The Changing Relationship Between Unions and Immigration
**Update: The preview clip referenced at the bottom of the article will not be available till Monday.**
One of the subjects from the upcoming Homeland documentary series is a woman named Roni whom the documentary team followed during the lead-up to the 2010 elections. She had become very politically active and supportive of conservative politicians who campaigned for stricter immigration enforcement, but what was interesting is hearing her story and how her opinions have shifted over time.
Just as Roni’s perspective has changed throughout the years—she grew up in a union household that was pro-Democrat—the positions of the unions themselves have also gone through a significant evolution. Though, while Roni has expressed reservations about immigration, the unions she used to support are moving in the opposite direction and becoming more inclusive of immigrants.
Early in the 20th century, a majority of unions favored strictly restrictionist immigration policies and were wary of immigrants themselves. The argument from the unions, many coming together under the American Federation of Labor (AFL), was that immigrants weren’t as highly skilled and would work for lower wages. Large groups of immigrants would undermine union power and allow businesses to exploit workers to a higher degree.
Many unions particularly favored legislation that targeted Eastern Europeans or immigrants from Asia and severely restricted immigration from these regions.
While the anti-immigrant view was prevalent in the AFL, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was more open to immigrants. They largely took a more inclusive position and rather than promote policies that restricted immigration, they tried to bring newly arriving immigrant workers into the union ranks.
When the AFL and CIO merged in the middle of the 20th Century, views of immigrants by unions began to soften. Perhaps due to the influence of the CIO, by the 1970s many of unions in the national coalition took the position of being pro-legal immigration, but firmly opposed to undocumented workers.
Union views of undocumented workers during this period largely echoed previous union stances on immigrants in general—they were seen as willing to work for less money and could be used as strikebreakers to undermine the unions.
But in the last couple decades another shift towards inclusiveness occurred with the major union coalitions now coming out in support of comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S.
In statements outlining the coalition’s official position on immigration, the AFL-CIO has said it wants immigration policies that favor all workers and that an enforcement-only approach will be ineffective. It goes on to say that enforcement should “respect the dignity and rights of our visitors” and be enforced by “trained professional border patrol agents”, not local law enforcement.
Last year, in response to the controversial Arizona immigration enforcement law, the president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, gave a speech rallying laborers to “face head-on our own contradictions, hypocrisy and history on immigration,” according to the Washington Independent.
While there seems to be some unity on immigration reform among the major labor coalitions, which includes the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win Federation that splintered into its own coalition in 2005, the next battle will be over temporary work programs. Businesses bring in temporary laborers through various visa programs, but union leaders again worry these measures could reduce union strength. Since these employer sponsored visas require that a worker stay with a specific company, they are not free to quit and seek employment at another American company if their working conditions are unsatisfactory. Some union leaders have come out in support of a commission that will match the caps on temporary work visas to current economic conditions such as unemployment, but this idea has been met with resistance from groups like the U.S.Chamber of Commerce.
For a local union perspective, check out an interview from last year that Sonya Stevenson conducted with an official from the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council.
As another presidential election cycle gears up and immigration remains an important political issue, what effect do you think unions will have in the immigration reform discussion?
And be sure to check back tomorrow for another preview clip from the documentary footage featuring Roni explaining her union background and what has led her to her current political views.
Category: Economy
