Libtard Worlds In Collision
Posted on 01/07/2016 5:46:36 PM PST by Kaslin
Some of the largest and most influential trade unions in the country are calling out Democrats for boosting guest worker programs and open borders policies.
North America's Building Trades Unions--an umbrella organization representing three million workers and 15 major unions, including the Laborers and Teamsters--sent outgoing Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.) a letter Thursday accusing her of selling out workers by importing foreigners to work for "Close to Slavery" wages. Mikulski pushed for increasing the number of temporary H2B visas that allow companies to bring guest workers to the United States to fill seasonal jobs.
"We wanted to express to you our extreme disappointment over your efforts to leverage the power and trust that the people of Maryland have placed in you as their representative to doggedly pursue language in the recently passed omnibus bill that will result in diminished job opportunities for hard working Americans," the letter says. "Flooding a loose labor market such as the construction industry with additional low-skill labor hurts the wages and reduces the job prospects of both recent immigrants and native-born workers who are struggling the most. To be blunt, Senator, your actions will induce a race to the bottom on wages and benefits for U.S. workers."
Mikulski did not respond to Washington Free Beacon request for comment.
The labor group said that the omnibus bill's language would triple the number of visas issued and depress wages for blue-collar workers. It also accused Mikulski of attempting to "undermine" labor protections for American and foreign workers to benefit employers.
"To add insult to injury, you have also spearheaded efforts to undermine, and defund, even the most basic labor protections the Department of Labor and Homeland Security have at their disposal to ensure that no harm is caused to either the vulnerable foreign workers who are imported to do this often backbreaking work, or the hard working American workers who must now compete against a virtually powerless workforce to make a living," the letter says. "Your 'accomplishment' has undermined the fundamental principle, embedded in U.S. immigration law for more than one hundred years, that U.S. workers must be protected from unfair competition by foreign workers for both temporary and permanent jobs."
The group is going public with its campaign targeting Mikulski. It also plans to take a full-page advertisement out in the Baltimore Sun, the state's largest paper, announcing that Mikulski "delivered a stunning blow to workers in Maryland and across America." The ad, purchased by the Community Hub for Opportunities in Construction Employment, urges residents to flood her Senate office with calls.
She has enjoyed past support from some of the unions that signed the letter. The Sheet Metal Workers Union, for example, is one of her largest career donors, contributing nearly $50,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Industrial unions contributed more than $250,000 to her, while the construction industry pumped her campaign and PACs with more than $330,000 over her career.
The group said that her actions could lead the group to find someone who would better reflect their values in the Senate.
"We can assure you that Maryland's construction workers, both union and non-union, will welcome new leadership on their behalf in the U.S. Senate; leadership that we will expect to fight FOR good paying jobs in Maryland and across the nation, rather than sell out an entire career and legacy on behalf of a 'low road' status quo," the letter says.
Grind her into political dust!!
There’s an opening for Trump here
Libtard Worlds In Collision
Sounds like the relationship has lost a lot of the pizazzz!
Wow, so brave, these unions. Target Mikulsky, who has already announced she is retiring.
Hey Unions, try something different...Trump or Cruz this year... :-)
Babs Mikulski: one of the most useless, of the many, in the US Senate. a little late and a dollar short for unions to finally recognize how little interest she truly has in any of her constituency.
Trump's hotels hire H2B workers. Lawn care companies hire H2B. In Maryland they are needed to shuck oysters.
The H2A ag worker visa and the H2B non-ag worker visa are seasonal work visas.
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Trade unions and even the Teamsters with the idiocy of foreign Mexican drivers of trucks being allowed to tractor trailer all over the country. That has to put a knot in the Teamsters colon.
Remember the Teamsters backed Reagan!
Lawn care companies and oyster farms should be hiring workers that are American citizens. If the cheap import labor was dried up, they would be forced to do so. Many of those jobs used to be filled by High School and College kids.
Would help them pay for some of their education and not require such a large loan.
A college kid who worked in lawn care at $150 a day could earn over $15,000 in a ninety day summer. That puts quite a dent in a college tuition particularly at a state college or community college.
Sure took them long enough to figure this out!!!
They would be forced to hire illegals. They main part of immigration reform is to reform and expand the guest worker programs so there is no demand for illegals.
As for how much money an individual can make operating a leaf blower, that is limited. In my college days(60s) I worked as a groundskeeper one summer, but I also worked for a asphalt paving contractor, both being minimum wage jobs.
Back in the 1980s, I knew two brothers who began as teenagers mowing lawns and grew that into one of the largest lawn care companies in Dallas. They hired lots of illegals.
One of the problems with seasonal visas is that the season starts earlier and lasts longer in the southern tier of states so they are more likely to find H2B workers before the quota is reached, while those employers to the north have a much harder time.
Oyster processors in Louisiana can get H1B workers but those processors around the Chesapeake Bay cannot. A hotel in FL is more likely to get an H1B worker while the hotel in Maine will not.
Yeah, well that’s the problem when you choose to join in a tribal spoils system - sometimes other tribes count more than yours. :)
The point is that we have plenty of excess labor in this country right now. They are undercut by illegals and temporary visa holders.
We do not need the extra labor. We need a smaller safety net and a competitive labor market that does not include indentured servants and illegal slaves.
I think you need to join the dem party so you can vote with the unions.
You wanna defend Mikulski ? Go for it.
huh?
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