AFL-CIO Mobilizes For Executive Amnesty

by Caroline May
31 Mar 2015

The AFL-CIO is starting an effort to train union members and activists from across the country in how to sign illegal immigrants up for President Obama’s executive amnesty.

Tuesday the labor union officially launched its “We Rise” immigration training program.

According to the AFL-CIO, the effort is “designed to reach, mobilize and organize immigrant workers in their workplaces and in their communities” by training more than 200 union members, leaders and activists from 26 states about the president’s recent executive amnesty.

“Participants will be trained to assist as many eligible workers as possible to gain rights on the job by applying for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) programs and to encourage qualified legal permanent residents to become U.S. citizens,” an AFL-CIO blog post explains of the three-day kick-off event in Washington, D.C.

While President Obama’s executive amnesty — specifically the expansion of DACA and DAPA — has been blocked by a federal judge, the AFL-CIO’s effort is moving forward as the Justice Department appeals the decision.

“If anyone asks you why we’re holding this training now, while we wait for a judge to either clear the way or put up another hurdle, tell them this progress can be stalled but it cannot be stopped,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Tuesday during the first day of training, USA Today reports.

According to the blog, the kick-off event has five objectives including efforts to: “Build a shared understanding of what immigration implementation means for workers and the labor movement;” “Identify the strategies, tools and resources necessary for successful implementation;” “Generate a field plan for immigration implementation;” “Create a national network of engaged unions and community partners;” and “Launch the We Rise! Initiative.”

Monday, ahead of an April 17 court hearing, the Justice Department officially filled a brief with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to lift the federal judge’s preliminary hold on Obama’s executive amnesty.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...utive-amnesty/

Don’t unions have a problem with undocumented immigrants?

http://thehandthatfeedsfilm.jubileef...s_problem.jpegDespite the contributions of immigrant workers to the American labor movement, for much of the 20th century, many unions favored restrictive immigration policies. Their view was that immigration was a threat to American workers because immigrants took jobs away from citizens and lowered standards by accepting lower wages and worse working conditions. In the second half of the 20th century, as shrinking immigration quotas led to a boom in illegal immigration, the AFL-CIO took a position that was liberal toward legal immigration while remaining opposed to illegal immigration for the same set of reasons.

Other unions had a history of opposing restrictive immigration policies, and this view began to gain ground in the labor movement in the 1980s and 1990s. For example, the Service Employees International Union increased its membership during this time in part by organizing immigrant workers, as in the Justice for Janitors campaign of the 1990s. Nevertheless, many unions saw undocumented immigrants as “difficult to organize,” and in the early 2000s, as record-breaking numbers of immigrants entered the country legally and illegally, anti-immigrant sentiment remained high in organized labor.

But the first decade of the 21st century saw a shift gradually take place: by 2009, the AFL-CIO and the SEIU agreed on a set of principles for comprehensive immigration reform. In the 2010s, the AFL-CIO and other major unions have strengthened their commitments to organizing immigrant workers, including the undocumented, and advocating for immigration reform. There is an increasing understanding in the labor movement that, because undocumented immigrant workers are often vulnerable to illegal, exploitative conditions imposed by employers, organizing them while fixing our broken immigration system will benefit all workers by raising the “floor” of labor standards.


It is no coincidence that this shift toward solidarity with undocumented workers has taken place during the same period that workers centers have proliferated in the US, and that a low-wage worker movement has emerged at the same time. When employers pay sub-legal wages to undocumented immigrants (or to anyone else for that matter), it doesn’t just hurt the employees—it also hurts the public (since states get less tax revenue), other businesses that that are abiding by the law (through unfair competition), other workers (as industry-wide standards are lowered), and the entire economy— because higher pay in workers’ pockets means greater consumer spending.

Today, though union membership is declining nationwide, it’s actually growing in Latino communities. From 2002 to 2012, the number of union members of Hispanic descent grew by almost 21%.

http://thehandthatfeedsfilm.com/dont...ed-immigrants/

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Today, though union membership is declining nationwide, it’s actually growing in Latino communities. From 2002 to 2012, the number of union members of Hispanic descent grew by almost 21%.

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I guess the unions will eventually figure out that enrolling illegal aliens into their membership is probably the number one reason the union's total numbers are declining. Why would an American Worker pay dues to a union that promotes and lobbies for illegal workers seeking to replace American Workers by stealing their jobs?

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Originally Posted by MW

It is no coincidence that this shift toward solidarity with undocumented workers has taken place during the same period that workers centers have proliferated in the US, and that a low-wage worker movement has emerged at the same time. When employers pay sub-legal wages to undocumented immigrants (or to anyone else for that matter), it doesn’t just hurt the employees—it also hurts the public (since states get less tax revenue), other businesses that that are abiding by the law (through unfair competition), other workers (as industry-wide standards are lowered), and the entire economy— because higher pay in workers’ pockets means greater consumer spending.

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Enrolling illegals hurts all Americans - except union executives. They lock in their salaries.
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American jobs for American workers

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