Labor's Necessary Debate on Immigration

Yes, politics does make strange bedfellows. Last week Andy Stern of SEIU, Terrence O’Sullivan of Laborers International Union, along with representatives from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the American Health Care Association, and the US Chamber of Commerce, held a press conference to announce the formation of a coalition to promote passage of the McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill.

Key features of the bill include provisions for undocumented workers already in the US to normalize their immigrations status and for the creation of a guest worker program to allow hundreds of thousands of workers to come to work in the US under a new short-term visa program. After 4 years they would be eligible to apply for a green card.

“Most times we’re on opposite ends of the issue on Capitol Hill, but on this one we are in agreement. We agree that to fix this immigration system that is completely broken we need to legalize the people who are here and find a legal way for workers to come in the future” said Eliseo Medina of SEIU.

But the coalition highlights the state of confusion and dissention within the labor movement about immigration reform. Not even all of the coalition partners are united in total support for McCain-Kennedy. The Laborers, for instance, do not support a key provision of the bill—the establishment of a guest worker program. “We will not agree point on point on immigration reform. But the majority of the major components we do agree upon. And there’s strength in numbers” according to O’Sullivan.

Shortly after the press conference, the AFL-CIO jumped into the debate with sharply worded criticism of union support for a bill that includes a guest worker program. “We’re   turning permanent jobs into jobs that are temporary, staffed by temporary workers. It’s really troubling that any labor union is just sitting back and conceding that this is something that needs to happen,” said Ana Avendano of the AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO supports amnesty for undocumented workers but has been lobbying hard against any guest worker programs.

We think it’s fair to say that no one in the labor movement likes all of the provisions of the McCain-Kennedy Bill. It’s a compromise bill that tries to bring together enough interest groups to make passage of an immigrant friendly bill possible. And the problem with fashioning such a compromise in this case is that the interest groups needed for passage have contradictory agendas: the Chamber of Commerce’s wants cheap labor; SEIU’s wants protection for its growing immigrant membership. For labor the real question, then,  is whether this bill is worth the compromises need for passage.

The whole brouhaha is in part a regrettable result of the labor failure to develop its own comprehensive immigration plan. Fashioning such a plan should involve not just the US labor movement, but progressive elements of the Mexican labor movement, and other labor and social movements affected by US immigration policies. If there ever there was an issue for “global unionism”, to use a current buzz word, it is the global migration of people looking for jobs.

N.B. Labor is not alone in its confusion and dissention. We reported in an earlier blog that the Republicans are also spilt on immigration reform. The corporate wing of the party, represented by the Chamber of Commerce, wants a guest worker program. But the anti-immigrant Right wants a lock-down at the borders. Within the past month a draconian immigrant reform bill pushed by the Right that would build a wall along the border (literally) and make felons out of undocumented workers passed the house.

The division between the corporate and the hard-Right factions of the Republican Party may lead to paralysis on immigration reform, especially in the run-up to next year’s Congressional elections. Labor should take the time to step back and organize a transnational discussion to come up with its own plan for immigration reform and a campaign to implement it.

The McCain-Kennedy Bill and the debate which it triggers can be part of Labor’s discussion. In our next blog we will discuss the bill and the questions it raises.

Comments

[slink]

hey why butt heads here

notice the exchange rate system sometime

ever heard of purchasing power equalization..

on that basis there's a north south tilt

a bias a bank wind that sends capital investments sailing south and south products and services back north

a nice two way trans national freeway

end this exchange rate based tilt
and protectionism becomes a very secondary issue
not one that pits free trade
against fair trade in an endless no win wrangle

[abr]

First, what "chips?" Second, McCain-Kennedy does have a path to citizenship. Workers who jump through the hoops and register with the government would be eligible for permanent residency in six years and citizenship in 11.

I posted some of my research links here: http://www.allenriddell.com/weblog/2006/01/immigration_res.html

[janinsanfran]

This is more than unfortunate. The labor folks who have jumped on the Kennedy-McCain band wagon are giving away their chips on immigration reform. Kennedy-McCain is likely to be the high water mark from which worker protections are bargained down. And it isn't pretty to begin with, setting up a guest worker program that would make it nearly impossible for immigrant workers to exercise any rights (or be organized.) Labor is screwed if "reform" means workers without civil rights. There is zero sign that any immigration reform with a real path to citizenship for our immigrant work force is going to come out of any of this.

Why are they giving away the store before the fight?