Scripps Howard News Service May 9, 2006
Unions divided over guest-worker program The labor movement, founded on the principle of worker solidarity, is seriously divided over the "guest worker" program proposed as part of immigration reform legislation. Guest worker programs allow foreigners to enter the United States temporarily to take select jobs. The idea is favored by the Service Employees International Union and other unions whose ranks include lots of immigrants. Support for the idea has become part of the drive to make the union movement relevant to new groups of workers. "I think it is another example of old versus new, status quo versus progress and change," said Sal Rosselli, the president of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West. About 40 percent of the members of his union are immigrants. But the idea is opposed by the AFL-CIO, labor's largest confederation, and other unions that say such programs cast workers into second-class status and depress wages. "Guest worker program are a bad idea and harm all workers," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. "Guest worker programs encourage employers to turn good jobs into temporary jobs at reduced wages and diminished working conditions, and contribute to the growing class of workers laboring in poverty." While the two factions disagree on the guest worker plan, both say they support immigrant rights. The AFL-CIO, for example, favors reforms that would allow undocumented immigrants to legalize their status in some circumstances. The guest worker proposals now being considered would give foreigners visas allowing them to work temporarily, with arrangements made by labor contractors. The workers would have to remain employed while in the country or face deportation. President Bush proposes a program that would annually grant 300,000 workers temporary visas for three years, renewable for another three years. His plan does not include legalization of undocumented workers. The key Senate immigration reform bill, sponsored by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., would authorize a larger guest worker program, with 400,000 people entering annually. It offers the undocumented a path to citizenship. The House of Representatives, meanwhile, approved the Border Security, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act, sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., which makes no provisions for guest workers. It would make illegal immigration a felony and erect a fence on the U.S.-Mexico border. The legislation would have to be reconciled with whatever bill comes out of the Senate. Under terms of the Kennedy-McCain legislation, illegal immigrants would be able to apply for temporary visas valid for three years and possibly renewed for another three. Before they could apply for a green card granting them residency, they would have to pay a $2,000 fee, learn English, study American civics, pay any delinquent taxes, and be subject to criminal and national security background checks. They would be considered for citizenship behind the 3.3 million people now ahead of them - at least an 11-year wait. That's amnesty to some - a concept many people fiercely oppose. Guest worker programs, however, get support from powerful business interests, especially in sectors such as agriculture that depend on immigrant labor. They say it's necessary because there simply are not enough Americans willing to do hard work in the fields. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., this year introduced a bill that would allow foreign workers to take agriculture jobs. The measure is supported by strange bedfellows that include growers, the United Farm Workers, the Republican caucus, and assorted liberal and conservative advocacy groups. The Feinstein proposal establishes a "blue card" program that, over five years, would enable 1.5 million farmworkers to gain legal status.
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