Posted on 04/14/2009 6:51:03 PM PDT by St. Louis Conservative
The nation’s two major labor federations have agreed for the first time to join forces to support an overhaul of the immigration system, leaders of both organizations said on Monday. The accord could give President Obama significant support among unions as he revisits the stormy issue in the midst of the recession.
John Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and Joe T. Hansen, a leader of the rival Change to Win federation, will present the outlines of their new position on Tuesday in Washington. In 2007, when Congress last considered comprehensive immigration legislation, the two groups could not agree on a common approach. That legislation failed.
The accord endorses legalizing the status of illegal immigrants already in the United States and opposes any large new program for employers to bring in temporary immigrant workers, officials of both federations said.
“The labor movement will work together to make sure that the White House as well as Congress understand that we speak about immigration reform with one voice,” Mr. Sweeney said in a statement to The New York Times.
But while the compromise repaired one fissure in the coalition that has favored broad immigration legislation, it appeared to open another. An official from the United States Chamber of Commerce said Monday that the business community remained committed to a significant guest-worker program.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
At least the Chamber of Commerce may not be on board this time.
Any American member of the AFL-CIO should understand where their leadership is coming from.
True. Union leadership’s goals are frequently at odds with the workers’ views, however something this explosive could lead to a full blown revolt.
Unemployment growing these people are nuts.
Look, the Unions were the original immigration restrictionists. They wanted to limit the masses of cheap labor coming into the country. Especially Chinese Coolie labor in the West.
Now they face the hypocrisy of their support for the Dimmocrat multi-culti diversity machine. If they oppose amnesty and Third World immigration, they're racists, and become Pariahs in the Democrat world.
If they go along with amnesty and continued mass immigration, they sell out their members.
Their only saving grace is this: if the illegals unionize, then what's the point of hiring them? The employers will shrug and stop doing it.
So the Unions have to have a poison pill. Absolute rigid wage and benefit parity, no B team for the illegals. Then they know the employers do the dirty work for them, and drop support for the whole thing.
Watch what happens. This is the wedge in the Treason Party.
It is not the first time union leadership has sold out their members.
Also, make illegal immigrants legal and unionized-the employers
will seek out more illegals and the cycle begins again.
Ping!
Unfortunately, Obama has decreed that they have to hire union contractors for govt. jobs. The unions want the dues.
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