Thread: AFL-CIO to work with day laborers

Thursday, August 10, 2006
http://www.seattlepi.com

AFL-CIO to work with day laborers
Unions offer help in getting higher wages

P-I STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES


The nation's largest federation of unions agreed Wednesday to work with a network of immigrant day laborer centers to improve wages and working conditions for those who solicit work from street corners across the United States.
The agreement between the AFL-CIO and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, formally adopted in Chicago, is a sign of day laborers' growing role in the U.S. economy.
Experts also said it reflects the need for unions to expand to regain clout.
The agreement does not clear the way for day laborers to become union members, but both sides said it could be a step in that direction.
The agreement calls for the network's 40 nationwide centers -- including CASA Latina in Seattle -- to affiliate with the federation and receive representation on local labor councils.
Under the plan, the AFL-CIO and network will pursue minimum wage campaigns, safety at construction sites and legislation to criminalize employers who stiff day laborers.
The groups will also work toward reform that includes amnesty for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.
"It's surprising to see the depths of support (for day laborers from) the labor movement," said Hilary Stern, executive director of CASA Latina. "There's a lot of hope that this alliance is going to raise the standards of all the workers by strengthening those workers who are the most vulnerable."
Stern, who was in Chicago for the announcement, said her agency's next step is to tell its clients about the agreement, then work on building relationships with state and King County labor leaders.
"It would be possible for CASA Latina to join the district labor council," she said. "We'd have a seat at the table, potentially. We have the official blessings of the AFL-CIO."
Stern believes that plans for the national agreement took off after a series of large immigration rallies nationwide this spring, including in Seattle.
"Organized labor saw there's a lot of power in immigrant workers," she said.
Stern said that CASA Latina has registered 1,034 workers this year from January to July. The agency does not ask workers whether they are legal immigrants.
"This is huge for day laborers," said Abel Valenzuela, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and co-author of the first national study of day laborers released in January.
"The AFL-CIO can hire staff to help with organizing, provide more legal services and lobby on behalf of day laborers," he said.
Among other things, the study found that an average of 117,000 day laborers seek work each day, with the top employers being homeowners. The study, based on surveys at 264 worker sites, including Seattle, found that three-quarters of day laborers were not in the United States legally.
The agreement came as day laborers, a majority of whom are Hispanic and undocumented, take steps to become more organized.
For years, unions have experienced diminishing numbers and clout because of globalization, automation and the transition from an industrial-based economy to one that is service-driven.
Some members see undocumented workers as a vast untapped pool of potential new members. Others, however, think they drag down wages and thwart organizing efforts.
Unions were often at odds while Congress debated immigration reform earlier this year, with some groups arguing against guest-worker programs and amnesty for illegal immigrants.
The dissension was evident last year when a handful of unions, including the Service Employees International Union, broke from the AFL-CIO in an effort to forge a new direction for organized labor.
The breakaway unions complained that the AFL-CIO focused too much on electoral politics and not enough on organizing more people, including immigrant workers.
"The agreement is a strategic move for the AFL-CIO," Valenzuela said. "They are thinking about how to maintain and increase their ranks."
Whether the agreement leads to full unionization will depend on how aggressively the AFL-CIO focuses on day labor issues, and how day laborers respond to organization efforts, said Janice Fine, a labor professor at Rutgers University.
"A union could feel like, 'great, it's just more mouths to feed,' " if that mutual relationship doesn't develop, Fine said.

Here is something else to add to this. Straight from the AFL-CIO page.

Notice the NCLR? More on the following Link.

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/civilright ... 172005.cfm

Union-Backed Coalition Seeks Workplace Protections for Immigrants
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June 17—Strong federal labor laws that protect immigrant workers would benefit employers and all workers, say members of the Low-Wage Immigrant Worker Coalition (LWIWC), a collaboration of state and national advocates co-convened by the AFL-CIO, National Immigration Law Center and the National Council of La Raza.



Union leaders, immigrant rights advocates and members of dozens of grassroots organizations from across the country met in Washington, D.C., June 15 to develop strategies to protect immigrant workers, the most vulnerable workers in the country.

Contact Page for the Different Unions found Here.

http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/unions/