[lbo-talk] Organized Labor Split Over Immigration Bill

[gboozell at juno.com]

For low-wage and day labor workers in Illinois, citizen status has no
bearing on labor law enforcement or even the right
of private legal action against employers.  That said, enforcement is
sparse and private legal action is fairly unlikely from 
undocumented immigrant workers fearing retaliation and deportation. My
concern is that the proposed guest worker 
program will do little or nothing to address that fear.  

The new law seems to do more to legally sanction the unequal relationship
between employers and many undocumented workers, and to minimize or
eliminate any legal exposure an employer might have under current law. 

Greg
gboozell at juno.com

On Sat, 08 Apr 2006 20:08:15 +0000 srobin21 at comcast.net (Steven L.
Robinson) writes:
Even if the guest worker was present completely at the pleasure of the
employer - and I am not familiar with the language of the current bill -
the fact that the status is in some sense regularized means that there is
greater space for activity to protect their rights - even if only for
such things as litigation to enforce wage and hour standards and
administrative agency litigation with immigration agency, than is  the
case now where the undocumented are forced to live completely iin the
shadows of the economy.  Granted, however, that amnesty is far
preferable. SR

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: gboozell at juno.com 

I thought that under the proposed guest worker program, immigrant workers
remained
in this country at the pleasure of the employer.  

If that's true, how does that enhance job security - or has the guest
worker proposal changed?

Greg Boozell
gboozell at juno.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <../attachments/20060408/6b9ca9bf/attachment.htm>