HISPANIC COUNCIL AND LCLAA TO HOLD MASSIVE RALLY,
HOST MEXICAN HUMAN RIGHTS BODY
IN SUPPORT OF FOX VALLEY FORGE STRIKERS IN AURORA 

• The 5th  Relator of the Mexican National Human Rights Commission will visit workers on Friday at noon
• Workers on strike for 3 months, 20 without a contract; some salaries went from $30.00 to $ 8.50 an hour
• FVF’s major client is in Monterrey, Mexico.  Relator will attend migrant workers conference in the evening

 
 

The Hispanic Council and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) will host a rally demonstration in support of the Fox Valley Forge (FVF) strikers, whom have been at the picket line for three months and over 20 months without a labor contract. 
During the rally, the workers will be visited by the Hon. Mauricio Farah Gebara, 5th Relator of Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights, while in Chicago to participate in a workshop-seminar on migrants and human rights. He was extended and accepted an invitation to visit the workers and listen to their complaints. 
“We hope we can raise the interest of the company by having the NHRC come and relate back in Mexico, since the company’s biggest client is in Monterrey”, said Luis E. Pelayo, founder and president of the Hispanic Council and Advisor of the Mexicans Abroad Institute (IME). 
The forge, which produces racks and pinions for transmissions and other automotive parts, has refused to come into an agreement even after reducing dramatically the salaries of workers, some of which have been there of over 30 years. The relator will meet with workers after the rally.  
FVF workers are affiliated with the Boilermakers Local 1600, but since they haven’t paid dues because there’s no labor contract, they are not eligible to receive strike pay from the union. The situation is now having a severe effect on the workers and their families. 
“It is our obligation, as a community, to stand up against employers whose actions are driving the middle class into the history books,” said Ramon Becerra, president of the Chicago Metropolitan Chapter of LCLAA. “Their client in Mexico must know of the shallow and exploitative practices this company is performing on their own countrymen and women.  When the purchases stop, then we may get their attention. We are serious.  Let’s stop the run around and start bargaining in good faith.  FVF workers are not alone. This is our message to FVF.”    
WHERE:  Fox Valley Forge (138 Pierce Street, Aurora, IL  60505)
WHEN: Friday, June 15, 2007
TIME: 12:00 Noon 

END OF COMMUNICATION
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