Thread: Labor, Religious Leaders Push for Immigration Overhaul

Capitol and California - National Political News

Labor, religious leaders push for immigration overhaul
By Susan Ferriss
sferriss@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jan. 09, 2009 | Page 4A

With Inauguration Day approaching, prominent religious and labor union figures who want an overhaul of immigration law have high hopes for their cause.

Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and John Wilhelm, president of the hospitality workers section of UNITE HERE, joined with others Thursday to urge President-elect Barack Obama to start negotiating a change this year.

"We need a just resolution to a public debate that is dangerously corrosive and will only worsen with inaction," Mahony said in a telephone news conference. "To continue to delay action will increase tension in states and localities."

UNITE HERE, one of the fastest growing U.S. unions, organizes workers, many of them immigrants and ethnic minorities, in businesses ranging from garment factories to hotels and casinos.

"I don't think it's possible to fix the economy without comprehensive immigration reform," Wilhelm said.

The union leader said he believes immigrants have always fueled U.S. economic growth and filled legitimate labor needs. But he said the country needs a new immigration system that can better manage and admit workers legally to fill labor shortages.

Wilhelm urged offering an earned legalization program to an estimated 12 million undocumented workers. He said it would help increase all workers' bargaining power and boost tax collection.

"In the interest of the economy, we've got to bring the 12 million out of the shadows," Wilhelm said.

Groups that oppose legalizing the undocumented are also gearing up to pressure Obama and Congress.

Arguing that legal immigrants threaten Americans' jobs, especially during a recession, Washington, D.C.-based Numbers USA announced Thursday it plans a letter-writing campaign calling for a timeout on legal immigrant workers.

In a letter to Obama, the group said that "families are unlikely to feel the impact of your job-creation plan … because of our current immigration and visa policies."

Janet Murgia, president of National Council of la Raza, a civil rights group, responded that most Americans are "tired of naysayers" on immigration issues.

She and others are buoyed by Obama's statements of support for immigration reform and Cabinet appointments such as Los Angeles-area Rep. Hilda Solis, Obama's nominee for secretary of labor.

On its Web site, UNITE HERE calls Solis, the daughter of Mexican and Nicaraguan immigrants who were union supporters, "a proven advocate."

Call The Bee's Susan Ferriss, (916) 321-1267.
http://www.sacbee.com/341/story/1528156.html

Contacts:
His Eminence Roger Cardinal Mahony
Archdiocese of Los angeles
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, Calif. 90010-2241
http://www.archdiocese.la/

UNITE HERE
www.unitehere.org/

Please see source article for internal and "External Links".

UNITE HERE
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (September 200

UNITE HERE

Founded 2004
Members 465,000
Country North America
Affiliation Change to Win Coalition, CLC
Key people Bruce S. Raynor, president, John W. Wilhelm, president Hospitality
Office location New York City
Website www.unitehere.org

UNITE HERE is a labor union with more than 465,000 active members in the United States and Canada, predominantly in the hotel, food service, apparel and textile manufacturing, laundry, warehouse, and CASINO GAMING industries. The union was formed in 2004 by the merger of UNITE (formerly the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees) and HERE (Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union).

The general president of UNITE HERE is Bruce S. Raynor, and the president of UNITE HERE's hospitality division is John W. Wilhelm. Wilhelm shares executive, budgetary, and personnel authority with Raynor.

In 2005, UNITE HERE withdrew from the AFL-CIO and joined the Change to Win Coalition, along with several other unions, including the Teamsters, SEIU and the UFCW. UNITE HERE Vice-President Edgar Romney was elected the first secretary-treasurer of the new labor federation.

Contents [hide]
1 Hotel bargaining
2 Yale University
3 Political & Legal action
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Hotel bargaining

UNITE HERE has fought for substantial wage increases for workers in the traditionally low-paid hotel and tourism sector.

Major UNITE HERE hotel contracts in Toronto, New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Honolulu and Chicago expired in 2006, raising the possibility of a multi-city strike to support the union's collective bargaining objectives. Contracts were settled in all cities -- including San Francisco, which had been expired since 2004 -- with the exception of Los Angeles.

