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NW workers building worldwide connections
After the World Trade Organization meets in Seattle this fall world leaders and politicians will continue to discuss the expanding global economy and implement international trade policies. Rarely, however, does the discussion include the workers. Most of the world's laborers are people of color, and they are the ones who will be most affected by these international policies.
The northwest labor and Employment Law Office (LELO), an international organization founded in Seattle, is taking steps to ensure that the voices of ordinary, rank-and-file workers of color around the world are heard in this debate.
Based on the vision of its founders, Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes, two Filipino Americans from Seattle, LELO aims to build cross-border solidarity among workers through its Worker-to-Worker Networking Project. This international communication network lets workers share their experiences with one another, develop common positions on world trade issues and create action steps to organize locally, but within a global context.
During the July 4 weekend, LELO teamed with the organizers form Tailer de Economia del Trabajo (TADET) of Mexico to hold the North American and Caribbean Regional Workers Meeting, a three-day conference in Mexico city that involved over 50 activist workers form Canada, Mexico, the United States and the Caribbean.
Lorena Serafico, a Filipino-Canadian worker from...