Now, more than ever, unions can break down language barriers

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4509

8 June 2010

MINNEAPOLIS - If you are a native English speaker who has ever traveled where English is not the primary spoken language, you have some sense of how disorienting it can be to not understand what is being said around you. Without a command of the spoken language, it is difficult to order food, ask for help, or get from one place to the next.

Living and working in a foreign country without fluency in the spoken language presents a much greater set of challenges for recent immigrants. In particular, many immigrants with limited English skills face exploitation by employers and communication barriers to seeking redress for worksite concerns.

For Minnesota’s labor movement, breaking down these communication barriers with workers not proficient in English is a paramount challenge for labor’s future. Immigrants in Minnesota represent a growing percentage of the workforce and tend to join unions at a higher rate than native-born workers nationwide. Yet many unions are ill-equipped to reach their immigrant members and/or workers in their industries. In some cases, union members with limited English may be unaware of their contract, including wages and benefits, and be unable to communicate with union staff.


Mary Bellman

The need to overcome language differences is not a new phenomenon for labor, even in Minnesota. Unions in the early 20th century on the Iron Range worked to overcome divisive tactics by mine owners and brought together European immigrants from Italy, Finland, Serbia, Croatia and many other countries.

The same was true in the packinghouses of South St. Paul and on construction sites across the Twin Cities. As immigrants in these workplaces were able to communicate amongst themselves and with native-born workers, they realized the common struggles they faced.

Like previous generations of newcomers, the current population of immigrants is learning English at approximately the same rate — rendering false the common myth that today’s immigrants are not learning English. As someone who has spent the last 20 years learning and refining my Spanish, I can say that it takes concerted diligence, time, and years of practice to speak another language fluently—so that efforts to learn English may not be readily apparent even as they are underway.

FULL story at link.