Free Republic

President Bush's immigration initiative has sparked a great deal of discussion across the country. Perhaps the most interesting debate centers on whether the president, in announcing the initiative, has embraced conservative principles or abandoned them. I believe a temporary worker program is consistent with conservative principles, and here's why. First, conservatives value national security, and the status quo encourages anything but national security. The presence of 8 million to 12 million illegal aliens within the confines of our borders should prompt the type of reform the president has suggested. President Bush's proposal will ensure smarter border enforcement by redirecting resources...

<p>The law says a business caught hiring illegal aliens (search) can be fined up to $10,000 -- which sounds tough, but the truth is that businesses have very little to worry about.</p> <p>The General Accounting office estimates 200,000 business employees in the United States are illegal aliens. In 1992, more than 1,000 businesses were fined, but in 2002 that number dropped to 13 businesses.</p>

The United States often has been called “a nation of immigrants,” and most Americans—with the notable exception of Native Americans—have ancestors who arrived from other countries, either voluntarily or involuntarily as slaves. Throughout American history, immigrants helped build America’s cities, towns, farms, businesses, economies and civic and cultural institutions. Immigrants from around the world also helped build the American union movement, providing a generation after generation of members, activists and leaders. But today, immigrant workers in America often face the harshest forms of workplace problems that affect all workers, immigrant and nonimmigrant alike: employer interference with our rights to improve...

<p>The Labor Department is giving employers tips on how to avoid paying overtime to some of the 1.3 million low-income workers who would become eligible under new rules expected to be finalized early this year.</p> <p>The department's advice comes even as it touts the $895 million in increased wages that it says those workers would be guaranteed from the reforms.</p>

Chinese construction workers housed by their Israeli employers in trailers in the West Bank are to be moved to a site inside Israel after intense US pressure, Channel 2 reported Saturday. The migrant Chinese laborers are building a new neighborhood in Kiryat Sefer, which sits just inside the Green Line, Channel 2 reported. But the workers have been living in trailers inside the West Bank, just meters from a Palestinian village. Israel is under intense US pressure to dismantle more than 100 unauthorized Jewish outposts set up in the past two years on land the Palestinians want for a future...

SACRAMENTO - California's workers' compensation insurance rates are trending downward for the first time since 1998, a sign the costly system has "turned the corner," state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said Wednesday. But the average 3.6 percent decrease is far below the nearly 15 percent drop in so-called pure premium rates that he recommended in November. Garamendi said 95 workers' comp insurers, representing about 75 percent of the California market, had announced rates that will take effect in January. Of those 95 firms, 69 plan to reduce rates, 16 are standing pat and 10 are raising rates. The decreases range...

<p>CHICAGO -- A recent survey finds that nearly one in four American workers say they are dissatisfied with their jobs -- a 20 percent increase over a similar survey in 2001.</p> <p>The online job site CareerBuilder.com also said six out of ten workers plan to leave their jobs for other pursuits in the next two years.</p>

Britain says seven oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria LONDON (AP) -- The British Foreign Office said Friday that seven oil workers have been abducted in Nigeria. A Briton, two Colombians and an Australia were confirmed among the hostages, and the Foreign Office said a Russian also was believed abducted. It was not yet clear who kidnapped them, the office said. But hostage-takings are common in Nigeria's oil delta, where activists and thugs frequently target oil companies with sabotage, kidnappings and other attacks in a bid to extort payoffs. The hostages are rarely harmed. The British worker, whose identity was not...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jacking up the pressure on three Southern California supermarket chains just days before Thanksgiving, striking grocery workers Monday began picketing regional distribution centers -- hoping to cut off the supply of food and other goods to the stores. Despite plans by Teamster-represented truck drivers and employees at the distribution centers to honor the new picket lines, Albertsons Inc., Kroger Co. and Safeway Inc. said they had "contingency plans" to keep stores open. The job action could not come at a worse time for frustrated Southern California shoppers, who have suffered through 44 days of the strike...

Wal-Mart in China Changsha The signs all over the store proclaiming Everyday Low Prices look the same (except that they're printed in Chinese), as do the neatly dressed "associates" patrolling the selling floor. Busy shoppers plucking bargains ranging from music CDs to shoes to fresh bean curd have the same determined look about them. And one other thing about Wal-Mart in China is familiar, too: The company's labor problems are making headlines. To be sure, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), which has launched a public relations campaign against Wal-Mart over the firm's refusal to let its Chinese workers...

