|
START OF SERIES
Show Us the Jobs Bus Tour Parts 1-5
http://www.jobdestruction.info/ShameH1B/MediaClips.htm
2004-03-15 Show Us the Jobs Bus Tour
2004 7/23 ABC KNXV15 Investigators - "Working Conditions"
An expose on the use of H-1B visa holders by the state of
Arizona and its
country and city governments. "The Investigators" explain
how government
jobs go to H-1B workers that American citizens are qualified
for.
Discussions include the outsourcing of jobs overseas and the
insourcing of
jobs using H-1B. A panel discussion with was held with five
activists:
Gunther Viktor, Nick, Rob Sanchez, Michael Anderson, and
Jason Bradley.
Interviews include with director of RescueAmericanJobs.org,
Steve Owens -
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), Arizona
Governor Janet
Napolitano, and Dawn McClaren from Arizona State
University. (time:
11:18)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Date: Sunday, October 12, 2008 8:28 PM
Date: Monday, March 15, 2004 5:40 PM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
A bus tour will soon travel to eight states and 18 cities to
highlight
parts of the country from small town America to large cities
that have
been hardest hit by job loss. The tour will end in
Washington, D.C. to
call on our nation_s leaders to make the jobs crisis their
number one
priority, and to put America back to work at good jobs. As
the tour
winds through these cities a spotlight will be focused on
the
devastating impact of the nation_s deep jobs crisis.
Kickoff for the tour will begin in Mesa, Arizona on March
18, 2004 at
2:30 PM for a roundtable discussion on the national jobs
crisis. CNN's
Lou Dobbs will cover this event as well as local TV and
newspapers.
---------- Panelists ----------
The roundtable participants are as follows:
Dawn Teo
Rob Sanchez
Ruth Slater
Donna Bradley
Jason Bradley
Viktor Gunter
(two others TBD)
-------- Meeting Details --------
WHO: Dawn Teo, Show Us the Jobs Tour representative
for Arizona and founder of the Rescue American
Jobs Foundation at:
http://www.rescueamericanjobs.org/
Mark McGrath, Executive Director, AFL-CIO
Seven local workers who have lost their jobs
WHAT: Round-table discussion on jobs crisis in Arizona and
send-off for Dawn Teo, Representative of Show Us the Jobs
Tour
WHEN: Thursday, March 18, 2004, 2:30 PM EST
WHERE: Iowa Cafi, 5606 E McKellips Rd. Mesa, AZ (480)
985-2022
------ Contact Info -------------
The bus tour is co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO and Working
America, a new
national organization for workers.
Contact: Sarah Massey (202) 637-5018
Dawn Teo (480) 832-0335
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
The tour goes through the following cities:
St. Louis, MO
West Branch, IA
Des Moines, IA
Minneapolis, MN
Rochester, MN
La Crosse, WI
Manitowoc, WI
Milwaukee, WI
Greenville, MI
Detroit, MI
Toledo, OH
Cleveland, OH
Warren, OH
Youngstown, OH
Pittsburgh, PA
Morgantown, WV
Harrisburg, PA
Washington, D.C.
----------- Why Arizona? -------------
Dawn Teo of the Rescue American Jobs Foundation is a
recognized leader
in the fight to save American jobs. Dawn Teo's mission
started in
Arizona but her organization is now national. Her
contributions have
been recognized by labor leaders and media such as CNN/Lou
Dobbs. What
better place to kickoff the tour than in Teo's home state?
Like many states, Arizona unemployment and jobless problems
continue to
deteriorate. Many employers have had major layoffs including
Motorola,
Honeywell, SpeedFam-IPEC, Microchip, Worldcom, Cigna,
American Express,
Qwest, Asarco, Delta and Pine Land, and many of the
universities. All
told, Arizona has lost 41,500 manufacturing and information
services
jobs in the three years since President Bush took office,
and the
number of long-term unemployed has increased significantly.
Arizona
workers have suffered from several factors including NAFTA,
outsourcing, and the importation of foreign workers on H-1B
and L-1
visa holders - and yet the local politicians such as John
McCain
continue to support these destructive agreements. Local
print and TV
media has been very supportive of guest-worker legislation
and
free-trade agreements. Perhaps this event will jog the local
media out
of their mania for these job destroyers and start reporting
on the
realities of Arizona's loss of high paying jobs.
--------------------------
"Show Us the Jobs" Part 2
--------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Date: Friday, March 19, 2004 10:56 AM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
I attended the kickoff for the "Show Us the Jobs" bus tour.
Read the
article below to find out more about what happened - and
please thank
the Mesa Tribune journalist for doing the story. Our largest
newspaper,
The Arizona Republic, chose not to send a reporter. You can
bet that
they will be scrambling to get a story because the Mesa
Tribune really
out-scooped them.
We were hoping to have TV news coverage but that didn't
occur because
of bad timing. Television news outlets said they were using
all their
resources to cover the late breaking developments in
Afghanistan and
Iraq.
I have received many questions about this bus tour and I
will try to
answer them as I find out more about it. They have a website
that is
under development. Look daily for updates because the site
is far from
complete. The website has a place for video clips so we
might actually
be able to watch the action as the busses travel to
different cities.
The site is:
http://www.showusthejobs.com/
Click on "51 faces" to see who is on the bus tour. Currently
they only
have two states finished but they will be adding the others
soon. There
is an excellent feature called "Your State" that allows you
to research
the economic conditions where you live.
I am not going on this bus tour but I will be in contact
with Dawn Teo,
the Arizona representative, and will continue to update the
readers as
I get more information.
Dawn Teo's website is at:
http://www.rescueamericanjobs.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
http://www.aztrib.com/index.php?sty=18890
Business Update
Organization geared toward putting people back to work
By Ed Gately, Tribune
Mesa resident Donna Bradley lost her job as a contract
programmer
earning $43 an hour, and just took a job at Kohls earning $7
an hour.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Ruth Slater said she found herself homeless after losing her
apartment
manager job to an immigrant worker. After trying to find
comparable
work, she now works at Wal-Mart, but her salary isn't enough
to make
ends meet, so she is staying with her stepson in Scottsdale.
"When we got evicted, we ate potatoes for a week," she said.
"We ate
potatoes in America. I waited a month with no food, living
off of what
other people would give me before my appointment (to get
food stamps)."
These are just two East Valley residents who participated in
a
roundtable discussion on the "nation's job crisis," Thursday
at the
Iowa Cafe in Mesa. The event also kicked off a national
"Show Us the
Jobs" bus tour organized by Working America, a new national
organization for workers, and the AFL-CIO.
Mesa resident Dawn Teo will represent Arizona on the tour
across 50
states and the District of Columbia. Teo founded and runs
the Rescue
American Jobs Foundation, a nonprofit organization geared
toward
putting people back to work.
"It's all the same, it's about cheap, exploitable labor,"
Teo said. "I
want to bring awareness to the fact that the economy is
failing the
people. When the economy is no longer supporting the people
and the
people are supporting the economy, it's broken. We need to
talk more
about it. They retrain for manufacturing and technology, and
now what?
What's left?"
The purpose of the tour is to get real faces and real people
out there
telling their stories of how their lives have been adversely
affected
by unemployment, said Mark McGrath, the AFL-CIO's executive
director.
"The middle class is under attack by a do-nothing
administration," he
said. "Something needs to be done."
In Arizona, 37,500 manufacturing jobs and 5,800 information
services
jobs have been lost since President Bush took office, said
Bill
McGlashen, executive vice president of Arizona AFL-CIO.
Also, 142,218
workers in Arizona were unemployed in January, he said.
"Working families cannot survive on low-wage, dead-end jobs
with no
benefits or retirement security," he said.
Bradley was "an American success story" in that she worked
her way up
from a single mother on welfare to succeeding in the
business world
before corporate downsizing "knocked" her back down, said
Rob Sanchez,
a Chandler resident who lost his electrical engineering job
at
Motorola.
"The message throughout the country is, this administration,
the whole
government, they really don't care," Slater said. "This is
cheap labor.
Corporations are getting rich on this cheap, slave labor,
whether
you're importing it in from South America, Mexico, wherever.
