Why I support immigration reform
By RICHARD TRUMKA
AFL-CIO President
This is a good moment to explain
why I feel so passionately about enact-
ing immigration reform that provides a
real pathway to citizenship for 11 mil-
lion immigrants who call this country
home.
You may know that until about a
dozen years ago, the AFL-CIO did not
support policies that give immigrants a
route to citizenship; most unions saw
those policies as a way for employers to
find low-cost workers and push down
wages. Our official policy changed in
2000, when we asserted that the AFL-
CIO “proudly stands on the side of im-
migrant workers.”
Even today, I get mail and other
comments criticizing me and the AFL-
CIO for supporting reform, claiming
that bringing immigrants out of the
shadows will worsen the continuing
jobs crisis. I know that good jobs are
scarce and family pocketbooks are
squeezed. Anxiety is natural. But I also
believe those comments are misguided.
A century ago, America’s estab-
lished unions, to a large extent, turned
their backs on new immigrants as mem-
bers, and were not welcoming to
women, people of color, and millions of
so-called unskilled industrial workers.
That has never sat well with me.
When people use the word “immigrant”
PAGE 4
like an epithet, I
take it personally.
I come from a
small town in
southwestern
Pennsylvania’s
coal
country
called Nemacolin.
It was not easy
when my family
came to this coun-
try. My parents
and grandparents fled poverty and war
from different corners of Europe.
When I was a kid, there was an ugly
name for every one of us in all 12 lan-
guages spoken in Nemacolin — wop
and Hunky and Polack and kike. We
were the last hired and first fired, the
people who did the hardest and most
dangerous work, the people whose pay
got shorted because we didn’t know the
language and were afraid to complain.
When the immigrants of my parents’
and grandparents’ generation got to the
mines and mills, the people already
there said we were taking their jobs and
ruining their country. Yet in the end, the
immigrants of my parents’ and grand-
parents’ generation prevailed, and built
America. This is the history of my fam-
ily, and this is the story of towns large
and small across America, places like
Seattle and St. Louis, San Antonio and
Chicago and so many others.
And yet it doesn’t take long for us to
forget the past and focus on anyone we
think is different, and to bring back
those familiar responses — that immi-
grants are taking our jobs, ruining our
country.
When I hear that kind of talk, I ask:
Did an immigrant move your plant
overseas? Did an immigrant take away
your pension? Or cut your health care?
Did an immigrant undermine America’s
workers’ right to organize? Or crash the
financial system? Did immigrant work-
ers write the trade laws that have sent
millions of jobs from our shores? Of
course not.
In fact, as more immigrants gain the
rights and responsibilities of citizenship,
our chances of a future of shared pros-
perity increase. America’s economic
strategy must bring us together, not
drive us apart.
The reform President Obama pro-
posed is a big step in the right direction,
and it has the potential to lead us all in a
better direction.
As president of the AFL-CIO, I’m
proud to say that we open our arms to
everybody who works — no matter
where you’re from — and we demand
commonsense policies that reflect
(Turn to Page 9)
...Grocery workers OK contracts in Oregon, SW Washington
(From Page 1)
year member of the union.
As was reported in the Feb. 15 edition of the Labor
Press, employers agreed to merge the Portland area
medical plan with the Joint Labor Management Re-
tail Trust. JLMRT covers employees from Salem to
the California border, in Central Oregon, in far Eastern
Oregon, and in Southwest Washington.
Employers will increase funding for medical in-
surance by 14.87 percent; JLMRT members will see
their Level 3 benefits improve, with deductibles re-
duced from $500 to $300 and annual out-of-pocket
costs reduced from $5,000 to $3,000. After annual de-
ductibles are met, the plan will pay 85 percent of the
bill, a 10 percent increase from the previous contract.
Contract expiration dates also were altered so that
Portland will lead off in the next round of bargaining
starting in June 2015. The union wanted its largest
group to be first out of the blocks because it provides
more power at the bargaining table. In the past, the
Portland unit bargained toward the end, after smaller
contracts downstate had been completed. Additionally,
the time span between when the first and last contracts
expire was narrowed from 30 months to 16 months.
On the downside, workers will get a raise of 25
cents an hour over three years; it will take new hires
more hours to reach journey-level status; and they
won’t be paid time-and-a-half when working holidays.
Anderson said it was probably the best the bar-
gaining committee was going to get, short of a strike.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Here is a list of the ratified contracts and their ex-
piration dates:
Portland area, June 2015; Bend, July 2015; New-
berg, September 2015; Vancouver area, December
2015; Burns, December 2015; Klamath Falls, De-
cember 2015 (includes Sherms; Longview/Cowlitz
County, January 2016; Roseburg, January 2016 (in-
cludes Sherms); Medford, January 2016; Grants Pass,
January 2016; Eugene, February 2016; Brookings,
February 2016 (includes McKay’s Meat); The Dalles/
Hood River, June 2016; McMinnville Meat, August
2016; Lincoln City/Newport, August 2016; Salem and
Albany, August, 2016; Florence, October 2016; North
Bend/Coos Bay, October 2016; and Tillamook/Asto-
ria, November, 2016,
MARCH 1, 2013