IWW members in Sioux Falls South Dakota demonstrate in solidarity with immigrant workers on May Day
Submitted on Wed, 05/02/2007 - 3:19pm
Article and Photo by By Sheri Levisay - The Argus Leader, May 2, 2007
It's hard to get people to a rally about workers rights on a beautiful 70-degree day in Sioux Falls.
In fact, it's hard to get people interested on any day in Sioux Falls, said Mike Beaver, one of the organizers of a May Day Rally on Tuesday at Van Eps Park.
"People don't care," Beaver said.
But six people did care enough to show up near the Minnehaha County Courthouse, trickling in between 4 and 5 p.m.
The majority of them are active with the Industrial Workers of the World, "a solidarity union interested in immigrants rights, both legal and illegal," Beaver said.
Some of them looked the part. Beaver wore a T-shirt saying, "Not my president." Various piercings, tattoos, red-streaked hair. One smoked a cigar, another a pipe. One carried a police-style riot shield.
Travis Stuckey, another organizer, showed up a bit late. "It's the first time I've ever worked on May Day," he said.
He had passed out Spanish-language pamphlets at bus stops, near the John Morrell plant and other places where Hispanic workers were likely to gather.
As the activists waited, the discussion wandered from Cinco de Mayo to using cell phones to tell what time it is ("Man, you're paying $40 a month for a watch") to a new kind of dog food that reduces poop, then turned to the U.S. economy.
"There's maybe 20 years max before this country falls into the Third World" if we don't recover manufacturing jobs, Stuckey opined.
About 5:15, Stuckey went to his vehicle to pull out signs and literature. Chris Huska of Act Now to Stop War & End Racism exchanged pamphlets with Stuckey.
When they stood near Minnesota Avenue with signs, there were a few honks - hard to tell whether in accord or in anger.
None of the immigrants the group was trying to help showed up. But South Dakota's low pay and dearth of unions will keep these activists passing out workers rights pamphlets.
"It's needed here quite a bit," Beaver said.