Equity in Action-Oct. 15, 2009

On Oct. 15, 2009, North Eastern had two main speakers.
• Peter Anger a student who is fighting for the rights of taxi drivers who have been abused, physically, and overworked. The taxi drivers usually work sixteen hours a day. With no paid time or holiday pay.
• They currently have in effect a campaign to fight for anti-violence on taxi drivers.
• They are issued tickets if they are found to park on residential streets for more than two hours.
Peter spoke about starting a campaign to fight for residential parking. Because they deserve the right to sleep and park where they reside.
A picture of a taxi driver who was attack was shown. The person attacking the cab driver was charged with a felony. I really sympathize with these taxi drivers. They also spoke they had not received a raise for 5 years in the City of Chicago, which is pretty bad.

Alex Kannan’s lecture was on Immigration workers how they work hard and long hours and sometimes are not paid. The video presented was interesting and showed the racism portrait by Chicago Police. These people work for the Chicago citizens, but are arrested for trespassing, or sometimes even for not being documented. They work without any type of benefits. If, they are injured, they have no insurance coverage. Some may be afraid to be treated for lack of deportation, if undocumented.
Some of the locations where the undocumented workers go to find work are Belmont and Milwaukee. Alex also commented that with the economy being so bad some workers are documented. He commented that they have a center for workers to go for work and they are assigned out with legal contracts. It is a center around the Belmont and Milwaukee area that has about two hundred members.
They have an attorney for the program that is currently fighting for the immigrant workers rights. The members will offend come together to play sports, or soccer in several parks. Yet the city of Chicago fights to keep the workers out of their communities. What kind of government do we live in?
I don’t have anything against having programs for workers. I would prefer having a facility for workers versus having gang bangers hang around my community.