UUs Stand in Solidarity with Immigrant Workers in California
by Bob Lane, Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church Immigration Task Force
Bob Lane is cuffed by officers in Pleasanton, CA.
It was a long day. It started with the tight plastic handcuffs on my wrists and the Sheriff’s bus transporting us––17 women and 8 men––to jail. We had been arrested for obstructing the golf tournament for the members of the Castlewood Golf Club in Pleasanton, California, where I live. We wanted to call out the members of the Club to stop the injustice they were continuing to commit against the workers they had locked out of their jobs 16 months earlier. The Club claimed the lockout was the result of a contract dispute, but its conduct in those 16 months plainly showed it wanted to get rid of these workers, many of whom are immigrants, and their union, Unite Here!
The ongoing injustice against the workers was a big reason we were on the bus, but there was more. We had all seen the workers’ courage as they showed up to picket day in and day out for 16 months. We had witnessed their dedication to securing health care for their spouses and children and to asserting their own dignity in the face of the Club’s abuse. We saw the support and care they gave to each other. We saw them come together.
But the most important reason we were on that bus is simply because they asked. They asked us to join with them in their struggle, to stand beside them to resist injustice and to insure dignity for people who work with their hands. They invited us to make their fight our own. And they gave us the opportunity to feel the fellowship that is part of every struggle for justice. They offered us the chance to be brothers and sisters with them, and with each other. Because they asked us, it was easy to get on the bus.
Fourteen hours later we were free again, freer than we had been before we got on the bus. It was a long day, but it was a good day. A very good day. The alliance between the interfaith community and local unions in support of the workers is something we need to hear about at this moment in our country’s history. Today in our society, if you want to see the incarnation of community forged in the fight for justice you don’t need to look any further than unions. Solidarity for justice is the hallmark of their action. We have much to learn from them.
