Union Activists Take on Immigration Provisions

As Congress began debate on a new immigration bill, members of TechsUnite and the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech), CWA Local 37083, sent a message to Senators and Representatives: Increasing the number of H1-B visas issued is bad policy, for high tech workers and the U.S. economy.

A May 24 ad in Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper on legislative issues, urged Congress not to expand the H1-B visa program and to keep opportunity for U.S. workers. TechsUnite and WashTech members from 32 states contributed funds to place the ad; 337 members participated in the Internet fund drive, WashTech said. (See the ad and read more at www.washtech.org.)

The AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees reinforced the call to limit H1-B visas, noting that college graduates with math, science and engineering degrees will see fewer jobs as a result of the H1-B expansion. Industry claims there are "widespread and pervasive shortages of qualified workers, but no independent, unbiased statistical evidence substantiates these claims," said DPE President Paul Almeida.

AFL-CIO unions are organizing actions next week when Senators are at home for recess. Union members are mobilizing to change key provisions in the proposed immigration legislation that the Senate began debating on May 21.

The union movement strongly opposes the proposed "guest worker" program, which would bring in hundreds of thousands of temporary workers every year, with no job protections, said AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson. This provision "will ensure that America has two classes of workers?and that all workers will suffer as employers will be able to exploit" both native and immigrant workers.

As the Senate considers changes to the bill, it so far has voted to cut in half the number of guest workers permitted to temporarily enter the country, to 200,000, by a 74-24 vote.