One issue that we as an organization have not yet really covered is that of workers' rights and how the struggle for those rights affects Asian Americans.
We all have seen and experienced the effects of the outsourcing of jobs from the United States. We've all been on the phone with a customer service representative based in India or the Philippines, and I would probably bet a lot that not one article of clothing you're wearing right now was made in the United States. (With few exceptions, like military uniforms...) Not only this, but skilled trades such as manufacturing and other industrial trades that have traditionally made up the largest membership in labor unions have also been outsourced. Since we've found that it's cheaper and more profitable these days to import manufactured goods (and food) from other countries than it is to produce them domestically.
While many skilled-labor industries have been outsourced, there are some jobs it just makes no sense to export. Namely, unskilled service-sector jobs such as servers, cooks, and dishwashers in restaurants, housekeepers, bellmen, in-room dining servers and banquet hall servers in hotels and hundreds of other job classifications that fall in the service sector.
How is this relevant to the goals and mission of UAAO? Well it is interesting that as skilled, organized labor industries are slowly dying out, or being rapidly dismantled and exported abroad (for example, industrial textiles and needlework trades) service sector employers are also feeling the crunch of economic recession. How do they keep up profits? By employing those who are the most economically vulnerable, and those that as of right now are unorganized. Namely, the rising immigrant population in this country is feeding big business' need to keep costs low in the areas that they can't outsource.
80% of United States jobs are in the service sector, historically a sector that has been incredibly difficult to organize.* Reasons behind this difficulty include the fact that often service sector jobs are seasonal (especially those in the hotel industry) and are affected by economic cycles of boom and bust.
Asian Americans have historically gravitated towards the service sector often towards the beginning of an immigration wave. We have all heard about Chinese laundries and of course restaurants, but the Japanese also took up jobs in restaurants and domestic service after the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 (like my great-grandmother in Berkeley, CA). This may in part be credited to the lack of English fluency upon arrival in the United States, or perhaps a lack of transferable skills.
However, the A/PIA demographic in this country can be mapped on a bimodal curve, in that we have high percentages working in highly skilled professions; for example, according to the 2000 Census 25.8% of Asian Indians working between the ages of 25-64 worked in the category "Computer, Scientific, & Engineering."** But on the other hand, significant percentages, above 12% for working Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Chinese, Korean, Pacific Islander and Vietnamese between the ages of 25-64 worked in the "manual services, farming or military."** Altogether not an insiginifcant portion of our population.
This summer I worked with UNITE HERE, a labor union that represents most of the service sector industries, hotels and restaurants, casinos, food service, industrial laundries, airport services etc. While I know that many people have negative views towards labor unions and their practices, their end goal of increased wages and benefits for their members is still something worth fighting for in the proper ways. I was really impressed by UNITE HERE's organizing strategy and their methods of empowering the workers themselves to fight their own battles, instead of using the union as an agency to service their needs.
But what was even more impressive to me was how much pride UNITE HERE's members, and those they are trying to organize, take in their work and what they accomplish on a day to day basis. I had the privilege of being able to shadow a housekeeper for half a day as she cleaned rooms for a five star hotel in San Francisco (which has a strong union presence and a union standard of living wages lower room counts than in non-union cities) and she showed me how to make all the beds, (using three flat sheets, a comforter, pillow cases that are waay too long and have to be folded over and tucked in, with a stupid ugly useless duvet cover folded neatly over the end of the bed, with stupid cards lined up just so next to the pillows...)
...How to arrange all the amenities, (no less than four real sugar packets, two blue fake sugars, two splendas, four creamers stacked on top of each other, two stirrers, two decafs, two regulars all arranged on this stupid tray that you then can leave no fingerprints on)
...and how to clean the bathroom and vacuum and dust in less than 45 minutes per room. She does in total around 12 rooms a day, depending on how many guests are actually checking out of a room and those that are staying another night. The list goes on and on, she has to replace all the linens and the towels if a guest checks out, but doesn't necessarily have to for a guest that stays another night, but because she takes such pride in her job, as do all of her coworkers, if she sees a spot or a sheet looks dirty she replaces it anyway.
Perhaps it doesn't seem like a big deal, but try doing it over and over every single day for 20+ years as a career. Not to mention all those incredible hotel beds that hotel companies have been pushing lately, you know, like the "dream beds" that are thick and downy and super comfortable. They're sweet for you, but if you have to make that bed it sucks, the sheets have to be bigger, fitted sheets aren't long enough to cover the depth of the bed (perhaps why they now just use a flat sheet which takes even more time and effort to cover the bed with) and the bed itself is heavier.
If you don't take my word for it about workplace safety issues and workload issues that are affecting housekeepers these days, please take a look at the Hotel Workers Rising Campaign website (http://www.hotelworkersrising.com/Campaign/) or the article listed at the bottom about hotel houskeepers and workplace injuries report.***
Anyway. The point is, besides with being impressed with UNITE HERE's organizing tactics, I was even more impressed that the strength these workers, and especially the women in housekeeping were able to keep fighting and organizing, attending meetings and leafleting during their breaktimes and after work on top of a full workload. Their perseverance and strength is a reality check in the best of ways because it inspires me to keep going and to realize that all my problems, they're petty in comparison. So much so that I believe that we should take up the cause of those who suffer not only due to the nature of their work but because of the oppressive conditions under which they work, the lack of health care benefits, job security, compensation. Oftentimes those who work in the service sector do thankless jobs, and while we mostly could care less as long as the room looks clean, the tables are bussed quickly, it's a job that the workers take great pride in. I think it is time long overdue that we show our appreciation for this work and these workers by addressing the issues they face.
...And by tipping better wherever we can.
~Laura
* http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-26-2007/0004615783&EDATE=
**http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/asian/careers_workplace_employment/cnle_asianamerican_employment_0106.asp
***http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3122
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