Brazilian Unionists Visit

Three Brazilian trade unionists met Tuesday with Metro Council and Community Services Agency staff to learn about issues facing immigrant workers in the Metro Washington area. The Brazilian delegation included Valclecia de Jesus Trindade of the Força Sindical, Otton da Costa Mata Roma of the Commercial Workers Union in Rio de Janeiro, and Vitor Luiz Silva Carvalho of the Petroleum Workers in Rio de Janeiro. The delegation is visiting Washington, Boston and New York to understand what happens to immigrant workers once they arrive in the U.S., including the kinds of jobs they have, whether they’re receiving fair wages, getting access to worker rights education and what programs and campaigns unions in the U.S. have developed to organize them. “Ultimately, this delegation is interested in collaborating with unions in the U.S. to develop programs that can assist Brazilian immigrant workers,” the Solidarity Center’s Nalishha Mehta told UNION CITY!