Latinos march over firings

Five months after they were abruptly fired from their jobs, dozens of Latinos who said they hadn't received severance pay returned Monday to their former West Chicago workplace to protest.

"It's been very difficult from one day to the next," Aurora resident Celsa Brito Guadarrama, who worked at WinCup Inc. for eight years, said in Spanish. "We all have families to sustain."

More than 100 workers -- all Latinos -- say they were fired in March without notice or cause from the manufacturer, which produces cups for restaurants.

The former WinCup employees said they were replaced with temporary workers.

WinCup representatives declined to comment.

It's unclear whether the workers' immigration status had anything to do with the firings. The workers' representatives have alleged that they were fired because the company could get others to do the work for less money.

The ex-employees say their rights as workers -- regardless of immigration status -- were violated.

The firings galvanized the local Latino community, which has existed in some form for more than 100 years, to educate themselves on their rights for the first time, said Tim Bell, executive director of the Chicago Workers Collaborative, a group helping to organize the workers.

Workers Monday morning held a news conference to demand that WinCup give each former employee two weeks of pay for every year of service.

"If WinCup doesn't pay, we'll go to their clients," former employee Jose Correa of West Chicago said in Spanish.

About 50 workers drove to the factory at 1425 Hawthorne Lane, parked across the street and walked slowly across the lawn to WinCup's door. It was locked. For the next 10 minutes, the group clapped their hands and chanted, "Let us in."

Bell called to those inside, telling them that the workers were there peacefully.

Jaime Dubon, pastor at West Chicago's St. Andrew Lutheran Church, said a prayer and shoved a petition under the door as a television crew and reporters looked on.

Employees on the other side of the glass door stared out and talked quickly on their cell phones. Others at windows peered at the crowd.

Latino workers are becoming more willing to take bold steps such as the march in part because the rights they are fighting for seem to be slipping away, Bell said.

Immigration reform legislation failed to pass; the government soon will start sending thousands of no-match letters to employers, identifying employees with incorrect social security numbers; and penalties are increasing for those who employ illegal immigrants.

"They have no choice but to take stronger actions," Bell said. "They have less to lose."

Workers from Central Ink Corp., also in West Chicago, joined the crowd Monday in support.

Among them was Jose E. Llamas, who told former WinCup employees, "If we don't help you, who's going to help us?"