I think
this is really the straw that broke the camel's back with
the U.S.
citizens."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Contact Ed Gately by email, or phone (480) 898-6814
egately@aztrib.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11004372&BRD=1641&PAG=4
61&dept_id=10110&rfi=6
Local, national groups unite to keep jobs in U.S.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
By SCOTT WHIPPLE , Staff Writer 02/21/2004
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Although President George W. Bush has said job loss caused
by offshore
outsourcing will someday benefit the U.S. economy, a group
of fair
trade organizations have banded together to fight the
phenomenon.
Offshore outsourcing is the practice of sending jobs
currently based in
the United States to lower-cost labor markets overseas. The
groups
forming to prevent it are both local and national.
In response to the presidents endorsement of offshore
outsourcing,
the "Jobs for America Act" is now being argued in the
Senate.
This legislation would require companies to report the jobs
that they
export to other countries -- how many jobs, where the jobs
are going,
and why.
Rescue American Jobs, an organization that supports this
legislation,
is also critical of its veracity.
Its members argue the measure does not address the
laundering of
American jobs through third-party offshore outsourcing
contracts, nor
does it address new jobs created outside of the United
States by
U.S.-based companies.
Rescue American Jobs is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization
dedicated
to safeguarding the economic security of the American middle
class.
"Were disappointed that the most powerful Democrats in the
Senate
could only put together a bill that gathers incomplete
information,"
said Dawn Teo, a founder of Rescue American Jobs, "but the
Senate has
been nudged in the right direction. The next step must be
legislation
that addresses the problems."
Rescue American Jobs believes that keeping the American
middle class
working is critical to keeping America strong.
In their view, a stable job market is the backbone of a
consumer
economy -- both at the national and community level.
"By endorsing offshore outsourcing based purely on cost, the
president
has, in effect, stated that Americans must compete with
third-world
labor," said James Pace, director of legislative affairs for
Rescue
American Jobs.
"President Bush, however, fails to mention that competing
equally
against third-world labor requires working for third-world
wages and
working conditions."
On the state level, Meriden-based The Organization for the
Rights of
American Workers (TORAW) is forming a coalition of worker
rights
groups, trade associations and labor unions.
The groups are launching boycotts against companies that
send jobs
overseas or use foreign visa holders to replace American
workers.
With the acceleration of jobs moving offshore over the last
few years,
offshoring has touched occupations across all sectors --
blue-collar
and white-collar alike.
Since 2000, one in five Americans lost a job. An estimated
35 percent
of those are still unemployed, and many are underemployed --
working
below their skill level or even in menial part-time jobs --
struggling
to support children and families.
"There are no jobs that cant be filled with cheap,
exploitable
foreign labor today, either through foreign guest worker
programs or
offshore outsourcing," said Teo. "By endorsing both the
export of jobs
and the import of workers, President Bush has turned his
back on the
American workforce."
Teo points out that job loss in manufacturing and technology
sectors
has been staggering.
Over the last three years, at least 10 percent of Americas
manufacturing has moved offshore.
Another 10 percent of American technology jobs are expected
to move
offshore. America is losing, on average, 100,000
manufacturing jobs
every month.
Each manufacturing job supports an estimated two
non-manufacturing
jobs.
Claiming a lack of reliable data, the Department of Labor
has been
unable to accurately track jobs that move to other
countries.
However, legislation is expected to provide at least some
basic
tracking to study and solve the problem of massive job
losses across
the country.
This legislation would require companies to notify workers,
the
Department of Labor and state agencies three months in
advance when 15
or more workers are replaced by overseas labor and further
clarifies
that WARN Act protections still apply to all layoffs of 50
or more
workers.
Pace says the Senate has a poor track record for looking out
for
American worker. "This bill is a first step in the right
direction."
He added that his organization was counting on Congress.
"Or, the
American people can force the issue -- by outsourcing
Congress."
However, free trade economists who tout the benefits of a
global
economy, argue against boycotts.
Pete Gioia economist for the Connecticut Business and
Industry
Association (CBIA) points out that the greatest importer of
jobs is not
India or China, but the United States. Gioia said
German-owned Bayer
Corp. in West Haven and Trumpf in Farmington have been "offshoring"
jobs to the United States.
On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., will
introduce the
U.S. Workers Protection Act of 2004 during a National Press
Club
luncheon in Washington, D.C.
A new network of grassroots fair trade organizations that
have sprung
up across the nation will announced the Jobs & Trade Network
that day.
The trade policy network will focus on public outreach
coordination and
joint fair trade projects to educate Americans on the need
to advocate
dramatic federal trade policy changes.
The Jobs & Trade Network is a national alliance of
businesses, labor,
and community groups that believe current American trade
policy is
causing an American economic emergency for jobs, business
enterprises,
state and local governments.
Correspondents will join more than 50 Jobs & Trade Network
leaders from
across the country to hear Dodd describe the U.S. Workers
Protection
Act of 2004 with statements from the trade network leaders.
Speakers will include: Leo Gerard, United Steelworkers of
America
(USWA); Fred Tedesco, MADe in the USA; and John Bauman, The
Organization for the Rights of American Workers (TORAW).
Scott Whipple can be reached at
swhipple@newbritainherald.com or by
calling (860) 225-4601, ext. 224.
--------------------------
"Show Us the Jobs" Part 3
--------------------------
Date: Monday, March 22, 2004 3:36 PM
Arizona Republic columnist Ed Montini recently wrote an
article titled
"Anonymous voice of America's unemployed". The article and
soundtrack
is still online at:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0304montini04.html
You can see a better version of the recording with a video
version that
includeds the words in text form. To see that go to this
page:
http://www.hireamericancitizens.org/
Click on the link that says: "Click here, and listen to the
voice of
America with captioning."
Ed Montini is a liberal columnist that in the past has
sympathized with
foreign workers - especially illegal aliens. Perhaps it's
now occurring
to Montini that American workers are harmed when foreign
workers flood
our labor markets.
On Sunday Montini wrote an article featuring Dawn Teo who
will embark
on the "Show us the Jobs" bus tour this Tuesday. Many
people, myself
included, are very surprised that Montini would write a
column that is
sympathetic to the Americans who are losing their jobs to
the
insourcing of foreign workers into the United States.
Montini didn't
write the words H-1B or L-1, but he came close!
You can monitor the bus tour at:
http://www.showusthejobs.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0321montini21.html
A couple of 'Ordinary Joes' to the jobs rescue
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
E.J. Montini
Republic columnist
Mar. 21, 2004 12:00 AM
Just when she was getting good at firing people, Dawn Teo
quit her job.
Then, just when she was getting good at "outsourcing"
American
employees, she quit that job, too. Then, just when she was
getting good
at replacing Americans with foreign workers on special
visas, she quit
that job as well.
"I had been in management and saw all these things," she
said. "I was
working at one company where I had to lay off my entire
staff. When you
have to look in the eye of people who have become your
friends and do
something like that, it affects you."
Dawn's husband, Adrian, was born in Singapore and knows as
well the
hardships faced by some foreign workers. The couple lives in
Mesa.
"We had a lot of H-1b and L-1 visa employees at one place I
worked,"
Dawn says. "Companies can control those people like slaves.
I think
that a big part of our problem is the abuse of foreign
workers."
Adrian Teo is an engineer. He and Dawn now have their own
company
selling specialty parts for racecars.
"We're in a relatively protected market," Dawn says. "But
all of the
things happening to American workers have bothered us. We
watched
things happen. We knew people like the lady you wrote about
(in the
March 4 Arizona Republic). Where she and her husband had
lost jobs to
outsourcing. We have this perception in American that
whenever there is
a problem, there is a group out there doing something about
it. But we
didn't see that. So we decided to do something ourselves."
It wasn't much. At least the couple didn't think so. They
created a Web
site (www.RescueAmericanJobs.org).
"We didn't know what a couple of Ordinary Joes could do,"
Dawn says.
"But almost immediately we started hearing from people. We
wanted to
get a discussion started, but people kept asking if they
could join our
'organization.' I had to tell them, we don't have one."
Now, they do. The couple registered Rescue American Jobs as
a
non-profit organization and within a short time found itself
with 60
chapters all over the country. They can be reached by phone
at (480)
832-0335.
"It's unreal how many people are being affected by current
economic
policies," Dawn says. "Just today I spoke with a woman who
lost her job
and has had to work in an underemployed position at a place
like
Wal-Mart and she just lost her home. There are thousands and
thousands
of people like her."
