Unions Comes Together to Support Immigration Reform

by Leigh Graham · 2009-04-15 12:00:00 UTC
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Big news announced on Monday: the AFL-CIO and Change to Win labor federations have come together to support immigration reform, including legalization for immigrants already in the U.S., and a "de-politicized" national commission to manage future immigration.  In addition, the unions don't want any expansion of guest-worker programs for the "business community" - something about which the US Chamber of Commerce is already grousing.  Prepare for battle!!

Thousands of immigrant farm workers and other low-wage laborers come to the United States through seasonal guest-worker programs that are subject to numerical visa limits and have been criticized by employers as rigid and inefficient. Many unions oppose the programs because the immigrants are tied to one employer and cannot change jobs no matter how abusive the conditions, so union officials say they undercut conditions for American workers. Highly skilled foreign technology engineers and medical specialists also come on temporary visas.

In the coming months, we'll probably be hearing a lot about those last groups - the high-skilled workers that we'll swear we need to stay competitive in the world market.  There's some truth to that, but part of that reality is because we're not equipping our own residents for such jobs.  Clay? Not to mention that bringing over guest workers causes a whole host of problems for their spouses and families that we're completely ignoring.

I'm not for getting all protectionist or nationalistic, which is a risk here for the unions.  But I'm sympathetic to the overdue, overwhelming need we have now to strengthen labor protections and workers' rights here at home, and I commend the unions for coming together at this particular moment on behalf of American workers.  As I've written before, the unions offer a tangible path out of poverty for marginalized workers.  Their support for immigration reform is key to strengthening relationships between organized labor and immigrants rights' activists.  I'll be following Labor's efforts here.  Don't forget to check out Change.org's other related blogs on Immigration, Education, and Human Trafficking in the meantime!  And support the Employee Free Choice Act while you're at it!

(Photo by Amy Niehouse of PA AFL-CIO Billy bus for aflcio2008)

Leigh Graham
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