In September, David Ortiz-Whittingham, our Construction Organizer, presented at the annual conference of the Wisconsin Building Trades Council, the association representing Wisconsin’s construction trade unions. Alongside Gita Connolly, attorney at the UW-Madison Law School Immigrant Justice Clinic, David spoke to the approximately 100 attendees, primarily union representatives and staff, on how they can ensure that their members and other workers on their jobsites are as prepared as possible in the event that ICE conducts a raid or arrest at their place of work.
In particular, David and Gita spoke about basic constitutional rights that all workers in the United States can invoke when dealing with law enforcement, regardless of immigration status—namely, 4th amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure and the 5th amendment right to remain silent when being questioned. They also covered the procedures that federal agents must follow in order to lawfully access private workplaces, and how workers and union officials confirm whether the law is being followed. In addition, they discussed the role that unions can play in ensuring that employers take steps to protect their workers from arbitrary or unlawful immigration-related searches or arrests, both through educating employers directly and negotiating protective language into their collective bargaining agreements. Finally, Gita also shared updates on recent court decisions and changes made by the current administration, discussing how new developments might affect workers on the ground.
Trainings like these are crucial for protecting the rights of all workers in our communities—as David emphasized in the presentation, the constitutional rights enjoyed by workers are most effective when all workers on a jobsite are prepared to exercise them, both for their own protection and the protection of their coworkers. For this reason, WJW is hard at work training workers across industries and communities on their immigration rights. If you’re interested in scheduling a training for you and your coworkers, please contact our Executive Director Robert Christl at robert@workerjustice.org.