This week Dawn is on a bus tour with some of those people.
Talented
people. Hardworking people. Educated people. Unemployed
people. They're
traveling to eight states in order to try to raise awareness
of the
problem.
"We are offshoring radiologists," she says. "We are
offshoring doctors.
Legal work is being done offshore. Engineering. Computer
science. It's
amazing. Even tax returns are being processed offshore. And
it's not
finished. This is something we have to talk about,
particularly this
year, with the election coming up."
In California, a high-tech worker named Kevin Flanagan was
forced by
his employer to train his own replacement, a man from
overseas.
Flanagan performed the task he was assigned, then he killed
himself.
"It's like that lady you wrote about. American workers don't
feel
they're being heard," Dawn says. "They want to work. This
isn't a
Democrat or a Republican thing. This is an American problem.
Hopefully,
because it is an election year, we'll talk about it."
Recently, Dawn heard from a woman in California who has two
advanced
college degrees and has been replaced by a foreign worker
here on a
visa. The woman has disabled children but doesn't have the
health care
to meet their needs because all that she has been able to
find is a
part-time job.
"So, this woman wrote to her local congressman and told him
about her
situation," Dawn says. "And he wrote back to her that what
she needed
to do was to go back to community college and learn some new
skills.
Not only did this prove that he didn't understand the
problem, but it
proved that this politician didn't even read her letter."
If he had, he would have noticed that the woman's part-time
job was a
teaching position. At the local community college.
Reach Montini at
ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8978.
--------------------------
"Show Us the Jobs" Part 4
--------------------------
Date: Monday, March 22, 2004 4:01 PM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
www.ZaZona.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
The bus tour will feature participants from a wide variety
of careers
that are being affected by insourcing and outsourcing.
Hopefully this
tour will help to unite Americans workers who tend to ignore
the plight
of anyone but themselves. Corporations have sucessfully used
divide and
conquer strategies to overcome the objections to the
importation of
foreign workers (insourcing) and the outsourcing of American
jobs.
Could this be the beginning of a new labor movement to save
all of our
jobs?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2004/03/22/ap/Business/d81fjioo1.tx
t
Labor Bus Tour Highlights Unemployment
By LEIGH STROPE
WASHINGTON - Laid-off workers, students, a priest and
creators of
anti-offshoring Web sites are among the 51 people taking a
bus tour
through Rust Belt states this week to talk about job
struggles,
countering similar trips by the Bush administration to
promote a
growing economy.
Every state and Washington, D.C., will have a representative
riding the
red, white and blue flag-covered buses on the "Show Us the
Jobs" tour
organized by the AFL-CIO and Working America, an activist
affiliate of
the labor federation.
"I think we need to get the word out there that the economy
is not as
rosy as people are saying," said Kevin Gregory, 41, of
Millinocket,
Maine, who was laid off in January 2003 from the Great
Northern Paper
Mill after 17 years.
He and his family now depend regularly on food banks. "I've
had to
swallow my pride and get help," said Gregory.
The trip is also about politics, with stops planned in
Missouri, Iowa,
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West
Virginia _
battleground states that could determine who wins the White
House in
November.
The labor tour follows two bus trips by President Bush's
Cabinet
secretaries to promote the administration's economic
policies. In
February, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, Labor Secretary
Elaine Chao
and Treasury Secretary John Snow embarked on a "Jobs and
Growth Tour"
to Oregon and Washington _ both of which Bush narrowly lost
to Al Gore
in 2000. Last summer, they traveled to Wisconsin and
Minnesota.
"No amount of partisan political rhetoric can contradict the
fact that
this economy is growing stronger every day," Labor
Department spokesman
Ed Frank said of labor's bus tour.
New claims for unemployment insurance are at the lowest
level since
January 2001, and the nation's 5.6 percent jobless rate,
down from a
high of 6.3 percent in June 2003, is below those of economic
recoveries
in previous decades, he said.
Polls consistently find the economy and jobs are the most
important
issues to voters, and Democrat John Kerry is considered
better
qualified to fix things than Bush.
The economy is growing, but new jobs aren't being created.
In fact,
more than 2.2 million jobs have been lost since Bush took
office in
January 2001. Organized labor, which is spending millions to
get Kerry
elected, wants to hammer that home to voters. Some tour
events, for
example, will be held at foreclosed homes and empty
factories.
"The real focus is on the fact that America has a jobs
crisis," said
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "We think that we're on the
wrong track
when it comes to jobs, and the question is, can we turn it
around?"
Michigan's tour representative, Laura Tropea, 26, moved home
after
graduating from law school in New York in June and failing
to find a
job. She lives with her mother in South Lyon while working
at a deli
part-time, earning $8 an hour despite having passed the
Michigan bar
exam.
Growing up in a family of auto workers, Tropea said she and
her friends
were encouraged to go to college and strive for
better-paying,
white-collar jobs.
"It's not happening," she said. "It's not happening for us.
It's not
happening for them. If you can't get skilled trade jobs and
you can't
get white-collar jobs, where do you turn?"
After seeing friends suffer from unemployment, Dawn Teo, 33,
of Mesa,
Ariz., launched a Web site last year to educate Americans
about the
impact of cheap foreign labor here and abroad. A group,
Rescue American
Jobs, followed.
http://www.rescueamericanjobs.org/
Teo knows the issue first-hand. Her husband, a
Chinese-Singaporean
immigrant, witnessed and experienced job exploitation by
companies in
the United States.
"There are millions of people out there who are unemployed
and millions
more who are underemployed," Teo said. "There are people who
retrained
from manufacturing to technology because they lost their
jobs. Now
what? There's nothing left to retrain for. No job is safe."
Representing Oklahoma is a retired Roman Catholic priest,
John Vrana,
73, of Oklahoma City. After reading the biographies of
participants on
the bus tour, Vrana said he was touched by the difficulties
they're
facing.
"They're hurting. They're hurting very badly," he said. "I
think it
will raise the consciousness of people. I think we read the
statistics
a lot, but we need to hear their stories."
--------------------------
"Show Us the Jobs" Part 5
--------------------------
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 12:49 PM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
The "Show Us the Jobs" bus tour has the potential to
publicize the
plight of American workers so that politicians can no longer
ignore
their message. The AFL/CIO should be applauded for putting
this
together but they should not be able to get away with
ignoring
immigration and how if affects American workers.
Unfortunately the union is in a state of denial over the
issue of
immigration and their bias is very obvious on the "Show us
the Jobs"
website at:
http://www.showusthejobs.com/
Click on the right hand link called "Speak Out - Read what
others have
to say." Use the drop down box titled "Top Concerns" and you
will not
see a single selection for immigration or any related topic
such as
guest-worker visas, H-1B, or L-1 but there is a selection
for
outsourcing.
The message the AFL-CIO seems to be sending is that they
don't want
immigration to be discussed even though its impact on
employment is
immense. Outsourcing is an important issue, but they are in
a state of
denial over the fact that the American labor market is being
flooded
with aliens that are displacing US workers in a process I
call
insourcing. Some of these aliens are illegal while others
take
high-income middle class jobs by using legal visas such as
H-1B and
L-1.
It's no secret that the AFL-CIO supports giving illegal
aliens amnesty
because they think these aliens can be used to grow their
union
memberships. This conflict of interest has led them to deny
that the
influx of more aliens into the labor market reduces the
wages for all
American workers, both union and non-union.
Fortunately there are several people on the bus tour that
aren't going
to let the H-1B and L-1 issue be ignored. It will be
interesting to see
if the AFL-CIO tries to muzzle them. I sent a message
similar to this
newsletter to be posted on their "Speak Out" but it didn't
appear on
the website. They might have decided to censor messages that
contain
any mention of immigration. I looked for a website contact
to complain
but couldn't find one on the website so they don't seem to
want
feedback from the public. Hopefully the bus tour
participants receive
similar treatment.
I encourage everyone to post messages about H-1B and L-1.
Let me know
if your message gets posted.
The first article below is appearing in newspapers all over
the
country. The third one is from the IndiaTimes who
characterized the bus
tour as a socialist revolution.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/business/2004/03/23unionstellbushs
.html
Unions tell Bush: 'Show us the jobs'
AFL-CIO tour will focus on employment 'crisis'
By BRIAN TUMULTY
Gannett News Service
03/23/2004
WASHINGTON -- The 2004 presidential campaign gets a new
twist Wednesday
when the AFL-CIO takes its criticism of the Bush
administration's
economic record on an eight-state "Show Us the Jobs" bus
tour.
