Unionizing Illegals

I saw a few minutes of a movie called "Bread and Roses" on the IFC this morning while I was getting ready for work. Yes, I watch IFC. This movie, based on a true story, was about a guy trying to unionize illegal immigrants working as cleaning staff in L.A.

Indeed, I found an article about the main guy:

By 1995, Justice for Janitors, part of a nationwide effort led by the Service Employees International Union, had lifted wages for 7,000 L.A. County cleaners, many of them illegal immigrants, and won them paid vacation time and family health insurance. The janitors’ three-week strike in 2000 – the year the movie came out – pushed hourly pay to about $12 in downtown L.A.

Somehow it doesn't seem right that that illegal immigrants--people who have no right to work in this country and who are technically (administratively, at very least) criminals, many whom have committed multiple federal felonies just by being here--can turn around and use the laws of this country to agitate to improve the working conditions for jobs at which they should not even be working.

And they even went on strike. Did you know that in some cases striking workers are entitled to unemployment benefits after two weeks of strike time?