Portland Latino leaders reject Bush immigration plan

The recent immigration reform plan proposed by George W. Bush would create a vast, temporary workforce through the issuance of visas tied to specific employers. With their status tied to their employment, immigrant workers will become fearful of defending their rights on the job and vulnerable to exploitation.

Leaders of several key Oregon Latino organizations have characterized the Bush plan as a significant step backwards, reports Dave Mazza in the Portland Alliance (February 2004).

The Bush proposal reminds some of a Roosevelt Administration immigrant worker program, which had a spotty history. During World War II, when millions of workers were being drafted into the armed forces, industrial production and agricultural output still had to be maintained. Workers were recruited from poor rural communities in Mexico to work under specific "bracero" contracts (which happened to be in English). When the contracts expired, it was up to the employer to renew it or let the worker be deported back to Mexico.

When Millions are jobless, it ain't a recovery

In October 2003, the unemployment rate stood at 6 percent, or 8.8 million people. Adding in part-time workers who are looking for full-time work and unemployed who have stopped looking, raises the number to 15 million, or 10 percent of the US labor force. This doesn't include millions more who are homeless, transient, marginally self-employed, undocumented immigrants, those in the military (1.5 million active-duty soldiers), and over two million prisoners. This according to a report by Linda Averill in the Freedom Socialist (Winter issue, 2004).

A survey by the Business Roundtable, a nationwide club of big bosses, showed that 71 percent expected their sales to increase through the end of 2003, but only 12 percent of them expected to hire workers, while 36 percent of them planned layoffs! This they accomplish through speedup--increasing productivity per worker, thereby requiring fewer workers.

The trend toward fewer workers is clearly evident in the national numbers: 2.5 million high-wage manufacturing jobs lost since 2001, and 131,000 jobs lost in the relatively unionized public sector in just ten months during 2003. When new jobs appear, they tend to be in private education, tourism, fast food, temporary services, and other sectors with low pay and benefits.

Prison Labor Fuels US War Machine

American prisoners in 2002 produced goods that sold to the US government for $678.7 million, over $400 million of which went to the Department of Defense (DOD). This production is under the auspices of a quasi-public, for-profit corporation named Federal Prison Industries (FPI), according to an article by Ian Urbina in the January issue of Prison Legal News. Founded in 1934, FPI originally manufactured dynamite cases, parachutes, cargo nets, tents, and even aircraft. Now, FPI's products include protective belts, underwear, camouflage battle-dress uniforms, pastor vestments, surgeons' gowns, lighting systems, sandbags, blankets, Kevlar helmets, goggles and night-vision eyeware, chemical gas detection devices, and bomb and weaponry components.

FPI enjoys a special mandatory source status, which requires federal agencies to buy its products even if the price is better elsewhere. (FPI also benefits from a policy that requires the DOD to buy US-made goods.) FPI products were found to be 13 percent more costly than those of other companies, this despite paying its prisoner work force wages from 25 cents to $1.15 per hour, a fraction of the minimum wage.

State union wins injunction against contracting out

The Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) and AFSCME have won a motion to require the Washington state Department of Transportation to stop contracting out the fabrication and installation of info signs on highways. An injunction to that effect was granted by Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee on December 15th, according to the January issue of the Washington State Employee, a newsletter for public sector workers.

A controversial 2002 law permits this outsourcing but may have violated the state constitution's prohibition against "impairment of contracts" because it undercuts the Highway Maintenance members' contract and skims off the work of a bargaining unit.

Portland workers, union leaders pan Bush speech

On January 20th, President Tim Nesbitt of Oregon's AFL-CIO assembled a focus group of mostly unemployed Portland area workers to hear responses to the State of the Union speech. Although Bush's speech focused mostly on war and terrorism, Nesbitt found that the responses focused mostly on the nation's deteriorating employment situation and the underfunding of schools and other worthy programs.

National union leaders also spoke out against Bush's speech in similar ways. Sandra Feldman, President of the American Federation of Teachers, blamed Bush's massive tax breaks for individuals and corporations that don't need them for the underfunding of federal school aid.

The Fire Fighters Union has a high proportion of registered Republicans. Its president, Harold Schaitberger, is upset at Bush's budget priorities. Schaitberger said, "Two thirds of the nation's fire departments were understaffed before 9/11, and the problem is worse now as federal cuts, filtering down to states and cities, force firefighter layoffs even as terror alerts increase," reports the Northwest Labor Press (2-6-04).