A coalition of religious, labor, community and student organizations is urging immigrant workers to go to work and students to attend school during the day May 1 before participating in late afternoon immigration rallies.

Calling it a "day of positive action for positive change," San Gabriel Region Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala said May 1 would best be celebrated as a teaching day for students and a working day for workers followed by attendance at afternoon rallies to press for comprehensive and fair immigration reform.

Speaking at a press conference April 19 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the bishop said the church bells throughout the archdiocese would ring at 5 p.m. in honor of workers and St. Joseph the Worker.

The bishop was flanked by a couple dozen representatives of the We Are America Coalition, a coalition of 125 religious, labor, business and immigrant advocacy organizations.

May 1 was first identified as a national day of boycott by the March 25 Coalition of political and immigrant rights organization to demonstrate the economic power of immigrants by abstaining from consumer spending and not going to work or school.

But various religious, labor and media leaders are questioning if a boycott would create a negative public opinion and send the wrong message to Congress.

A boycott would create chaos and contradict the reason immigrants come to the U.S. which is to work and improve their quality of life, said Renan "El Cucuy" Almendarez Coello, a popular Spanish-language radio personality who galvanized tens of thousands of people to participate in the March 25 rally in downtown Los Angeles that drew about 500,000 people.

Others worry about the repercussions to vulnerable undocumented workers who could lose their jobs.

"Frankly, the risks are greater than the rights of workers in this state and other states," stated John Trasviņa, interim president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF).

Trasviņa encouraged workers wanting to take the day off to see if they could get a pre-approved holiday or "leave without pay" from their work. He said the organization could provide legal information to those who have questions about possible repercussions of boycotting work May 1 without employer approval.

Aquilina Soriano, director of the Pilipino Workers' Center, told The Tidings that she was advising workers to assess their risk of being fired and gauge their employer's support of a boycott. The center, she added, would help workers to get their job back if they lose them, "but we can't guarantee it."

In response to reporters' questions, Maria Elena Durazo, interim head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, defended the immigration movement's unity, saying all were united in the goals of achieving legalization for undocumented workers, reunification with family members and labor rights.

The difference she noted was in tactics, adding that she would be urging federation union workers to work May 1.

Labor unions have contracts that bar members from participating in strikes and boycotts that are not related to a collective labor action.

Several days earlier, Cardinal Roger Mahony asked workers to go to work and students to attend school May 1 before participating in a Day of the Worker celebration in Los Angeles. The archdiocesan Department of Catholic Schools has developed a special curriculum to assist students learning about U.S. immigration history and the current struggle.

Nativo Lopez, March 25 Coalition member and president of Mexican American Political Association, issued a statement following the cardinal's remarks saying, "Members of the March 25th Coalition welcome the cardinal's invitation for the community to join in May 1st events and we recognize that people will observe it in many different ways."

May 1 activities are being planned by scores of organizations in hundreds of cities. Students and workers are urged to express their solidarity for immigration reform by wearing white shirts and displaying the American flag.

In Los Angeles the We Are America Coalition march will begin at 3 p.m. at MacArthur Park and continue down Wilshire Boulevard to the La Brea Tar Pits (5800 Wilshire Blvd.) for an afternoon rally celebrating the "Day of the Worker" until 7 p.m.

Dolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farm Workers (UFW), said she expected a "long struggle" for immigration reform in which many tactics will be used.