N.Y. Times: ‘Expanding Guest Worker Program Would Be Tragic, Ridiculous’

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/03/13/ny-times-expanding-guest-worker-program-would-be-tragic-ridiculous/

N.Y. Times: ‘Expanding Guest Worker Program Would Be Tragic, Ridiculous’

by James Parks, Mar 13, 2007

The cornerstone of the Bush administration’s immigration reform is to increase the number of guest workers allowed to work here on a temporary basis. Every year, thousands of immigrant workers from Mexico, South America, Asia and other countries clean hotel rooms, pick produce, process seafood and build homes and commercial office buildings.

But, in return for the labor they perform, these workers often are exploited ruthlessly, often cheated out of their already low wages and some are forced to live in conditions that could best be described as modern-day slavery.

In yesterday’s New York Times, columnist Bob Herbert previewed a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center that details the widespread abuse of workers in the current guest worker programs. Click here to read the full column.

“Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States” was released today at a press conference in Washington, D.C.

Herbert related the stories of two workers, one in New Orleans and another in North Carolina, who took on heavy debt to come to the United States for promised work opportunities only to find out the job paid very little—or didn’t even exist. Worse, employers often hold workers’ identification papers, putting them at the mercy of their employers even if they want to return to their home country.

Herbert says the evidence shows guest worker programs should not be expanded:

President Bush has been relentless in his push to greatly expand guest worker programs as part of his effort to revise the nation’s immigration laws. To expand these programs without looking closely at the gruesome abuses already taking place would be both tragic and ridiculous.

The AFL-CIO backs strong protections for immigrant workers’ freedoms and rights and opposes guest worker programs. In policy statements, the AFL-CIO Executive Council has said:

* The current system of immigration enforcement is broken and needs to be reformed to allow undocumented workers to work lawfully in the United States, thus taking away employers’ ability to exploit them based on their undocumented status.
* Future workers should come to this country with full rights, not as temporary workers.
* Immigration laws should be enforced in a manner that complements labor law enforcement. Raids and employer sanctions are powerful tools that employers have to diminish workers’ rights.
* All workers, including immigrant workers, should have full workplace freedoms, including the freedom to choose a union. The fight for the Employee Free Choice Act is particularly important for immigrant workers, who are often the victims of employer misconduct during organizing campaigns.