The circuitous 18-city route begins in St. Louis and ends a
week later
in Washington. But it won't be mistaken for the first of two
"Jobs and
Growth" bus tours by three of Bush's Cabinet secretaries
that covered
some of the same interstates in July in Wisconsin and
Minnesota.
In contrast to the administration's effort to promote tax
cuts and free
trade as the nation's ticket to a better future, the labor
federation
will talk about the 2.2 million jobs that have been lost
since Bush
took office.
"This is not a direct response to their bus tours, but it is
certainly
an alternative story," AFL-CIO spokeswoman Denise Mitchell
said. "They
went out and they tried to cover up the jobs crisis. We are
going out
so that people see the human faces and human stories."
Money for the bus trek is coming from the $44 million the
labor
federation will spend this year on political campaigns and
mobilization
of its 13.1 million members.
A spokesman for Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who
participated in both
"Jobs and Growth" tours, maintained that the recent news
about the job
market is good.
"No amount of partisan political rhetoric can contradict the
fact that
this economy is growing stronger every day," Chao spokesman
Ed Frank
said. "Hundreds of thousands of Americans have found good
jobs in the
past few months, new unemployment claims are at the lowest
level since
January 2001, and the unemployment rate is below the
averages of the
1970s, 1980s and 1990s."
Both sides are correct.
Although the nation has lost 2.2 million payroll jobs since
Bush took
office, that number is smaller than it was this past summer.
In the past six months, payroll employment has climbed by
364,000. The
downside is that the average monthly increase of 61,000 jobs
is only
half the rate needed to stay even with a growing work force.
February's jobless rate of 5.6 percent is low by historical
standards
and has been on the decline, in large part because many
workers have
stopped looking for jobs.
The AFL-CIO bus trip will focus on issues other than
unemployment. Many
of the 51 workers from every state and the District of
Columbia who
will be ambassadors of woe now have jobs:
John Greene, a 54-year-old Republican town councilman from
Endicott, N.Y., works as a salesman at a sporting goods
store.
"I've never been unemployed, but I've witnessed the
devastating effects
of downsizing," said Greene, who plans to talk about the
effect of
factory closings on his hometown.
Dawn Teo, 33, of Mesa, Ariz., operates a small business with
her
husband that makes parts for racing cars. She founded Rescue
American
Jobs last summer after she saw employers repeatedly offer
her
Chinese-American husband, Adrian, low wages to work as an
engineer.
They thought he was in the United States on a work visa.
"When he told them he didn't need a visa, they would pull
the job
offer," Teo said. "We've seen foreign guest workers who work
16- or
18-hour days because they are afraid they will be deported.
We are
exploiting people right here on our own soil."
Ron Larson, 57, of the Milwaukee area, works as a
$14-an-hour home
inspector, but he's an independent contractor with no health
benefits
or retirement plan.
"It's not bad, but you don't often get 40 hours a week,"
Larson said.
"It's usually between 28 and 36 hours."
Larson has had a succession of temporary jobs and bouts of
unemployment
that he said have forced him to withdraw all but $500 of the
$240,000
he had accumulated in an individual retirement account. He
just
refinanced his house with a new 30-year mortgage that won't
be paid off
until he's 87.
Thursday's stop at a Lutheran Church in Des Moines, Iowa,
will
highlight the effect of job losses on children. Saturday's
visits to
Milwaukee and Manitowoc, Wis., will focus on the loss of
factory jobs
to China and other overseas locations.
Other stops will focus on hunger, home foreclosures and
proposed cuts
in Bush's 2005 budget for job training.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=11879
Unions hit the road over U.S. job losses
Workers want issue addressed in political debates
March 24, 2004
(Reuters) With jobs looming as a presidential campaign
issue, the
American labor movement Wednesday launched a Rust Belt bus
tour to
highlight the plight of workers who have been passed over by
the
economic recovery.
The tour will bus workers from each of 50 states and
Washington, D.C.,
on a roundabout route from St. Louis to the nation's capital
to deliver
the message that the economy cannot be well if the job
market is not
well, organizers said.
``We want to change the debate about what constitutes a
healthy
economy,'' said Karen Nussbaum, director of Working America,
which is
co-sponsoring the tour with the AFL-CIO.
Working America, with 125,000 members, is a recently formed
advocacy
group for nonunion workers that is one of 64 affiliates of
the AFL-CIO,
a federation of unions that represent 13 million workers.
The organizers insist the caravan is not a political event
but the
AFL-CIO has already endorsed Democratic candidate John Kerry
over
President Bush and the proposed itinerary goes through eight
states
that could swing either way in the November election.
Jobs were a major topic among the candidates in the
Democratic field
with Sen. John Edwards basing much of his losing effort on
the issue of
getting jobs back.
Republicans say Bush's tax cuts will create more jobs if
given a
chance, while Democrats accuse the administration of doing
nothing to
stem the flow of American jobs to low-wage countries.
``We think that political debates are important times to
advance
issues,'' said AFL-CIO spokeswoman Denise Mitchell. ``And we
want to be
sure that jobs are on people's minds.''
The U.S. economy has been on a dual track since it emerged
from
recession in November 2001. Traditional measures are strong:
economic
output grew 3.3 percent in 2003, productivity rose 4.4
percent, stock
prices increased and corporate profits surged 10.1 percent
in the third
quarter of last year.
But job creation has lagged. The Labor Department's survey
of
businesses found that only 364,000 jobs were created in the
past six
months. That still leaves a deficit of 3 million private
sector jobs,
mostly in manufacturing, since Bush took office in January
2001.
``Life is getting harder for most working people and that
part of the
story just was not getting told,'' said Nussbaum.
EIGHT BATTLEGROUND STATES
To tell the workers' story, a small bus caravan will leave
St. Louis
Wednesday to bring tales of unemployment, underemployment,
outsourcing
and crippling health care costs to eight states, most of
them already
hit hard by job losses.
``Hopefully, it will open the eyes of lawmakers,
politicians,
rulemakers, whoever and they can get stricter on these
trade
agreements and keep the jobs in this country,'' said Jerry
Nowadzky,
who represents Iowa on the tour.
From their bus painted with ``Show Us the Jobs'' in giant
letters, the
workers will attend rallies, discussion groups, breakfasts
and local
press briefings at 16 stops in Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota,
Wisconsin,
Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania before
arriving in
Washington on March 31.
In 2000, most of them had victory margins of less than 5
percent, with
Democrat Al Gore winning five and Bush taking three. The
eight states
are among the so-called battleground states that could swing
either to
Bush or Kerry.
Despite the states' strategic importance in a race in which
the AFL-CIO
is backing Kerry, organizers insist politics has less to do
with the
tour than their message about jobs.
Nussbaum noted that no politicians will take part in the
events and the
jobs message was aimed at state and local leaders as well as
presidential candidates.
``Unions fight for good jobs and justice in the economy,''
she said.
``This is our job. This is what we're meant to do.''
Still, the tour is bypassing two nearby states that, while
reeling from
job losses, are not considered major battlegrounds:
Illinois, which
Gore won handily in 2000 and tends Democratic, and Indiana,
a solid
Bush state that has a long history of backing Republicans.
Workers on the bus, 24 of whom are union members and 27 of
whom are
not, were selected from unions and community groups.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?msid=577646
Lost your job? Take a bus
WEB EXCLUSIVE
ECONOMICTIMES.COM[ TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2004 06:16:45 PM ]
Russia may have turned capitalist, but socialism is far from
dead.
Workers are flexing their muscles in the home of capitalism,
the United
States of America. Why? If things were any worse, you could
say that
the US is ready for the next revolution!
This Wednesday, the American Federation of Labour and
Congress of
Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO), will kick off it's
week-long
18-city tour, criticising the Bush administration's economic
record on
an eight-state 'Show Us the Jobs' bus tour.
There is reason for the emergence of big-time union activity
in the US.
Every day in America, 85,444 people are losing their jobs
and anybody
will tell you that jobs once gone, hardly ever return.
