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Trumka at CNN: Undocumented Workers Need Legal Rights
In a global economy in the 21st century, the United States cannot afford to have millions of hard-working people without legal protections, shut off from economic gain—and that means we must face head-on our own contradictions, hypocrisy and history on immigration, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says in an opinion piece at CNN’s website.
In “Undocumented Workers Need Legal Rights,” Trumka writes:
I hear from working people who should know better that immigrants are taking our jobs, ruining our country. When I hear that kind of talk, I want to say, did an immigrant move your plant overseas? Or take away your pension? Or cut your health care? Did an immigrant crash the financial system? Did immigrant workers write the trade laws that have destroyed so many jobs and industries?
In the column and in his widely-circulated June 18 speech to the City Club of Cleveland, Trumka says our economic strategy must ensure all of us will “have a fair shake,” He points out that the AFL-CIO supports a fair path toward legalization for all undocumented workers who are working to realize the American dream. You can find the plan here.
We are for the DREAM Act, which gives young people a future in the only country they know. We need an independent commission to determine our society’s genuine need for more immigrants, and then we need to build a pathway that allows those immigrants to have secure rights from Day One. We’re also for establishing real penalties for employers that break the law.
Read the full opinion column here.
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9 Comments
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I just heard you speak on MSNBC, concerning illegal aliens. They are NOT undocumented workers, that is like calling the drug dealers un-licensed pharmacists.
The NEED to be sent back to their country of origin.
They are destroying AMERICA, get ‘em out of MY country.
ATT: RICHARD TRUMKA——-this is an unwinnable argument!!!
THE COURTS NEED GUIDE LINES, THE JUSTICE SYSTEM HAS BEEN BROKEN, THE CONGRESS SHOULD LOOK VERY STRONGLY AT THIS. MUCH DESCRIMINATION IS BEING DONE. THE LAWERS, JUDGES, CLERK, THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS BROKEN. THE COMMON MAN IS DECRIMINATED IN THE PRESENT SYSTEM.
OK they censured my last comment,I guess so let’s try this,comments like this make Richaard Trumka and the AFL-CIO look like a bunch of fools.Illegal Immigration and Corporate Greed are two completely different animals.One has nothing to to do with the other and both are destorying AMERICAN FAMILIES.Start paying attention to the RANK and FILE because we are getting very tried of being ignored.Let’s get the borders under control then we can worry about what to do with the law breakers that are already here.Sucking up to the DEMOCRATS and the CHAMBER of COMMERCE is not what the rank and file want to see.
What part of illegal do you not understand?
On the same day that Barack Obama decided to speak on immigration reform, twenty one people were killed near the Arizona border as a result of a gun battle involving rival Mexican drug and illegal alien trafficking gangs.
There is a need to use e-verify and penalize unscrupulous employers that hire individuals that are not legally entitled to work.
Thank you Richard Trumka for bringing REALITY and common sense to yet another argument anti-union propagandists try to distort.
Republicans = the party of hate & fear.
What about Eddie York Mr. Trumka? He was a law abiding citizen, did he have rights? What part of illegal alien do you not understand?
The United States of America is under attack from within and the leadership of organized labor is one of the enemies that needs to be destroyed. More of us are awake now and they don’t care. For so long we trusted the leaders of our country and our unions to do what is best for this country. This issue is one of the best examples of how the AFL-CIO does not care about the sovereignty of our country they are only interested in power and control.
I have been reading the Declaration of Independence in celebration of July 4th. I also began studying the U.S. Constitution some months ago. My country comes first before my union. God bless America!
Visionary: It is great to see that there are some who are starting to get it.