Public Employee Press

DC 37 hosts founding of South Asian labor group

Seventy-five community and union leaders gathered over the Labor Day weekend to found an organization to improve the lot of South Asian American workers.

The Alliance of South Asian American Labor (ASAAL) brings together unionists whose families come from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The goals of the new group range from promoting political involvement, including voter registration, to providing leadership training and educating South Asian American workers about workplace, political and other issues. The group met Aug. 30 at DC 37.

“Our numbers are very big, but our participation isn’t high enough,” said DC 37 Treasurer and Local 1407 President Maf Misbah Uddin, explaining the need for the group. Uddin chairs the DC 37 Asian Heritage Committee and serves on the national board of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), an AFL-CIO constituency group.

Participants at the meeting named Uddin the founder and president of ASAAL and elected the new group’s top officers, executive committee members and heads of committees on organizing, public relations and photography.

ASAAL will work closely with APALA and national and international unions, Uddin said.

The other top officers are Executive Vice President Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance, Secretary Radhakrishna Mohan of the Public Employees Federation and Treasurer Ahmed Shakir, secretary of Local 375. Local 375’s Morshed Alam, who is president of the New Americans Democratic Club, will serve as executive director.

Speakers at the gathering gave poignant accounts of their struggles as immigrants to become accepted in many unions in the face of language barriers, discrimination and entrenched leaders reluctant to welcome newcomers.

“It is not easy for people who speak with an accent and look different to become president of a union,” said P.T. Thomas, president of Local 844 of the Civil Service Employees Association.

“The internal politics of some unions is full of tricks,” Alam said. “A lot of people think this country is not for us. It’s for them.”

At the same time, speakers also described unions, despite all their warts, as the key vehicles for their journey into the middle class.

“The labor movement moves our community forward,” Desai said. “It’s how we stop poverty, how we stop workers from being exploited.”
“Let’s launch this organization and stand up with power,” said Executive Committee member Bhagwatie Dwarika, who works for the DC 37 Education Fund.

For further information about ASAAL, inquire at ASAAL08@gmail.com.