AFL-CIO CALLS FOR FULL AMNESTY AND LEGALIZATION OF UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS

The executive council of the AFL-CIO, the largest union in the US, with 13 million members, on Wednesday called upon the government to grant an amnesty to the estimated 5 million undocumented immigrants currently in the US.  The union also asked that employers be held accountable for exploiting them, and called for the repeal of employer sanctions for hiring undocumented workers.

One of the primary reasons for this major shift in position was the belief that employers used the threat of employer sanctions to retaliate against undocumented workers who participated in union activities.  According to Linda Chavez-Thompson the Executive Vice-President of the AFL-CIO, “Employers often knowingly hire workers who are undocumented, and then when workers seek to improve working conditions employers use the law to fire or intimidate workers.  This both subverts the intent of the law and lowers working and living standards for all workers-immigrant and non-immigrant-in many industries.”  She added that “The law should criminalize employer behavior, not punish workers.” 

Part of the resolution also calls for the development of educational and training programs to educate all workers on immigration issues.  It also calls for an increased national dialogue on immigration.  To further this dialogue, the AFL-CIO will sponsor a series of meetings of foreign workers, community leaders, and union activists.  The first of these is scheduled for April 1 in New York City.

Reaction to the AFL-CIO decision has been mixed.  Frank Sharry, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigration advocacy group says the decision will “be a shot heard round Washington.”  He thinks the new position might “have the makings of a business-labor compact that could draw new immigration policies for the next decade.”

The decision was also supported by the US Chamber of Commerce, which represents over 3000 businesses in the US.  The Chamber believes that the amnesty will help alleviate worries about workers shortages, which are being felt in almost every industry in the country, from high-tech computers to hotels and restaurants.

Of course, there are groups that oppose the decision.  Dan Stein, the executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates restricted immigration, said the call for amnesty would only encourage continued illegal immigration.  According to Stein, “These pronouncements send signals around the world that this country should continue to be flooded with illegal workers.”

Rep. Lamar S. Smith (R-Tex.), chairman of House immigration subcommittee and well known for his often anti-immigration positions, called the AFL-CIO decision “a betrayal of American workers.”  He accused the union of making the move to stop declining union enrollment.

Along with an eventual amnesty, the AFL-CIO resolution calls for an immediate amnesty for Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans and Haitians who fled their countries in the 1980s and early 1990s.  Other beneficiaries of the immediate amnesty would be Liberians in the US who fled the recent civil war in their home country, and as many as 350,000 long-term US residents who were denied amnesty in 1986, according to many groups because of INS mistakes.

Despite this fundamental change in one aspect of its immigration related policy, the AFL-CIO has no plan to change its stance in another, and remains opposed to any increase in the number of temporary work visas.