President George Bush may support it, but the outsourcing
backlash is
far from over. Americans believe that it was the governments
faulty
trade and tax policies made it profitable to send US jobs
broad have
encouraged many employers to ship jobs overseas.
And outsourcing alone is not to be blamed. Now the workers
are asking
what happened to the 2.2 million jobs that have been lost
since the
Bush administration came to power in the US.
We Have Nothing To Lose But Our Jobs...
Laura Tropea, 26, graduated last June from New York's
Brooklyn Law
School. She passed the state bar exam there but couldn't
find a job.
Facing $120,000 in school loans to repay, she moved home
with her
mother.Hundreds of resumes later, she's had two interviews,
no offers
and a little contract legal work through a temporary
employment agency.
Now she earns spending money by making sandwiches at a deli.
Tropea will be one of 51 unemployed or under-employed people
on the bus
tour.
They are coming from all corners of the United States.
Laid-off
workers, students, creators of anti-offshoring Web sites.
The 51 (one
from each state of the union) who will take the bus tour
through the
states of the US include even a priest. They will talk about
job
struggles, countering similar trips by the Bush
administration to
promote a growing economy.
l ?As many as 14 million white-collar jobs could be lost in
the next
decade.
A 2003 study by the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban
Economics
at the University of California, Berkeleys Haas School of
Business.
l When Pillowtex shut its doors in July, Georgia Hairston
lost her job
of 36 years and her town in Fieldale, Virginia, teeters on
collapse.
Hairstons job was one of 2.5 million US manufacturing jobs
lost
since 2001.
l Dawn Teo, 33, of Mesa, operates a small business in
Arizona with her
husband that makes parts for racing cars. She founded Rescue
American
Jobs last summer after she saw employers repeatedly offer
her
Chinese-American husband, Adrian, low wages to work as an
engineer.
They thought he was in the United States on an H1-B work
visa.
"When he told them he didn't need a visa, they would pull
the job
offer," Teo said. "We've seen foreign guest workers who work
16- or
18-hour days because they are afraid they will be deported.
We are
exploiting people right here on our own soil."
l "I think we need to get the word out there that the
economy is not as
rosy as people are saying," said Kevin Gregory, 41, of
Millinocket,
Maine, who was laid off in January 2003 from the Great
Northern Paper
Mill after 17 years.
Every state and Washington, DC, will have a representative
riding the
red, white and blue flag-covered buses on the "Show Us the
Jobs" tour
organised by AFL-CIO and Working America. The labour
organisations will
spend $44 million on political campaigns and for mobilising
its 13.1
million members.
The Feeling
"There are millions of people out there who are unemployed
and millions
more who are underemployed. There are people who retrained
from
manufacturing to technology because they lost their jobs.
Now what?
There's nothing left to retrain for. No job is safe."
Oh! Jobs are getting created. But these are low-wage jobs
that provide
few if any benefits and are no match for the ones being
lost! In the
industries now adding jobs, pay is 21 per cent less than in
American
industries losing jobs.
A Much-Travelled Road
The labour tour is only following a government example.
There have
already been two bus trips by the US President George Bush's
Cabinet
secretaries to promote the administration's economic
policies.
In February, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, Labor
Secretary Elaine
Chao and Treasury Secretary John Snow went on a "Jobs and
Growth Tour"
to Oregon and Washington -- both of which Bush narrowly lost
to Al Gore
in 2000.
Chao says the job market is improving and the unemployment
rate is
below the averages of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
In the past six months, payroll employment has actually
climbed by
364,000. But the average monthly increase of 61,000 jobs is
only half
the rate needed to stay even with a growing workforce.
The Truth
Thursday's stop in Des Moines, Iowa, will highlight the
effect of job
losses on children. Saturday's visits to Milwaukee and
Manitowoc,
Wisconsin, will focus on the loss of factory jobs to China
and other
overseas locations.
Other stops will focus on hunger, home foreclosures and
proposed cuts
in Bush's 2005 budget for job training. In all the bus will
be going to
18 cities across the rust belt -- Iowa, Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Michigan,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and of course Washington
DC.
The bus tour is a political statement. It's not against
outsourcing as
such. Some of the supporters have already got jobs. But, the
nagging
smell of the decay of an once magnificent structure can't be
removed.
Will Bush Jr. manage to survive it?
Important Update to AFL-CIO Endorsement of McKennedy
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Date: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 11:33 PM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
In the previous newsletter I assumed that the document
attached to the
letter by John Sweeney was written by Communications Workers
of America
(CWA), Morton Bahr. Actually the CWA didn't author the
document - what
we see is a fax sent out on a machine from Morton Bahr's
office. The
entire document was authored by John Sweeney's office, not
the CWA's.
Since I don't know what position the CWA is taking on the
McKennedy
bill, I will correct this newsletter to take out all
references to Bahr
except for the fax date mark. The entire document will be
attributed to
Sweeney.
I will be happy to publish the CWA position on the McKennedy
bill when
they come out with one. I apologize for any
misunderstandings that the
previous newsletter may have caused but strongly believe
that all of us
should hold CWA's feet to the fire to oppose the AFL-CIO
position. If
the unions give blanket approval to this bill it will gain
momentum and
be very difficult to stop.
Please use the updated newsletter for all internet postings,
and delete
the previous one. There is an important update in the
conclusion
section that you should read.
----- Updated Newsletter with CWA references removed -----
AFL-CIO Endorses McKennedy bill
There once was a day that unions were the voice of American
workers.
Things have sure changed since then. Nowadays the sole
purpose of the
unions seems to be to collect union dues and to push
globalist
political agendas. The latest actions of the AFL-CIO are
tantamount to
a declaration of war against American labor and its vaunted
middle
class.
John Sweeney and the AFL-CIO endorsed the bill we
euphemistically call
the McKennedy or McCainedy bill. The bill got its nickname
because it
is sponsored by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Ed Kennedy
(D-MA). The
"Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act" is called S.
1033 in the
Senate and H.R. 2330 in the House.
John Sweeney's letter of support to the union can be viewed
as an image
file of a fax from the Communication Workers of America
(CWA).
http://www.cwalocal4250.org/outsourcing/binarydata/Sweeney%20S1033.pdf
I converted the documents into text with an OCR which you
can read
following my commentary.
The first thing that struck me about Sweeney's letter was
how little he
cares about the blue collar workers that are the bedrock of
the unions.
In the statement below he says that the H-5 visa will be
used to import
foreign workers that don't require college degrees. He
casually brushes
aside the fact that foreign workers will take jobs away from
hard-working Americans that haven't gone to college, and he
totally
ignores the plight of white collar workers that will also
lose their
jobs. Refer to the newsletter "May 31, 2005 No. 1268 Skilled
Worker
Visas in McKennedy Bill" to get a better understanding of
the immense
impact this bill will have on professional white-collar
workers. While
it's almost understandable that Sweeney ignores white-collar
workers
because they are a small portion of the total union
membership it's
unconscionable that he is willing to force his rank and file
into
unemployment and labor arbitrage. These words are right off
Sweeney's
letter:
The bill also creates a new temporary worker program, which
will provide foreign workers from all over the world the
opportunity to work in the United States in
non-agricultural,
non-degreed jobs, including in the service and hotel
industries,
construction, retail, food processing, meatpacking, and
other
currently unionized industries.
Sweeney and the AFL-CIO admit that the McKennedy bill will
destroy
American jobs BUT THEY ENDORSE THIS MONSTER ANYWAY!
Sweeney says that although the bill has no labor protections
the unions
will support it and hope that the corporate lobbyists and
our money
grubbing politicians in Congress will make it labor-friendly
some time
in the future. Sweeney isn't making a compromise; he is
admitting that
the unions have been defeated.
We are also in agreement that if this bill moves forward, we
will
seek expand its labor protections considerably to ensure a
positive outcome for all workers.
Sweeney wrote a document that is nothing less than a
manifesto against
American labor. In the manifesto Sweeney said that the
unions consider
the rights of foreign workers to be equally as important as
the
well-being of American born workers. That's quite
interesting
considering that foreign workers don't pay union dues.
Ending the exploitation of workers, whether US born or
foreign-born, has been our other equally important
fundamental guiding principle.
