Search Results
AFL-CIO Convention
Speeches and interviews recorded at an AFL-CIO convention in San Francisco, California on October 6, 1993. Interviews in Spanish with Yolanda Navarro from Watsonville, CA, and Linda Chavez-Thompson from San Antonio, TX about NAFTA, plant closures, need for more democratic and stronger unions, labor violence in Mexican maquiladoras. Intermittent speeches in English about NAFTA, followed by speech and interview with Janet Reno discussing education, labor and community relations, child care, and immigration.
Elizabeth Martinez; Maquila Workers
Date: 12/6/1993Call Number: CV 066Format: Cass A & BProducers: KPFAProgram: La Honda BajitaCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Interview by Chuy Varela with Elizabeth Martinez in 1993 about her book "500 Years of Chicano History In Pictures." They discuss
Latino and Chicano identity and politics. Varela goes on to interview workers from maquilas in Tijuana, Mexico about their struggles to unionize, and the working conditions in the factories.
Protest of Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
Date: 9/30/1991Call Number: CV 129Format: Cass A & BProducers: Chuy VarelaCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Demonstration against the announcement by rulers of the US, Mexico & Canada that they sought a "free trade agreement." Includes advocates for Mexican workers and other viewpoints.
Fuerza Unida
Date: 11/3/1993Call Number: CV 151AFormat: Cass AProducers: Chuy VarelaCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
An interview in spanish with co-coordinators of Fuerza Unida, Irene Riena and Petra Mata. Riena and Mata discuss the boycott of Levi's organized in response to the layoff of 1,150 workers from a factory in San Antonio, Texas. They discuss they're fight agaisnt Levi's in the context of labor rights struggles for Mexican immigrants, specifically women. They see their case as an example of what happens under free trade and what will worsen with NAFTA.
US/Mexican Free Trade
Date: 8/21/1992Call Number: CV 209Format: Cass A & BProgram: En Contacto DirectoCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Forum with professors Raul Hinojosa of UCLA and Andres Jimenez of UC Berkeley about a much debated free trade agreement between the United States and Mexico. Discussion includes migration of rural workers in Mexico, the ending of the communal farm system, job creation and job loss around the border, and the "integration" economies of Mexico and the US.
Workers' Film & Video Forum
Date: 12/11/1992Call Number: V 340Format: VHSProducers: Workers' Film, Video ForumCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
"4 Dollars a Day? No Way!" on US corporations in Mexico following the signing of NAFTA, the conditions of workers at the Ford plant, where armed strikebreakers and rigged company elections were used to keep the workers repressed.
"The Last Pullman Car" follows the story of the Steelworkers Union members at Pullman-Standard who fought to keep their jobs despite the impending closure of the passenger car plant.
Workers' Film & Video Forum
Call Number: V 349Format: VHSProgram: Workers' Film & Video ForumCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Leaving Home - post NAFTA North America the struggle of workers in the new corporate factories of Mexico and comments by US and Canadian workers whose jobs have been out sourced to Mexico
Japan Railway's Mass Firings - the plight and mass firings of Japanese railway workers after the privatization of Japan Railways.
Labor Party Advocates - Part 1
Date: 1/14/1995Call Number: CV 278AFormat: Cass AProducers: Labor Party AdvocatesCollection: Chuy Varela Collection
Forum with the heads of different Unions and Labor organizations about the war on the poor led by a Republican majority congress. Former Governor Jerry Brown proposes solutions to the unemployment rate, calling for an expansion of the Works Progress Administration and public works programs. He also states interest rates of 3% a year will counter the increase in the federal minimum wage proposed by the GOP. Also discussed at the forum - NAFTA and the loss of 2.9 million jobs, as well as the growth of the prison system.
Elizabeth Martinez; Maquila Workers
Date: 12/6/1993Call Number: CD 824Format: CDProducers: KPFAProgram: La onda BajitaCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Interview by Chuy Varela with Elizabeth Martinez in 1993 about her book "500 Years of Chicano History In Pictures." They discuss
Latino and Chicano identity and politics. Varela goes on to interview workers from maquilas in Tijuana, Mexico about their struggles to unionize, and the working conditions in the factories.
