Labor & Employment Law

Trumka at CNN: Undocumented Workers Need Legal Rights

By James Parks

In a global economy in the 21st century, the United States cannot afford to have millions of hard-working people without legal protections, shut off from economic gain?and that means we must face head-on our own contradictions, hypocrisy and history on immigration, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says in an opinion piece at CNN?s website.

In ?Undocumented Workers Need Legal Rights,? Trumka writes: 

I hear from working people who should know better that immigrants are taking our jobs, ruining our country. When I hear that kind of talk, I want to say, did an immigrant move your plant overseas? Or take away your pension? Or cut your health care? Did an immigrant crash the financial system? Did immigrant workers write the trade laws that have destroyed so many jobs and industries?

In the column and in his widely-circulated June 18 speech to the City Club of Cleveland, Trumka says our economic strategy must ensure all of us will ?have a fair shake,? He points out that the AFL-CIO supports a fair path toward legalization for all undocumented workers who are working to realize the American dream. You can find the plan here.

We are for the DREAM Act, which gives young people a future in the only country they know. We need an independent commission to determine our society’s genuine need for more immigrants, and then we need to build a pathway that allows those immigrants to have secure rights from Day One. We’re also for establishing real penalties for employers that break the law.

 Read the full opinion column here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on July 01, 2010 (boomark / email).