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The AFL-CIO Executive Council on Feb. 16 took a stand in solidarity
with immigrant workers, calling for reforms that will protect
workplace rights and freedoms and hold employers accountable when
they exploit immigrant workers.
Meeting in New Orleans, council members unanimously passed a
resolution
that calls for replacing the current system of employer verification
of workers' eligibility to work in the United States. It also
urges a new amnesty program and full workplace rights and freedoms
for all workers—immigrant, native born, documented and undocumented.
"Immigrants have played an important role in building democratic
institutions," said Linda Chavez-Thompson, AFL-CIO executive vice
president. "The current system of immigration enforcement in the
U.S. is broken. If we are to have an immigration system that works,
it must be orderly, responsible and fair."
The current system not only has failed to stop the flow of undocumented
immigrants into this country—it also has led to discrimination
and does not punish employers who exploit undocumented workers,
"thus denying labor rights for all workers," the Executive Council
statement said.
A new system should prevent employer discrimination against
individuals who look or sound foreign and allow workers to seek
a voice at work by joining a union regardless of immigration status.
Union leaders noted that the recent case of undocumented hotel
workers in Minneapolis who came together to form a union and now
are faced with deportation shows why such workers should be provided
protected immigration status.
"Employers often knowingly hire workers who are undocumented,
and then when workers seek to improve working conditions, employers
manipulate the law to fire or intimidate workers," Chavez-Thompson
said. "This subverts the intent of the law and lowers working
standards for all workers. The law should criminalize employer
behavior, not punish workers."
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