 2020

​Washington DC.-The Labor Coalition for Community Action, which includes the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, and Pride at Work, join forces to highlight the need to protect our nation’s workers, as they are the ones bearing the brunt from the global pandemic. 

As businesses close, and our nation’s markets struggle to keep afloat, workers face an unavoidable sense of uncertainty. Nearly one in four workers are employed in industries that are inevitably being impacted by COVID-19, among them workers in retail and food services, two industries that account for 26 million jobs. Furthermore, there are an estimated 67 million workers who stand a good chance of losing their job. 

Minorities endure even further economic disadvantages with an estimated 8% of Black and Hispanic workers earning below poverty level incomes, compared to just 4% of white workers. And while comparable disaggregated data is unavailable for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) low-wage workers, Micronesian, Burmese, Thai, Hmong, and Bangladeshi communities experience poverty at higher rates than other members within that community. These impacts compound even further when the worker also identifies as LGBTQ. The poverty rates for LGBTQ women, immigrants, and people of color are all higher than the national average.

COVID-19 has unveiled the inadequacy of this administration’s ruthless economic and immigration policies. Prior to the outbreak in the U.S., the administration implemented a new wealth test for immigrants, also known as the public charge rule, which has created fear among our communities that in seeking medical testing or treatment they could be jeopardizing their chances of being eligible for a green card. Moreover, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) excludes immigrants from free COVID-19 testing.

The economy inherited by the current administration had just bounced back from an historic recession. Immediately a tax break was implemented that exclusively favored the wealthy and exacerbated not only the wealth gap of this nation, but also the national debt. While this was being done, workers lost deductible items to file on their taxes, OSHA protections for workplace safety, and a stable market for their 401k’s. COVID-19 has shown that this country cannot function without workers in some of the most marginalized and exploited sectors. Janitorial staff, farm workers, hospital aides, supermarket employees, and other careers paid at minimum wage are now essential for the functioning of this society. They are essential for our survival and work under some of the worst conditions. These industries are also dominated by people of color, women, retirees, and members of the LGBTQ community. 

To make matters worse, racism has aggravated the situation for many Americans and immigrants. For the past few weeks, our siblings in the Asian American community have endured racist and xenophobic attacks. The president and a number of elected and government officials have fueled these hateful sentiments by using COVID-19 as an excuse for racism. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) discourage associating diseases with geographic locations, cultural, population, industry or occupational references. Using “Chinese”, “China” or “Wuhan” in reference to COVID-19 only strengthens this false association, and harms Asian American and Asian-perceived communities across the country.

Furthermore, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act includes provisions that deny health care and economic assistance to immigrant workers. This segment of our population is at the frontline of the virus, with thousands of them working in agriculture, service and public health industries--to name a few. In order to effectively respond to this pandemic, we must ensure that every individual has access to the provisions granted by the FFCRA. Excluding any members our population weakens the effectiveness of this law.

Retired people and older workers are particularly vulnerable to severe respiratory illness from COVID-19. However, when over 25 million people aged 60+ are economically insecure, avoiding infection through social distancing or quarantine become extremely difficult. Like many working people, older workers are concerned about the stability of their current employment. Retirees who depend on pension funds have watched with alarm as the secure retirement they worked hard for has been underfunded year after year, and now need immediate relief more than ever. 

LGBTQ working people will likely see a disproportionate impact as well. LGBTQ people have higher rates of smoking as well as cancer, and other immune-compromised conditions, which are risk factors with this disease. Additionally, LGBTQ working people are also more likely to be in low-wage and hourly jobs that are seeing massive layoffs and hour reductions. Due to discrimination by healthcare providers, LGBTQ people - especially those who are transgender and/or non-binary - may not seek out medical treatment they need during this pandemic.
​
For all of these workers, the importance of expanding the social safety net and other programs for workers are vital. The economic, social, and medical impacts of COVID-19 have thus far impacted communities across our globe. We must ensure that our response is inclusive and robust. This unprecedented pandemic has proven that the collective wellbeing depends on that of each and every individual regardless of age, immigration status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion. 

APALA's Guidance to Protect AAPI Workers During COVID-19
Pride at Work COVID-19 Resources
LCLAA's COVID-19 Resources

    For Immediate Release

    Contact:
    apala[at]apalanet.org

    For full list of all press releases and statements, please click here.

    ​

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Founded in 1992, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO, is the first and only national organization of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workers, most of whom are union members and our allies, building power for AAPI workers and communities.
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