Amy Taylor

Growing Alliances Between Immigrant Worker Groups and Organized Labor

I wrote a couple of months ago about the growing alliances between organized labor and immigrant rights groups.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that the Taxi Worker's Alliance is set to join the New York City Central Labor Council, as long as the vote goes as planned today. This new alliance is the first of its kind uniting an immigrant worker organization and a central labor council. There are a number of reasons why this alliance makes sense for both sides. The TWA represents 7,000 non-unionized taxi drivers. The CLC is made up of one million members from 400 different unions. The TWA has a lot of leverage and bargaining power to gain from its new partnership. The CLC has an obvious interest in immigrants joining the organized labor movement to strengthen its bargaining power. Labor unions need the clout of immigrant workers who represent a large percentage of the working public while immigrants need the protections that labor unions are fighting for.

The CLC, along with labor unions and organizations across the country, want to advance an immigration reform agenda. It is in labor's best interest to support immigration reform that would put an end to the current labor system that exploits undocumented immigrants and threatens to lower wages across entire industries. Labor organizations understands that if undocumented workers were not living under the constant threat of deportation, they would be more likely to join organizing campaigns for workplace rights such as fair pay and safe working conditions. This kind of collective action would increase compensation for all workers, because employers would no longer have a profit-driven reason to hire undocumented workers over the native born, because they would no longer be easier to exploit.

Labor unions already understand why this alliance is in their best interest. Other organizations that represent working Americans should climb on board, in defense of all workers.

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Posted at 8:00 AM, Nov 15, 2006 in Immigration | Labor
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