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Excerpt.....
...Los Angeles has suddenly turned into a hotbed of union militancy, with a bitter strike by the Screen Actors Guild against advertisers, rallies by teachers, marches by janitors and home healthcare workers, and strikes by nurses against Catholic Healthcare West and Sutter Health hospitals. Aside from the actors' strike, the common thread apparent in these actions is the marriage of Latino immigrants -- many of them illegal -- and union activists. In fact, the driving force behind the AFL-CIO flip-flop on immigration was Eliseo Medina, head of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Los Angeles. There are currently an estimated 6 million undocumented workers in the U.S. Many are in Los Angeles, but they are also settling in cities like Milwaukee and in small towns throughout rural America. Medina knows firsthand that immigrants are a potent power base. The SEIU is one union that has reversed years of decline by intensively organizing Latino low-wage service workers. Union leaders in Washington have taken notice...
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