SEARCH
Legislation STRIVEs for Real Immigration Reform
The wheels were set in motion yesterday for the new Congress to seriously consider real reform of the nation’s immigration system when Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) introduced the STRIVE (Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy) Act of 2007.
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney says the approach to immigration in the 110th Congress “stands in stark contrast to the mean-spirited path that the House of Representatives took under Republican control in the last Congress.”
President George W. Bush is pushing hard for an expanded guest worker program that will “hurt labor standards in the U.S.,” Sweeney says,
especially if it doesn’t guarantee that employers won’t use the programs to bypass U.S. labor and employment laws, as they often do now.
The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report this month that documents widespread abuse of workers in the current guest worker programs. Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States relates experiences of workers who take on heavy debt to come to the United States for promised work opportunities only to find out the job pays very little—or doesn’t even exist. Worse, employers often hold workers’ identification papers, putting them at the mercy of their employers even if they want to return to their home country.
Milton Rosado, president of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), an AFL-CIO constituency group, welcomed the legislation, saying:
The current immigration system is in desperate need of repair because it has allowed employers to create an underclass of workers, which has effectively reduced working standards for all workers. Immigrants are vital to our economy and deserve a meaningful reform.
Our objective is for Congress to fix the current broken immigration system and pass a substantive and just comprehensive immigration reform. Accepting anything less would be doing a disservice to our country and to all those hard-working immigrants who contribute immensely to the economy.
The AFL-CIO backs strong protections for immigrant workers’ freedoms and rights and opposes guest worker programs. In policy statements, the AFL-CIO Executive Council has said:
- The current system of immigration enforcement is broken and needs to be reformed to allow undocumented workers to work lawfully in the United States, thus taking away employers’ ability to exploit them based on their undocumented status.
- Future workers should come to this country with full rights, not as temporary workers.
- Immigration laws should be enforced in a manner that complements labor law enforcement. Raids and employer sanctions are powerful tools that employers have to diminish workers’ rights.
- All workers, including immigrant workers, should have full workplace freedoms, including the freedom to choose a union. The fight for the Employee Free Choice Act is particularly important for immigrant workers, who are often the victims of employer misconduct during organizing campaigns.
 |
Become a Fan on Facebook |  |
Follow Us on Twitter |  |
Subscribe to YouTube |  |
Subscribe to Blog RSS | ||||
4 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
This is awful! The AFL-CIO has stood firm for so long against such
punitive bills and their guest worker provisions — including in the
face of the craven stance of SEIU, which will endorse anything that moves.
The Flake-Gutierrez bill is no better than any of the past
“compromises” that the Federation has refused to endorse. What changed?
Why give up now?
If you look at the full Sweeney statement at
http://aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/pr03222007a.cfm?RenderForPrint=1
you’ll see he says he hasn’t seen the details of the bill yet. But the details are on the web, and we can see how dangerous it is:
http://flake.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=61177
Andy Pollack
Brooklyn, NY
I don’t know what is happening to the union movement anymore. It appears organized labor is in favor of illegal immigrants taking American jobs and lowering working conditions that previous hard working American workers gave their time, money and blood to establish. The reason most Americans are against any amnesty bill is it was tried in 1986 when four million illegal aliens were given legal status, with many using false documentation, now we are talking maybe 20 million. Come on afl-cio, take the right course and reject amnesty, in any form. The reason something is called illegal, is because it’s against the law.
Ed Norris
Eastpointe, MI
Seems to me that the AFL-CIO has abandoned it’s original charter to protect US jobs and wages, and limit immigration levels and is now pandering to pro-amnesty and cheap labor special intrest groups, LCLAA for example. The AFL-CIO needs to focus on the needs of the union workers it represents in it’s politics.
Although I empathize with all workers – everywhere in the world – I have doubts about immigration reform that advocates amnesty. America serves as a destination for immigrants because she shares opportunities for personal growth and prosperity. Laws and adherence to the laws allow for the existence of a civilization. Without a law abiding citizenry, a civilization does not exist…anarchy exists. Either an individual is law abiding, or non-law abiding. If one breaks the law to enter America’s domain, then how is one to justify one’s presence as a law-abiding, contributing member of American civilization? The argument, “The end justifies the means,” rings hollow. Dictators for millenia have used the same logic.