Sweeney lists the following problems with the McKennedy bill
- AND YET
HE STILL SUPPORTS IT! Of course he claims that the AFL-CIO
wants the
bill to be changed to be more labor-friendly but that's
nothing but
pie-in-the-sky and a seasoned labor leader like Sweeney
shouldn't be
fooled by false promises. His reason for the blind support
of this
monster is simply a matter of priority - he thinks giving
aliens
amnesty is more important than protecting millions of
American workers.
Amnesty has become the "reason du jour" for the AFL-CIO and
they are
willing to pursue it despite the problems that they
acknowledge with
the McKennedy bill. Keep in mind that the the authors of the
bill,
McCain, Flake, and Kolbe of Arizona all claim that the bill
isn't an
amnesty, and yet even the unions are smart enough to see
that it is.
Here just a few of the things that Sweeney wrote about what
American
workers have to look forward to if the AFL-CIO gets their
way and the
bill becomes law:
* This will likely result in millions of workers losing
their jobs.
[Comment from Rob: Since when did labor unions support the
destruction
of millions of jobs?]
* The bill gives employers who employed them [illegal
aliens] complete
amnesty from criminal and civil tax liability.
[Comment from Rob: Pay very close attention to this one.
Sweeney is
admitting that employers will be immune from prosecution
even if they
break the law!]
* The bill requires that workers present a job offer in
order to get a
visa, which will likely result in massive recruiting abroad
at
exploitative conditions, and lead to the deterioration of
wages and
working conditions in industries that recruit USA workers.
[Comment from Rob: This may be the first time a union has
endorsed
legislation that will reduce wages and make working
conditions worse.]
* [The bill] creates an incentive for employers seeking to
hire H5A
workers to offer wages far below those which any worker who
was already
in the country and in a position to actually choose among
available
jobs would ever willingly accept.
[Comment from Rob: Sweeney admits that these guest-workers
will not be
paid a fair wage so any notion of a prevalent wage is
irrelevant.
That's not enough reason for the AFL-CIO to oppose this
legislation
though.]
* H5A workers are permitted to quit, and seek other
employment, but if
they do so before the term specified in the offers, they may
be subject
to damages for breach of contract.
[Comment from Rob: Sweeney acknowledges that this bill is
indentured
servitude, but that doesn't stop him from endorsing it!]
* The visas will be available world-wide.
[Comment from Rob: Foreign workers will be able to come from
any
country in the world, and they will be able to take any jobs
in the
U.S. they can get. Global labor arbitrage doesn't seem to
concern the
unions.].
* The likely result is that Tyson and other recruiters are
going to be
selling "McCain/Kennedy job offers" around the world, for
thousands of
dollars (disguised as transportation costs), and then
bringing these
workers to the US to work to the limits of human endurance
in order to
repay that debt.
[Comment From Rob: Sweeney not only admits that the
McKennedy bill is
indentured labor but goes on to describe how workers will be
forced to
work in sweatshops!]
* While the legislation provides some regulation of labor
recruiting
activities, the weak enforcement system and small fines will
not deter
employers and recruiters from engaging in this lucrative
practice.
[Comment from Rob: Sweeney understands that there is so
little
enforcement in this bill that employers and recruiters will
have
complete freedom to cheat and exploit. Now the unions want
to coddle
the robber barons!]
* The bill requires that Workers return to their native
country or the
country of their last residence if they are unemployed for
more than 45
consecutive days; any unemployed worker who is still in the
US after 45
days of unemployment forfeits his legal status and may never
again be
eligible for an H5A visa. These draconian measures will
result in
exploitation of visa holders and drive many of them into the
underground economy, thereby driving down wages and working
conditions
for all workers in the TLS.
[Comment from Rob: Sweeney understands that the McKennedy
bill will not
stop illegal immigration. The only thing the bill
accomplishes is to
make indentured servitude the official policy of the United
States!]
* There are a minimum of 400,000 visas available each year,
and the
number grows based on a demand-based formula. The visas are
only
available for non-degreed, nonagricultural jobs (like
construction,
retail, packing and food processing);
[Comment from Rob: Sweeney is wrong about the fact that only
non-degreed people can use visas to work in this country.
Even if he
was correct, he is saying that it's OK to force Americans
that don't
have college degrees into joblessness. I cannot understand
why so many
people think nothing of throwing these hard working
Americans into the
streets.]
* The visas last a minimum of 3 years, and are renewable for
a second
3year term which means that in year 3, there could be nearly
1.5
million I3 [5A workers in the US, and nearly 4 million by
year 6.
[Comment from Rob: The numbers of foreign workers is
immense, and yet
only 75,000 jobs were created in May. GM just announced that
25,000
people will be losing jobs and most of those are union
workers. If
Sweeney and his union cronies get their way there won't jobs
for
Americans!]
* The bill does not remove the incentives to hire
undocumented workers.
[Comment from Rob: According to Sweeney this bill will not
stop the
hiring of illegal aliens. The union understands all claims
to stop
illegal immigration are lies, but that doesn't stop them
from
supporting the bill!]
* Any violation of the law by an employer will be handled by
the
Secretary of Labor under a new administrative process that
has even
less teeth than the NLRB process.
[Comment from Rob: Labor secretary Elaine Chau is anti-labor
and
anti-union, and yet the unions will now trust her to protect
their
interests. If Sweeney actually believes Chau will act in the
best
interests of workers he is so grossly incompetent that
members of the
AFL-CIO should remove him before more harm can be done. I
really don't
think Sweeney is that stupid - he had an agenda that doesn't
include
the security of American workers.]
* What undocumented workers lack--and what H5A workers will
lack-is the
ability to bargain for improved wages and working
conditions;
[Comment from Rob: This is perhaps the most astonishing
statement by
Sweeney. He understands that as nonimmigrants H-5 visa
holders cannot
collectively bargain and cannot be unionized. The McKennedy
bill will
import millions of scabs to destroy what little is left of
the unions,
and yet Sweeney still supports it! Sweeney is committing the
AFL-CIO to
a mass suicide.]
* The bill does not address employers' ability to threaten
to withhold
sponsorship for a green card if the worker engages in
organizing, which
is a standard union-busting method, particularly in the
construction
industry;
[Comment from Rob: Dr. Norm Matloff and I have said for
years that the
Green Card is used as a carrot dangling on a string to
control
nonimmigrant workers. It's unlikely that anyone in the
unions will have
read this far, but if they did, they might learn something
by going to
the following web page:
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b/H1BvsGreenCard.htm ]
----- Conclusion -----
The endorsement of the McCainnedy bill by the AFL-CIO can be
for only
one reason - the union leaders have decided to pursue an
agenda of
open-border globalism at all costs, even if it leads to the
destruction
of American jobs. It makes no practical difference to
American workers
whether the motivations of AFL-CIO leaders are to ally
themselves with
the corporatists in the Chamber of Commerce or whether they
have been
hijacked by left-wing extremists - either way the
middle-class
lifestyles Americans have enjoyed for so long are in extreme
jeopardy.
The McKennedy bill continues to gather momentum. This latest
endorsement will be used as a propaganda coup by the enemies
of labor
to push this bill through Congress. In a very real sense the
AFL-CIO
has offered their own heads on a platter by signing on to
this bill.
Not all union activists are so eager to betray their rank
and file
members but unfortunately they aren't being represented at
the top
levels of the AFL-CIO. Hopefully some sane union activists
will be able
to gain enough support to get rid of Sweeney and his
open-border
cronies before more damage is done. Until then I recommend
that all
white-collar workers shun unionization attempts until the
AFL-CIO
changes their self-destructive policies. Support for the CWA
and their
sister organization Techsunite should be witheld until they
come out
with a strong position against the Sweeney Manifesto. Some
of the
unions such as the Steelworkers are jumping in line to
support the
McKennedy bill so it will take tremendous pressure on the
CWA to
convince them to oppose Sweeney.
Skip to the end of this newsletter for more information on
the
Steelworkers.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
From; John J. Sweeney
Re: Immigration Reform bill
On May 12, 2005 Senators McCain and Kennedy introduced a
comprehensive
immigration reform bill that will provide a path to legal
status to the
12 million people who have been working hard, paying their
taxes and
contributing to their communities. The bill also creates a
new
temporary worker program, which will provide foreign workers
from all
over
the world the opportunity to work in the United States in
non-agricultural, non-degreed jobs, including in the service
and hotel
industries, construction, retail, food processing,
meatpacking, and
other currently unionized industries.
