Hilda Vasquez wears heavy black eyeliner every time she goes to protest against the company that used to employ her. She walks in comfy black worn-out sneakers that make her seven-month pregnancy easier to carry. Holding up a blazing red sign, the 33-year-old chants halfheartedly, slightly off the beat: “El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido!” Then a rough translation: “The people united will never be defeated!” Improvised drums set the tempo as the lead voice wails through a megaphone, “El pueblo callado jamas sera escuchado!” Those who remain silent will never have their say.
ACORN was quick to turn the incident into a cause celebre just in time for its three-day national convention, held here in early July. The victim was sympathetic: a pregnant undocumented immigrant talking back to greedy corporate America. The villain was classic: a national chain purportedly exploiting seamstresses who toil away in a windowless, un-air-conditioned warehouse for $6.50 an hour. By hammering Gingiss, ACORN representatives figured, they would deter other companies from letting go of workers as a result of the letters, saving thousands of jobs. As the two sides squared off, the Social Security Administration stood on the sidelines trying to look innocent, denying responsibility for having started the fight.
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On Thursday, May 16, Gingiss officials handed out memos to the remaining 50, asking them to take the weekend to straighten out the mismatch. Soon rumors about mass firings spread through the ranks. Most of the workers under scrutiny, including Vasquez, figured they shouldn’t bother trying to pass off a new counterfeit social security number. A handful decided to give it a shot. Gingiss officials said that 10 of the 50 memo recipients showed up for work the following Monday with new numbers; upon calling the SSA to check their validity, Gingiss officials found that 6 of those were still invalid. Only 4 of the original 87 memo recipients still work for the company.
ACORN organized its first Gingiss picket line in front of one of the company’s 28 Chicago-area stores during the first three days of July. Standing on the corner of Wabash and Adams, members handed out hyperbolic flyers urging passersby to take their tux business elsewhere. “Gingiss runs a sweatshop in Addison, where these high priced tuxedos are tailored, cleaned and shipped. Gingiss pays poverty wages to its workers…Disrespects and overworks employees…Recently Gingiss replaced over 30 long term, loyal employees with low paid workers and day laborers who earn less money and have no benefits, in order to cut costs and increase profits at the expense of the workers.”
Talks of amnesty for undocumented immigrants, stalled after September 11, have slowly resurfaced. House minority leader Richard Gephardt recently vowed to introduce a bill that would grant legal status to law-abiding undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United States for five years and worked in the country for two. President Bush has publicly endorsed similar proposals that could naturalize most of the 8.7 million illegal aliens believed to be living in the country according to Census Bureau estimates. Foes of such initiatives have long argued that granting amnesty would reward lawlessness and encourage illegal immigration.
