Latinos en Acción de CCI: A voice for immigrant workers

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — Ramona Chávez-López was fired from the Swift and Co. packing plant over two years ago. Plant officials accused her of committing a technical health code violation. Chávez-López, however, believes she was fired for speaking out against dangerous working conditions and bad treatment of workers by supervisors. 

Though she was no longer working at Swift, Chávez-López decided not to let the matter rest. She joined Latinos en Acción de CCI, an offshoot of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, because she wanted to fight for justice for all Swift employees.

Tomasa Fonseca, holding microphone at far right, and leaders of Latinos en Acción de CCI stand together during the group's Worker Appreciation Day celebration.

The mission of Latinos en Acción de CCI is to encourage positive change in Marshalltown and offer a place where immigrant workers can come together to protect their interests and demand that their rights be respected. When Latinos en Acción sponsored a Worker Appreciation Day community gathering Sept. 12 over 500 people attended the event. It was a day devoted to music, food, fun activities and letting workers know they have somewhere to turn for help.

“This has been an important day for me. It reminds me to take pride in the work I do and to fight for safer working conditions so we can all do even better,” said Hilda Rodríguez of Latinos en Acción.

But Latinos en Acción does more than just throw grand celebrations. The group held a Know-Your-Rights training for workers in January. The session was led by Kim Roberts of NTIC and Greg Pehrson of Progreso Latino in Rhode Island, an NTIC affiliate. It was also the first in a series of public trainings to encourage packing plant workers to learn about their basic rights and how to defend their rights in the workplace. In February, Latinos en Acción is scheduled to meet with the local United Food and Commercial Workers Union president and a representative of the international union on behalf of workers.