Attached is a document that sets forth a unified response
from the
labor movement to this bill. This is the product of
staff-level work
with the affiliates who have expressed an interest in
working on
immigration matters. We are strongly supportive of the
concept of
legalization, recognizing that raising the floor for
undocumented
workers and bringing them out of the shadows will improve
working
conditions for all workers. We are also in agreement that if
this bill
moves forward, we will seek expand its labor protections
considerably
to ensure a positive outcome for all workers.
If you have any questions about the statement, please
contact Ana
Avendano-Denjer, Director of the Immigrant Worker Program at
(202)
637-3949.
FAX: )6/03/05 03:26:06PM Morton Bahr President :CWA
LABOR'S CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION
REFORM
AND OUR RESPONSE TO THE MCCAIN-KENNEDY BILL
Reform of the nation's broken immigration system has been a
top
priority for the labor movement for many years, and we
continue to
support comprehensive immigration reform. One of our
fundamental
principles has been that the foundation of any reform of our
immigration laws must begin& with a broad legalization plan
that
provides undocumented workers and their families who have
been working
hard, paying taxes and contributing to their communities
with the
opportunity to adjust to a legal status. Undocumented
workers are often
unable to exercise their legal rights, and are subject to
exploitation
that leads to the deterioration of working conditions for
all workers.
Ending the exploitation of workers, whether US born or
foreign-born,
has been our other equally important fundamental guiding
principle.
We recognize that immigrants have been under attack in the
public eye,
and as a unified labor movement, we have taken strong public
measures
to protect immigrants rights including:
" Strongly supporting the AgJOBS bill, which would have
brought much
needed legalization to farm workers, within a framework that
adequately
protects those workers' rights;
" Strongly opposing Senator Chambliss' substitute amendment
to that
bill, which would have stripped the temporary worker program
of all
labor protections and government oversight;
" Strongly opposing the REAL ID Act, which is a
mean-spirited attack on
immigrants that pushes immigrants further into the shadows
and provides
no real solution to the broken immigration system_
We will continue to oppose legislation that does not provide
workers a
path to permanent residence in the United States.
We recognize that the Secure America and Orderly immigration
Act
recently introduced by Senators Kennedy and McCain is an
important
legislative accomplishment, because of its bipartisan nature
and
because it contains a path for many of those currently
living and
working within the United States to earn their way to
permanent legal
status and promotes the reunification of families_
If this proposal moves forward, we will seek to expand its
labor
protections considerably to ensure a positive outcome for
all workers.
Some of the provisions of the bill that must be adjusted
are:
LEGALIZATION PROGRAM.
The bill does not give protection to workers who provide
correct
information to the employer after legalizing
" This will likely result in millions of workers losing
their jobs
because employers will claim that they are required (under
"no
falsification"policies) to terminate anyone who has provided
any false
information at anytime;
" This is a current standard industry practice. In many
instances,
workers who have come forward are re-hired immediately,
under their
proper name, but at starting wages, with loss of seniority
and
benefits.
Although workers are required to pay any back taxes owed
before they
become eligible to legalize, the bill gives employers who
employed them
complete amnesty from criminal and civil tax liability
" Although the supposed rationale for this provision is that
employers
will otherwise be unwilling to provide workers with
documentation they
need to legalize their status, this amnesty applies to all
employers
who have ever employed an undocumented worker at any time,
regardless
of whether the employer helps the worker to legalize her
status.
TEMPORARY WORKER PROGRAM
The bill requires that workers present a job offer in order
to get a
visa, which will likely result in massive recruiting abroad
at
exploitative conditions, and lead to the deterioration of
wages and
working conditions in industries that recruit USA workers
" Although the job offer must first be posted on America's
Job Bank for
30 days, there is no requirement that the jobs be posted at
any
prevailing or other specific wage, which creates an
incentive for
employers seeking to hire H5A workers to offer wages far
below those
which any worker who was already in the country and in a
position to
actually choose among available jobs would ever willingly
accept.
Because visa seekers must have a job offer to be eligible
for a visa,
they will be forced to accept those terms;
" There are no restrictions an conditions employers are
permitted to
impose in that offer, including the length of employment,
etc. H5A
workers are permitted to quit, and seek other employment,
but if they
do so before the term specified in the offers, they may be
subject to
damages for breach of contract;
" The visas will be available world-wide, and workers in
Mexico, or
Thailand, or Bosnia, or other remote developing nations are
not going
to have access to job offers in their native countries
unless companies
recruit them, either directly (as some companies do now), or
through
labor contractors;
" The likely result is that Tyson and other recruiters are
going to be
selling "McCain/Kennedy job offers" around the world, for
thousands of
dollars (disguised as transportation costs), and then
bringing these
workers to the US to work to the limits of human endurance
in order to
repay that debt;
" While the legislation provides some regulation of labor
recruiting
activities, the weak enforcement system and small fines will
not deter
employers and recruiters from engaging in this lucrative
practice.
The bill requires that Workers return to their native
country or the
country of their last residence if they are unemployed for
more than 45
consecutive days; any unemployed worker who is still in the
US after 45
days of unemployment forfeits his legal status and may never
again be
eligible for an H5A visa. These draconian measures will
result in
exploitation of visa holders and drive many of them into the
underground economy, thereby driving down wages and working
conditions
for all workers in the TLS.
" Workers who are fearful that they will lose their legal
status if
they become or remain unemployed will be much more willing
to accept
standard wages than they would if they had the same rights
as U.S.
workers;
" Workers From distant countries cannot realistically be
expected to
travel back and forth to their home countries every time
they suffer a
6-week spell of unemployment and are much more likely to
continue to
work illegally.
The size and scope of the program does not address the
current illegal
flow of workers
" There are a minimum of 400,000 visas available each year,
and the
number grows based on a demand-based formula. The visas are
only
available for non-degreed, nonagricultural jobs (like
construction,
retail, packing and food processing);
" The visas last a minimum of 3 years, and are renewable for
a second
3year term which means that in year 3, there could be nearly
1.5
million I3 [5A workers in the US, and nearly 4 million by
year 6,
" The visas are not targeted at countries that are currently
the source
of illegal immigration. Given that visas will be available
all over the
world, illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America
is likely to
continue;
" The bill does not remove the incentives to hire
undocumented workers
created by the Supreme Court's Hoffman Plastic Compounds v.
NLRB
decision. Coupled with the fact that the bill does not
target sending
countries, the lack of a Hoffman fix will continue to give
au incentive
to employers to recruit and hire undocumented workers;
" Many industries that now lire undocumented workers are
likely to
continue hiring undocumented workers rather than going
through the LISA
program. For example, construction employers who need
workers for
projects that last a few hours or a few days are not going
to use the
electronic verification system to find workers, and will
continue to
exploit the readily available undocumented pool of workers.
Meaningful enforcement for labor protections are necessary,
not a new
weak administrative process.
" Any violation of the law by an employer will be handled by
the
Secretary of Labor under a new administrative process that
has even
less teeth than the NLRB process;
" For example, Secretary Chao can only start an
investigation after she
determines that there is "reasonable cause" to start the
investigation.
That means that anyone who wants to prosecute a violation
has to
convince the Secretary that a violation has occurred before
she even
starts the investigation;
" If Secretary Chao fails to or refuses to determine that
there is
"reasonable cause," then an aggrieved person has the right
to petition
the Secretary for a hearing-.-which she again has the
discretion to
refuse. The bill does not provide for any appellate process.
The bill should do more to reduce organizing hurdles
" Any H5A worker who is out of work for 45 consecutive days
will fall
out of status and become "undocumented," regardless if she
is out of
work because of a job-related injury, or because of an
unlawful
termination. (The average length of unemployment right now
is 19
weeks);
" Requiring that these workers find jobs so quickly in order
to keep
their legal status makes workers reluctant to engage in
organizing,
because of the very real fear of losing their jobs;
" The "portability" provision means little under these
circumstances;
undocumented workers now have full "portability" because of
the lack of
enforcement of immigration laws, and readily change jobs.
