Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente then brokered a settlement, and Duong agreed to a contract including wage raises and better protection against the health and safety dangers involved in sorting through discarded trash. The strike at CWS marked the latest in a string of organizing successes for the union. Local 6 has established a community presence and reputation among immigrant workers in the San Francisco Bay Area, as a result of militant organizing drives and strikes based in the immigrant Mexican and Central American community. With the support of the union, workers have battled immigration raids, led workplace job actions over unsafe and unhealthy conditions, and won union recognition and contracts covering hundreds of new members. The CWS strike was the second instance in which an immigrant workforce subjected to sweatshop conditions voted against union representation in an election administered by the National Labor Relations Board, and then spontaneously struck after conditions failed to improve afterwards.
People are tired of sweatshop conditions, whether it's sorting garbage or working in factories.