Thread: Labor Union Acts as Labor Broker For Illegal Aliens

Labor Union Acts as Labor Broker For Illegal Aliens

October 2nd, 2007 by MorningStar

The Sacramento Bee reported on October 1, 2007 that Oakland-based United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers Local 81 have decided to push the AFL-CIO’s immigration agenda to the max by defying federal immigration laws and enrolling illegal aliens in the local’s apprenticeship program.

This is a very interesting development and it should be even more interesting to see how the federal government handles the situation. This goes far beyond merely training illegal aliens to do roofing work in a union apprenticeship program because Local 81 is acting as a labor broker for the illegal aliens in their program just the same as they are for the apprentices that are American citizens.

Sections 1773.3 of California’s heavily union influenced labor code requires building contractors awarded public works contracts to maintain an established ratio of apprentices to journeymen on every public works job, and the government agency awarding the building contract is required by law to notify the union dominated Division of Apprenticeship Standards so that they can ensure full compliance with this counter-productive law. The normal ratio of apprentices to journeymen required on public works jobs in California is 1 apprentice for every five journeymen hired.

Section 1776 requires every contractor and sub-contractor on a public works job to keep an accurate payroll record showing the name of the employee, the employees address and Social Security number, work classification, straight time and overtime hours worked each day and week, and the actual per diem wages paid. These records are to be maintained for every apprentice hired as well as the journeymen workers. Furthermore, every payroll record must contain a written declaration attesting to its accuracy and that it is made under penalty of perjury. These records are made available to the contracting agency, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, and the Division of Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations.

By allowing illegal aliens to participate in their apprenticeship training program the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers Local 81 is effectively forcing the states building contractors to violate federal immigration laws by supplying those contractors with illegal alien apprentices which the contractor is then obligated to hire. Furthermore, since the illegal aliens do not have legitimate Social Security numbers and are supplying the contractors with false Social Security numbers, Local 81 is putting everyone of them in a position where they must attest under penalty of perjury the accuracy of information which the Local Union knows is false. To put it very simply, the unions are using the laws they lobbied into existence for their own benefit years ago to now embed illegal alien workers into public works jobs financed by the taxpayers.

Robert Balgenorth, president of the California chapter of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, has justified the AFL-CIO’s immigration agenda by pointing out the significant decline of union membership in the housing-construction industry as more than 20 million illegal aliens have flooded into the country and union membership has dropped to the point where only 12% of the American workforce is now represented by organized labor. Balgenorth is hopeful that if the illegal aliens are eventually allowed to earn legal status they will help to replenish the declining ranks of union members. Admittedly, Balgenorth’s flimsy justification for violating American immigration law appears fairly comical in light of the fact that the number of union members in this country is entirely dependent on the employer’s demand for workers and has nothing to do with how many people the unions can con into paying union dues, however, the strategy the AFL-CIO has adopted could have a negative effect on the country’s economy by increasing its dependence on a skilled workforce predominantly made up of petty criminals who entered this country without authorization and remained here in continuing violation of this nation’s immigration laws. Essentially, the position of the AFL-CIO is that, since their membership is dwindling down to insignificance they have the self-determined right to violate any laws they see fit in the attempt to build that membership back up. Morally, their position is reprehensible and entirely without merit and the United States government should make an example of the AFL-CIO affiliate unions who participate in this effort by enlisting illegal aliens as apprentices by decertifying them and prosecuting their leadership to the fullest extent of the law.
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Where are the legal members of this union? I just can't conjure up any reasonable excuse for them not holding the union accountable. The unions are a group that can make things happen. They have the numbers and the brotherhood. If they would put up some resistance it could be the start of an important movement.

The union said it has the names, numbers, SS#, payroll records etc. If that is true and when the aliens are hired, then everyones info is wrong. The Union just wants MONEY,MONEY,MONEY,MONEY,MONEY. MONEY IS TRYLY THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL. I HOPE EVERYONE. The feds won't do any thing about this as usual.

Wow, are they planning a franchise in Dallas? They'll fit right in with the "temp agencies" around here that will play middle man for an illegal that holds the same job for five+ years and tries to even assert "seniority" rights over the regular employees.

This crap has got to stop.