Strange bedfellows?
This evening, NPR had a story with the headline "Strange Bedfellows Join Forces on Immigration Bill," on how SEIU (the Service Employees International Union) is joining with the Chamber of Commerce to support a "guest worker" program — a program that would allow non-citizens to come the US to work legally without putting them on the path toward citizenship. Think H1B visas, but for low-skilled workers.
This made my jaw drop. As NPR noted, unions have traditionally looked with suspicion on immigrants, fearing that they would impose downward pressure on wages. (I wrote my undergraduate thesis on two obscure 19th century labor activists, and it was amazing how modern their concerns about immigration and about technological displacement sounded.) More recently, unions have recognized that cracking down on illegal immigrants once they’re in the country (as opposed to stopping them from entering in the first place) mostly serves to make them even less able to stand up to unscrupulous employers than they’d be otherwise. As the Drum Major Institute notes in its recent report on immigration policy:
"Because undocumented workers are under constant threat of deportation, they cannot effectively assert their rights in the marketplace… So U.S.-born workers are left to either accept the same diminished wages and degraded working conditions as immigrants living under threat of deportation or be shut out of whole industries… The solution is to eliminate the second-class labor market in this two-tiered system and allow immigrants and U.S.-born workers to compete on an even playing field by allowing immigrants — including undocumented workers — equal labor rights."
Unions have usually looked with great suspicion on guest worker programs, fearing that they will institutionalize a two-tier labor market. I’d love to hear more about what made SEIU decide to sign on.
January 20th, 2006 at 5:39 am
Looks like the Catholic church and the SEIU are motivated by the same thing – both see legalizing illegal immigrants as a way to increase their membership. When even Dean and the Democratic party come out in favor of this, I feel that commonsense is not just uncommon, it is long gone…
In the process, no one is talking about doing anything to put a stop to the tide of illegals continuing to flow in.
As a legal immigrant who had to wait many years to get a green card, I feel outraged.
I feel annoyed too, that unlike all previous waves of immigrants, these illegal immigrants refuse to learn the language and join the mainstream. The 2-tier society will continue to exist on more than one level.
While American consumers appear to benefit from lower prices, they forget that lower prices come on the backs of captive helpless labor, and this while depressing the standard of living of native-born Americans who would otherwise take those jobs since they would pay better.
Face it, the 2-tier system is here to stay… We will become a banana republic..
January 20th, 2006 at 9:06 am
I think that H1B visas are already used somewhat to deal with ‘shortages’ in the service sector–particularly in the landscaping industry, although I have a friend who’s an employment lawyer who had an H1B visa case involving a commercial window washing company.
As far as Anon’s concerns go, there have always been some US immigrants who didn’t learn the language. I have a family member who married into a family of Cuban expatriates who have been here since the 60s and the parents still don’t speak English. I grew up on the blue collar part of the East Coast, and had plenty of friends whose grandparents only spoke Czech, or German, or Polish or some other language. I appreciate the frustration of a legal immigrant who went through the channels to get a green card, etc., but I don’t think we profit from a ‘I suffered so you should too’ mentality.
And there are SEIU locals with enormous immigrant memberships in California and New York. They’re also doing a lot of organizing in places like Arizona, Texas and Florida in industries that already have lots of immigrants. I’d say you don’t have to look much farther than that as an explanation for what the union is doing. The other major union that has been involved in this debate is UNITE HERE!, who organized the Immigrant Worker Freedom Ride of 2003.
January 20th, 2006 at 9:39 am
landismom,
It is not the “I suffered so you should too mentality” at all. It is that the illegals are jumping ahead in line while others follow the rules and wait patiently for their turn.
As for the language issue, it is one thing to come as an older immigrant and not be able to learn the language. I sympathise with that. But quite another to expect – demand – that the host country make accomodations because of their sheer numbers – which are inflated because of the winking of govt and industry and now the dem party to what is – primarily – the breaking of the law.
Consider this – we never needed Czech, German or Polish language signs in stores. We do in Spanish. Consider too that I am not understood at a restuarant when I ask for water in English – simply because the server speaks no English.
When I was looking for someone to clean my house, I invariably reached able-bodied illegal immigrant women. Then I found Kathleen – a native born (white) woman in her 60s who was competing for work with the illegals. I gladly hired her, paying her slightly more than what I would have gotten away with paying the illegals.
To me it IS a moral issue. While I feel sorry for the illegal women, I don’t think it is right for me to hire them when there is an American woman willing to do the same work and, unfortunately, having to – unfairly, in my view – compete with them.
I would gladly pay more to eat out – or eat out less – if prices went up because restaurant workers are paid a Living Wage.
Let us institute a living wage and then see how many Americans don’t line up before deciding that our need for labor is so severe that we must exploit the helpless!
January 20th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Anon, I don’t know where you live. In the fairly large city that I live in, there are signs in lots of languages–Russian, Mandarin, Spanish, Vietnamese are just a few of the ones that spring to mind. I don’t feel injured in any way by those signs–regardless of the reason that they’re there.
And I agree that it’s not fair for employers to pit undocumented workers against native-born workers in order to drive wages to the bottom. We absolutely need a living wage in this country, and the minimum wage is not cutting it for anyone. But it’s the status quo that has created the current situation, and the status quo does not include a generous immigration policy.
January 20th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
no! no! no guest workers! this is going to be an extension of the ag temp-labor bill passed several years ago, damn it, allowing employers to hire at ridiculous wages if nobody else will do the job as a slave.
probably inevitable given the climate, but seiu’s being taken for a ride, I think. if they think they have trouble organizing citizens, wait till they try organizing people dependent on employer- or govt-program-sponsored visas. I’m sure they’re eager to get at the rest of those hotel workers, but jesus, what a price.
well, if you’re a nurse, start socking it away now. I don’t think those $70K jobs is gonna last.
January 20th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Amy,
Thank you for adding the much-needed perspective to this debate.
In my mind, it is not about the helpless illegal immigrants. It is about trying to hold on to the gains that we have already made and not letting the corporations erode those gains.
The choice is simple – Do we want to live in a banana republic with an ever growing underclass of have-nots? To me that defines our society’s real standard of living.
I grew up with a “servant” to wait on me and my family. Believe me, the guilt is no picnic and the shame lasts forever.
January 20th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
Frankly, I’m scanning for ways to avoid becoming the servant class, & more importantly to me at this point, for my daughter to avoid it. I don’t think it’s going to be so easy, and the simplest solution looks like accumulating rental property in the nice, stable, captive market that exists locally. But I’m guessing — totally out of my ass — that it’ll probably be another 5-15 years before things stabilize in India & China enough to see what the professional competition structure really looks like.
Which reminds me, I wonder if the doctors are getting scared yet. You can guest-worker them too, as soon as the imports get their US licenses. I do believe we’ve got a shortage coming up.