Los Angeles has recently become a battle ground for interest groups to argue over a proposition which would restrict unions and big corporations in election campaign contributions.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday joined labor unions, civil rights and immigrant rights groups in urging Latino and other minority communities to vote "no" on Proposition 32 in November elections.

Caroline O'Connor, communications director of Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, told Xinhua that Proposition 32 would silence the voices of workers, immigrants, firefighters, police officers, nurses, teachers and others.

She said labor unions have supported immigrants in their fight for immigration reform and they have many things in common. If Proposition 32 were passed in the November election, the working class and immigrants would have less say in politics, she warned.

O'Connor criticized supporters of the initiative, which she said were mostly out-of-state billionaires, corporate and some super political action committees (PACs).

Labor unions and other groups opposing Proposition 32 believe it would exacerbate problems the communities are facing like ballooning class sizes in schools, fewer police and firefighters on streets and access to health care.

They held that while it claims to be about "stopping special interests," the proposition actually gives special exemptions to corporate special interests and super PACs. It would do nothing to fix the broken system in California. Instead, Proposition 32 would give even more power to the wealthy and well-connected to influence elections, control government and weaken California's middle class.

The California Teachers Association (CTA) asserts that the measure would shut the union out of the political process, thereby devastating organized labor in California. The CTA has spent 18 million U.S. dollars against the measure.

But supporters claim that Proposition 32 would prohibit unions and corporations from giving to candidates and from deducting money from employee paychecks for political purposes without permission. The measure, therefore, would make all political contributions truly voluntary.

It would also prohibit contractors from contributing to politicians who approve their contracts, supporters argue.

A recent Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California poll found that 44 percent of voters in California oppose the initiative, while 36 percent support it.

But O'Connor said it is too early to tell whether the proposition could be passed. She said big corporations and some wealthy people have donated millions of dollars to support the measure.

O'Connor urged Latinos and other minority groups to call for a "no" vote.

Labor unions in California have raised 43.4 million U.S. dollars against the proposition and the CTA has put 19.2 million dollars in the campaign.

Proponents of Proposition 32 claim that labor unions have shown how desperate they are to maintain the status quo by pouring so much money into the campaign to defeat Proposition 32.

"This is truly a battle between individual citizens and the special interests that have all the control," Jake Suski, spokesman for Proposition 32, told the press.

Wealthy individuals with business interests have also been giving generously to the Proposition 32 campaign. One physicist has donated 23 million dollars to advertise the proposition on television.