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Showing blog posts tagged with Immigrant Rights

Tell President Obama: Halt Deportations Now

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and The Nation are asking people to take action against the deportation of aspiring citizens.

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'I Haven't Eaten for 3 Days'—Stories from a Hunger Striker

Photo courtesy UNITE HERE

When this article was written last Sunday, the hunger strike was on its third day and workers were set to be fired the following Monday and Tuesday, April 8 and 9.  As of today, the hunger strike has ended as planned and the Hilton Mission Valley hotel has not yet fired the workers, although that may still occur.

We are three days into a five-day hunger strike that was called to save the jobs of nine immigrant workers at the Hilton Mission Valley hotel in San Diego. I, along with six others, have refused to eat since Friday morning. The nine workers we are supporting [were] set to be fired on Monday, April 8, and Tuesday, April 9, because after they tried to organize a union, Evolution Hospitality decided to use E-Verify. This is a program that checks immigrants' documented status—a program that isn't even mandatory with the federal government.

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Rubio, We'll Pass Citizenship...With or Without You

Photo by Gage Skidmore

This week, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) joined what Washington Post's Greg Sargent calls the "slow down" caucus. Meaning Rubio, who is a member of the "Gang of Eight", and a group of Republicans are starting to back away from creating a commonsense immigration process for the nation's 11 million aspiring citizens. 

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Who Wants Poverty Wages in Immigration Bill? Employers

What’s behind Republicans’ demands that surfaced last week that legislation to create a commonsense immigration process for America's 11 million aspiring citizens institutionalizes poverty wages and drags down workers already in the United States? Bloomberg columnist Margaret Carlson sums it up succinctly.     

Who wants to adversely affect “wages and working conditions” of American workers? Employers, that’s who….Businesses (read: “Republicans”) would like an oversupply of labor to ensure a cheap price.

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Republican Demand for Poverty Wages Stalls Immigration Bill Negotiations

Photo courtesy of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) We Belong Together Campaign.

A bill that creates a commonsense immigration process for America's 11 million aspiring citizens is in jeopardy because of Republican demands for poverty wages.

Key Republican senators in the "Gang of Eight", negotiating on the behalf of the business community, corporations and the extreme right-wing, rejected adding language to the bill that would ensure new W-visas would only be issued when employing foreign workers would not hurt wages and working conditions of workers already in the United States.

This language is already a longstanding law for temporary worker programs including the H-2B and other visa programs. The Chamber of Commerce in negotiations with the AFL-CIO already agreed to including this language.

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Abuse of Temporary Workers Shows Need for Legal Protections

While the White House, Congress and outside groups debate the details of what the exact shape of the country's immigration system will be, an article from ABC-Univision details three shocking examples that make clear any legislation addressing the topic must include protections for temporary workers brought to the United States.

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Oakland Waste Management Workers File Charges over Employee Intimidation

Workers at Alameda County Waste Management facilities in Oakland, San Leandro and Altamont, Calif., filed charges alleging the company is illegally threatening or intimidating workers in violation of the National Labor Relations Act. More than 200 workers also initiated a work stoppage that was joined by hundreds of other workers at the facilities. The stoppage lasted five hours before workers returned to the job in order to minimize disruptions for customers.

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New Reports Allege Widespread Human Rights Abuses in Temporary Worker Recruitment System

Photo courtesy of the Farm and Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC).

Like many people who come from other countries to work in the United States, Juan José Rosales left his homeland in Mexico to make a better life for himself, trading the prospect of a better financial situation for a temporary amount of time away from. He said a recruiter promised him he would get between $7 and $8 an hour while working in the fair and carnival industry on an H-2B visa. And that's when things went wrong.

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Take Action

Sign the Pledge for a Road Map to Citizenship

Sign the pledge to fight for a common-sense immigration process that creates a road map to citizenship for aspiring Americans.

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