“Completely out of touch”

Fallout and reaction continues from the announcement of an AFL-CIO agreement with “day worker” advocates.

With a growing inability to recruit new union members, Big Labor officials are desperately seeking new ways to boost their membership and their revenues, even if the new recruits are not in the United States legally. The number of day workers who congregate at hiring centers, street corners and parking lots is estimated at 200,000. According to the Los Angeles Times, most are “undocumented,” (Politically Correct translation: illegal). Since Big Labor sees the potential of more members, the “day workers” now get the AFL-CIO as an advocate for amnesty.

Some local unions have not taken kindly to the agreement. In Allentown, Pa., union rank and file are backing a law prohibiting the hiring of illegal immigrants. Vernon M. Briggs, Jr., a Cornell University labor economics professor, said organized labor’s support for illegal immigrants could, in fact, encourage more (illegal) immigration, depressing demand and wages for American workers whom the AFL-CIO claims to be working for.

“Fighting for people who are not supposed to be working in the first place? What kind of union is that?” Briggs said.

Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports tighter restrictions on immigration, said it was surprising that the AFL-CIO was embracing day laborers when many American workers oppose the influx of immigrants, convinced that they take away jobs and push down wages.

“The union leadership wants one thing, and union members want another,” said Mr. Camarota. Referring to the main labor movement as controlled by Big Labor’s Bosses he continued, “[I]t’s completely out of touch with the interests of American workers.”