Prominent celebrities such as actor Danny Glover, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Reverend Jesse Jackson, former U.S. Senator and Democratic Party Presidential candidate John Edwards, and PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA have endorsed UNITE HERE's 2006 contract campaign.

[edit] Yale University

Since 1987, graduate student teaching assistants (TAs) at Yale University have been trying to organize a union, first affiliated with HERE and now with UNITE HERE. UNITE HERE represents two other groups of employees on campus: clerical and technical employees who are members of UNITE HERE Local 34, and service and maintenance employees who are members of UNITE HERE Local 35. The Yale TAs' organization is now called the Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO), and along with the other UNITE HERE locals at Yale, is affiliated to the Federation of Hospital and University Employees. To date, Yale has refused to recognize or bargain with GESO.

[edit] Political & Legal action

UNITE HERE has also been affiliated with various political causes, such as the anti-Iraq war and pro-immigration rights movements. On May 6th UNITE HERE sanctioned affiliation with a pro - immigration rally (which followed the "Day Without a Mexican" protest) in Malcolm X Park in Washington, DC. The union also participates in protests against the Iraq war.

[edit] See also

Organized Labour portal
Culinary Workers Union
Hotel Workers Rising
Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE)
Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE)
Change to Win Federation
Mike Casey

[edit] External links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNITE_HERE

Three organization with the most to gain

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH and CARDINAL MAHONY

THE HOSPITALITY WORKERS UNION (with the Socialistic name of UNITE HERE).

THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA

Those with the most to lose:

THE AMERICAN WORKER

THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER

Labor, religious leaders push for immigration overhaul

The Labor Department is corrupt and wants to hire illegal slaves and NOT AMERICANS.

The Catholic Church is also corrupt and a lawless Neanderthal bunch in weird outfits.
They should be forced to disband on the grounds they are not smart enough to run a nonprofit.
They also have too much overhead and do not give enough to charity.
All they do is bitch and put the monetary debts on the towns and city's.
They are useless and ignorant in these 21st Century times.
They discriminate against women and the gay folks.
They frown on science and fact.

Archdiocese of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202
213 637 7000
info@la-archdiocese.org

From "Lonewacko" Blog:
http://24ahead.com/cardinal-mahony-jane ... rry-ali-no
Please see source to access links.

Cardinal Mahony, Janet Murguia, Unite Here, Frank Sharry, Ali Noorani pretend immigration "reform" would be good for the economy

It was a meeting of the far-left illegal immigration-supporting All Stars earlier today as Cardinal Roger Mahony, Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza, Frank Sharry of America's Voice, John Wilhelm of the Unite Here union, and Ali Noorani of the National Immigration Forum joined on a conference call. From their press release (link), here's the "why":

The preeminent moral voice supporting just and comprehensive immigration reform joins the President of one of America's leading pro-immigrant unions, the head of the largest Latino civil rights organization, and national pro-reform leaders to discuss the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform as the 44th President and 111th Congress take office.

Anna Gorman of the Los Angeles Times listened in, and offers this:

"I don’t think it's possible to fix the American economy without comprehensive immigration reform," John Wilhelm, president of Unite Here, said during a media call.

Wilhelm said legislation would improve the economy by placing workers and employers on an even playing field, eliminating exploitation and increasing wages and tax compliance.

This is the second time I've noticed that line, and I'm calling it a trend. The previous comments apply in this case. Apparently whoever writes the lines for these people thought it up in response to complaints that "reform" wasn't possible during a recession, and it would be great to know who thought it up originally.

Cardinal Mahoney opposed the sustenance of an underclass; he's partially responsible for that due to his support for illegal activity. If he really wanted to avoid that, he'd work to discourage illegal immigration and demand that Mexico fixes their own country rather than sending their people north.

It would be fairly easy to show just how corrupt and illogical the "preeminent moral voice" is if anyone would try to ask him tough questions about this issue. Discrediting Mahoney or others who use a religious justification to support illegal activity would take a great deal of wind out of the sails of the "reform" movement.