What
undocumented workers lack--and what H5A workers will lack-is
the
ability to bargain for improved wages and working
conditions;
" The bill does not address employers' ability to threaten
to withhold
sponsorship for a green card if the worker engages in
organizing, which
is a standard union-busting method, particularly in the
construction
industry;
" There are no anti-retaliation protections for workers who
expose
violations of labor laws;
" The "whistle-blower" protections are not meaningful: the
bill
provides that a worker who is in status will remain in
status if he
exposes a violation of the SAOIA; his lawful stay period is
not
extended and if he is blacklisted for malting such a
complaint (and
thus remains out of work for longer than 45 days), he
becomes
undocumented.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
H.R.2330
Title: To improve border security and immigration.
Sponsor: Rep Kolbe, Jim [AZ-8] (introduced 5/12/2005)
Cosponsors
(10)
Related Bills: S.1033
Latest Major Action: 5/31/2005 Referred to House
subcommittee. Status:
Referred to the Subcommittee on 21st Century
Competitiveness.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
COSPONSORS(10), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors
withdrawn]:
(Sort: by date)
Rep Crowley, Joseph [NY-7] - 5/26/2005
Rep Diaz-Balart, Lincoln [FL-21] - 5/12/2005
Rep Diaz-Balart, Mario [FL-25]
5/12/2005 Rep Flake, Jeff [AZ-6] - 5/12/2005
Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. [IL-4] - 5/12/2005
Rep Napolitano, Grace F. [CA-38] - 5/12/2005
Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] - 5/12/2005
Rep Pelosi, Nancy [CA-8] - 5/19/2005
Rep Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana [FL-18] - 5/19/2005
Rep Walsh, James T. [NY-25] - 5/26/2005
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
S.1033
Title: A bill to improve border security and immigration.
Sponsor: Sen McCain, John [AZ] (introduced 5/12/2005)
Cosponsors
(5)
Related Bills: H.R.2330
Latest Major Action: 5/12/2005 Referred to Senate committee.
Status:
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
COSPONSORS(5), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors
withdrawn]:
(Sort: by date)
Sen Brownback, Sam [KS] - 5/12/2005
Sen Graham, Lindsey [SC] - 5/12/2005
Sen Kennedy, Edward M. [MA] - 5/12/2005
Sen Lieberman, Joseph I. [CT] - 5/12/2005
Sen Salazar, Ken [CO] - 5/12/2005
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Steelworkers Union (USWA) describes the McKennedy bill
as "a bill
to improve border security and immigration," on their
legislative
website. This position is in direct conflict with the
original intent
of the Rescue American Jobs organization, which is now run
by the
Steelworkers Union. The original founder, Dawn Teo, was
forced to leave
the organization a couple of months ago for health reasons.
http://capwiz.com/uswa/issues/bills/?billtype=S.&billnumb=1033&congress=109
Congressional Legislation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
'A bill to improve border security and immigration. '
Bill # S.1033
Original Sponsor:
John McCain (R-AZ)
Cosponsor Total: 6
(last sponsor added 05/12/2005)
3 Democrats
3 Republicans
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
About This Legislation:
A bill to improve border security and immigration.
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 12:24 AM
To:
H1BNews@ZaZona.com
Subject: Lou Dobbs Recap
The most common comment that I am getting on today's Lou
Dobbs show is
that our organizations weren't given enough time. Originally
we were
all told that we would get as much as two minutes each so it
appears
that made some cuts because of time constraints. My guess is
that our
story was overshadowed by the Bush guest-worker amnesty
debate. That's
a huge story because its impact on the American workforce
will be
devastating. H-1B and L-1 will be the least of our problems
if Bush
get's his way. That's because most of the aliens that enter
our country
on Bush's guest-worker proposal will be going for better
paying jobs. I
cannot see a reason that companies would hassle with H-1B or
L-1 visas
when they can import workers just by giving them a job
offer, and then
getting the new Bush guest-worker/amnesty visa. The grunt
jobs will
still go to illegal aliens and Bush hasn't committed to do
anything
about stopping them from crossing our borders. In other
words, nothing
will change except there will be a massive expansion of
foreigners that
come here to take our jobs.
That was unlucky timing that Bush gave his speech the same
day we were
scheduled to be on his show. We were lucky to get any
coverage at all.
I would like to make a few comments about the show because
they didn't
make it clear that Dawn Teo of
http://www.rescueamericanjobs.org/ was the one typing on
the laptop and
cutting text for the signs. I'm also not sure that they
announced that
the group of people on that panel was brought together to
speak to
Dobbs by Richard Armstrong of
http://www.hireamericancitizens.org/. I hope you enjoyed
that full view
of the sign when I was typing on the computer.
It said:
No Jobs
No Recovery
Outsource Congress 2004
www.ZaZona.com
Dawn Teo had the same sign but except it had the Rescue Jobs
URL
instead. The reason our signs looked the same is because I
went to
Dawn's office to have it made the night before the
interview. That's
what I call team work!
I was hoping that they would show my tutorial to Dobbs on
how the use
the LCA database. I demonstrated how to
use the search engine to view the H-1Bs that CNN hires. All
of it was
filmed while I used the search engine, so perhaps Dobbs will
see it,
and one day broadcast it.
If you want to do the search, go to the advanced search page
and enter
"cable news network" without the quotes.
http://www.zazona.com/LCA-Data/
The people that Richard Armstrong assembled had some very
good comments
and I'm sure we could learn a lot more about what is
happening in his
state of Colorado if more time was given to them.
On thing for sure, the publicity is sure driving a lot of
traffic to
the website, and I have never received so many signups to
the
newsletter. That makes my 15 seconds of fame worth all the
time I spent
being interviewed. I hope all you new signups enjoy my rants
and raves!
I keep an archive of newsletters at:
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b/JobDestructionNews.htm
If you missed the show, Mike Emmons has it as a download on
his
website. Be patient because his server is going to get some
heavy
traffic. It's better if you download the file (by right
clicking and
then save target as) instead of double clicking the link to
view it as
a streaming video. His server can't handle streaming video
that well. I
will put the video on my website when time permits since my
server can
handle much more bandwidth. Until then, go to:
http://www.outsourcecongress.org/video/
**** MOST IMPORTANT PART - PLEASE READ! ****
There is still a possibility that Dobbs will use more of our
interviews
during the next couple of days as he continues the
"Exporting America"
series. All of us had extensive interviews so they have
plenty of
material should CNN decides to use it.
If you think Dobbs should provide us more time, you should
contact him
and let him know.
Online: Go to this webpage and click in the left hand corner
"Send your
Comments"
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/
Email address for Lou Dobbs:
loudobbs@CNN.com
o:
H1BNews@ZaZona.com
Subject: ZaZona.com on CNN Lou Dobbs
The Lou Dobbs show plans to cover several different
organizations that
are fighting against nonimmigrant visas and outsourcing for
their show
on 1/7/2004. They interviewed me today and I must say it was
quite an
experience. The interviewer asked me some provocative
questions, and of
course I gave her provocative answers. Of course there is no
guarantee
that my comments will make it onto the show.
The most enjoyable part of the interview is when I
demonstrated how to
use the LCA database to view the H-1Bs that CNN hires. I
told Lou Dobbs
that even if he doesn't have control over hiring, he should
demand more
American workers.
CNN/Lou Dobbs interviewed several people for the show. I
can't
guarantee who will be on the show, or even if the date is
correct, but
stay tuned just in case!
Beside myself, this is whom I know was interviewed (there
may be
others):
Dawn Teo
http://www.rescueamericanjobs.org
Richard Armstrong
http://www.hireamericancitizens.org/newsrelease.html
James Pace
(I don't know if they interviewed him for
rescueamericanjobs.or
http://www.toraw.org/ )
To find out when Lou Dobbs is shown in your area, go to:
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/
---------------------------------------
Another Comment about Complex-Numbers
Song Used on Lou Dobbs
---------------------------------------
In the Newsletter "Complex-Numbers - a New Approach" I
mentioned that
one of the songs from this protest site was used on Lou
Dobbs, but I
didn't know which one.
I was just informed that the song is "Lap Of Luxury" and was
used on
the Lou Dobbs show that appeared on 11/14/2003. To see a
video of the
show, use this link, but be patient because it might take
awhile to
load.
http://www.OutsourceCongress.org/wkmg/CNN_20031114_Sona.wmv
I'll eventually put this clip on my website because my
server is
faster.
Of course you can download the song at:
http://www.complex-numbers.com/home/dog-one.html
And read the lyrics at:
http://www.complex-numbers.com/home/laplux.html
|