Immigrants and supporters shut down the upper level of the George Washington Bridge for 45 minutes during Tuesday morning’s rush hour.
Declaring “Somos visible,” which translates to “We are visible,” the demonstration was organized by Laundry Workers Center calling for the “right of every member of our communities to be visible.”
Protesters chained themselves together on the inbound upper level of the bridge, with a banner reading “Resist, Organized, Act Up!” New Jersey police arrested 10 nonviolent protesters. Traffic was tied up for 90 minutes.
“The immigrant community is tired of being in the shadows,” said Laundry Workers Center co-director Mahoma López. “For many years we are here, we contribute, we pay taxes, we build this country, but in the end, we don’t have the right to participate in the decisions at the local and national levels.”
In a written statement, Laundry Workers Center said, “We are one with Mother Earth and with all oppressed people in the shadows. We [are] making our struggles, our pain and our power visible.”
Laundry Workers Center addresses the need for community-based leadership development geared toward improving the living and working conditions of workers in the laundry, warehouse and food service industries. Members are primarily low-income immigrant workers.
Issues the group combats include landlord negligence, wage theft and hazardous and exploitative working conditions in New Jersey and New York.
Laundry Workers Center is notable for their fight for workers of the B&H warehouse in Brooklyn. Three hundred workers at B&H, a popular video and photography equipment company, recently won their union election.