Countywide : Drywallers Rally, Vow to Keep Fighting

Striking drywall workers will continue fighting for a union and better wages, organizers said Tuesday at a rally that attracted about 250 workers to the Santa Ana Civic Center.

“We’re still fighting. We have to keep fighting for our rights,” said Jesus Gomez, one of the organizers who addressed the largely Latino audience in Spanish.

Latinos wielding placards marched around the Civic Center Plaza chanting, “Union! Union!” under the watch of half a dozen police.

During the march, an organizer yelled in Spanish, “Do you want welfare?” which prompted marchers to shout, “No!”

“Do you want (welfare) stamps?” he yelled.

“No!” came the reply.

“What do you want?” he asked, to which marchers thundered, “Union!”

The rally came a day after 85 workers settled their criminal cases which stemmed from a demonstration that turned violent and ended in mass arrests by sheriff’s deputies at a Mission Viejo construction site. While the majority of the cases involved trespassing, some workers pleaded guilty to assault and battery charges when they forced six workers off the site.

The settlements, Gomez said, will only help the strikers’ campaign, which is now in its eighth week. An estimated 1,000 strikers have been demanding a union and higher wages in Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties.

“We now feel even stronger because we got all the guys back. We’re growing in power and getting many calls from people telling us they support us,” Gomez said.

He was among a dozen speakers Tuesday, which included Amin David, of Los Amigos de Anaheim, and union representatives of painters, electricians and others from Los Angeles and San Bernardino.

John Perez, a member of Painters Union District Council 36 in Los Angeles, said he joined several fellow union members who brought more than 200 bags of groceries and canned goods for the striking drywall workers.

“We want to show support for this effort because it’s about getting justice,” Perez said. “Like all other unions, we’re concerned about their struggle. We’re happy to see that others in the community have joined in their effort to get justice in the workplace.”

For many of the drywall workers, the struggle has taken a toll. It’s been a bad year for construction, and the workers have been without paychecks for two months.

Gomez said that volunteers have been stopping by a union hall in Orange that the workers have been using as a meeting place and have left sodas, groceries, vegetables and cash.

“Some people have been driving by, see us and they write out a check because they want to help us,” Gomez said.

He and other organizers said that about 200 letters have been mailed to subcontractors, asking them to sit down and begin negotiations to end this strike. But none have responded, he said.

“One of the problems is that they have enough hands now working on their construction, but we need to convince those working that is is better to join with us so we can get better wages,” Gomez said.

Although he did not speak, Rick Rodriguez, a state employee and member of the California Assn. for Fair Employment, a statewide group of about 500 Latino state employees, said that their organization supports the striking workers.

“It’s not just the immigrants in the community who are supporting this,” Rodriguez said, “it’s also people like us.”