KENNEBUNK — Some of the workers with neon orange vests on the side of the Maine Turnpike aren't plotting property lines. They're undercover state police officers, clocking the speeds of cars in an aggressive effort to get drivers to slow down. Crying foul won't get violators out of the resulting speeding ticket."It's not entrapment, it's just unconventional enforcement," said Lt. Randall Nichols of Troop G, the branch of the Maine State Police in charge of patrolling the turnpike.The Maine Turnpike Authority, state police, and contractors working on a project to widen the highway have tried a variety of methods...

<p>FRAMINGHAM - Andre Brassard keeps sending out resumes but has largely given up on the profession that employed him for a decade: writing software.</p> <p>In his old department at Mindspeed Technologies Inc., most of the software engineers are gone. The work Brassard and his colleagues did is now largely done in Ukraine for one-quarter to one-third the cost.</p>

Ancient find raises worries about workers By Emily Heffter Times Snohomish County bureau A Snohomish County road crew doing routine maintenance unearthed a Stillaguamish tribal archaeological site two weeks ago in the Silvana area. The county halted the project after tribal members pointed out that it was atop an ancient Indian-village site, but the close call has raised concerns about how cautious county work crews are when they dig. Stillaguamish tribal members say some of the artifacts at the site are between 8,000 and 10,000 years old — some of the oldest artifacts on the continent. The findings haven't been...

A new guest-worker program sponsored by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, would allow millions of undocumented immigrants to work legally in the United States. Introduced in the U.S. Senate as the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2003, it would allow seasonal workers to stay in the country for up to nine consecutive months and non-seasonal workers to stay up to a full year – not to exceed 36 months during the life of the program. The proposed law would encourage undocumented immigrants to apply for guest-worker status with their employers.In an interview this week, Cornyn said the program...

Naked farm workers staged a mass invasion of the Mexican senate as part of a land row. Some 150 naked protestors broke windows, seats and tables, according to Terra Noticias Populares. They left only after the senate's vice president Carlos Chaurand guaranteed he would carry out their demands. The men and women also appeared naked or in their underwear on the corners of the main streets of Mexico City. Their main claim is that a decree, signed by former president Carlos Salinas who left power in 1994, be put in action. The decree donates land to the workers who are...

The price of dignity Business is imposing virtual slavery in the developing world - and only we, the consumers, can stop it Anita Roddick Monday September 22, 2003 The Guardian In the past two years, 500 export assembly factories have shut down in Mexico, throwing 218,000 workers on to the street. Their crime was the $1.26-an-hour base wage they were paid by companies such as Alcoa Fujikura to produce auto parts for export to the US. Those wages are now "too high" in the global economy. Never mind that the Alcoa workers in Acuna live in makeshift cardboard huts that...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretarySeptember 20, 2003 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Every day, millions of Americans put in long hours building businesses of their own. Their hard work strengthens the economy, creates most of the new jobs in America, and supplies the innovation that drives our future prosperity. As we mark National Small Business Week, our nation honors the enterprise and hard work of small business owners and employees. Small businesses are a key to upward mobility, particularly for women and minorities. There are over 3 million minority-owned small businesses across America, and that...

DALLAS - Immigration advocates, labor unions and civil rights activists in North Texas have joined a nationwide campaign in favor of legalizing the nation's undocumented work force. Starting today, some 18 buses carrying about 900 activists and immigrant workers will embark from cities such as Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle and Miami on a road trip called the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride. They will stop at rallies in cities along the way, including one in Dallas on Sept. 27. The trip will also include a stop in Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress. It will culminate with a rally...

The average state worker now has a $56,800 compensation package, including about $12,700 in benefits -- excluding those in the legislature, judiciary, or university systems. Workers can accrue up to 16 weeks of annual leave -- that can eventually be cashed out, and they get 13 holidays a year, far more than most private-sector workers. And many state workers are paid more than private-sector employees who do similar work. The California Public Employees' Retirement System -- which provides an average $1,594 per month to 388,126 retired state workers -- has been in crisis as the stock market floundered, forcing the...

GW is now speaking to workers in Ohio. He's received a very warm and enthusiastic welcome from the Operating Engineers union.