Well, so to speak. I doubt she actually watched the show, but for some reason she's talking to me about immigration and working.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Okay, so you've now seen the video from The Ed Show from yesterday. So, let's talk about Karen, my coworker.

She comes by my desk and says, "Did you hear about the idea of making sure everyone has an ID? I mean, even illegals?"

So, I'll bite, "WTF are you talking about?"

Karen: Think about it. If they have IDs, then they can also pay taxes.
Me: oh, okay. Can we make drugs legal too? I'd like to tax the hell out of the suppliers and products.
Karen: No, come on, I'm serious. If I have to pay 25% of my income in taxes, then they should, too. It's only fair.
Me: And balanced?
Karen: Ah, a Faux News jab, nice.
Me: Karen, it's interesting. I like the idea of ensuring that people who have come here legally have a path to citizenship.
Karen: Brilliant, isn't it?

So, Karen seems to be on to something that was discussed last night on the Ed Show, and I know she doesn't watch it, she doesn't get home in time. But I have to think the AFL-CIO and CtW are on to something here. Here's what Trumka said that kind of goes to what Karen was talking about:

Where do the unions, and in this deal, deal with those students that are here that are forced to go home?

TRUMKA: Well, first of all, that‘s called the status adjustment.

Look at them and see if they are actually needed and let them stay here.

They‘ve contributed. Many have stayed here for several years.

About 40 to 45 percent of the illegal immigrants in this country don‘t cross the border. They come in legally with visas and then just don‘t leave. So we need to have that adjusted as well so that workers—so a permanent underclass isn‘t created, those workers exploited, those exploited workers drive down wages for all workers.

She was arguing, in her very Karenesq way that immigrant workers shouldn't be exploited and be forced to live under the radar, because, when they do, they also don't pay taxes. Income or payroll taxes. She sees these things taken out of her pay check, she pays her taxes on or before April 15th every year and she only really wants the same for workers here.

I told her that CtW and the AFl-CIO were talking about this sort of thing too, but in a way that first protects US workers first, you know citizens. When we talk US workers, I mean every naturalized citizen and every native born one as well. I'm only 2nd Generation American. If my family hadn't gotten a legal shot at citizenship here, I'd probably be in Finland right now. But we did, and we all pay taxes (that I know of). Kind of like a blending of Karen's idea and that of the AFL-CIO and CtW. Who knew great minds could think so alike? I bet Karen did.

For more Ed Show stuff, you should check out his show!!

Veteran talk radio host Ed Schultz joins MSNBC's primetime lineup hosing 'The Ed Show' from 6 p.m. EST to 7 p.m. EST. The show will debate and discuss issues affecting all Americans.

Read More...

A rare videoclip of John McCain from April 2006, trashing the work ethic of American workers. In it, he doubts that any American would pick lettuce, even if offered $50 per hour.Just another example of how out of touch the man who can't keep track of his houses really is, and how little he thinks of all of American workers. Cause I don't know about you, but I'd pick lettuce for $50 an hour and I'd also sign my union card with UFW so I could get water breaks and bathroom breaks.$50 an hour, does he know what migrant farm workers make?

read more | digg story

Already, so I got the embed code. Here's the video:

Read More...

So, you go to school, get an education and become an engineer, computer systems engineer, scientist, etc… Looks like you might be looking for a new, lower paying job soon.

There are a number of companies out there ready to use immigration laws to bring in new immigrant workers who will be paid less than their American counterparts. Some would say this is good for the economy since American workers are fat , lazy and over paid, personally, I don’t agree.

Due in most part to unionized teachers all over the country (my brother included, he's a high school Physics teacher), we turn out highly qualified and immensely capable scientists, engineers and mathematicians every day. But if companies like IBM, MicroSoft, HP and Oracle have their way, these highly educated and skilled workers will be competing for jobs with immigrants who have an H-1B visa or now, a L-1 non-immigrant visa, both of whom are willing to work for peanuts /. E-week.com has the story

Proponents of overseas recruitment, such as Bill Gates and other large technology companies continue to argue there are an insufficient number of American engineers and that a shortage of available H-1B visas makes the United States less competitive in the global economy. Opponents, however, argue that the system is rife with abuse and that foreigners put U.S. workers out of jobs.

>snip<

Introduced in the 1970s, L-1 visas are non-immigrant visas, which allow companies operating in both the United States and abroad to transfer certain classes of employees into the United States for up to seven years. The L-1 visa is more limited than H-1B visas in several ways: the L-1A is only for managers and executives, or for employees with specialized knowledge that cannot be found in the U.S.
"One regulation is that you'd have to have worked for the company outside the U.S. for at least a year—this will not help people right out of school," Robert Meltzer, an immigration attorney and CEO of VISANOW, an online immigration processing company, told eWEEK.

>snip<

"With H-1B visas, there is no requirement that you have to prove you aren't displacing a U.S. worker. You only need to assure regulators that you're paying them a fair wage. But the L-1 visa doesn't require this and I've heard of situations where an H-1B visa holder might be paid $42,000 for a job, but the L-1 visa [holder] only making $12,000," said Meltzer.

Not only are American workers competing on un-equal footing with immigrant scientists and engineers, they now are also competing with their own overseas co-workers for jobs in the states. A competition to fill jobs in America at a fraction of the current market rate for that job and with no governmental requirement for the companies to even provide a scrap of info on the income or justification for the exceeding low pay. More from e-week.com

Though they receive less media coverage, usage lists show that L-1 visas have not flown under the radar of large tech employers. According to the U.S. Senate, IBM was the third biggest user of L-1 visas in the 2006 fiscal year, receiving 1,237. Intel received 394 L-1 visas; HP received 316; Oracle received 176 and Microsoft received 169.

Seven of the top 10 largest users of the L-1 were IT outsourcing firms. Tata Consultancy was first with 4,887; Cognizant Technologies came in second with 3,520 and Satyam, Wipro Technologies, Hindustan Computers, Patni Computer Systems and Kanbay filling out the top 10 spots. Six of the seven also appeared among the top 10 biggest users of H-1B visas the same year.

Now, let’s not worry our pretty little heads about the H-1B visas, they usually only last a day. Last year, they were available on April 3rd and gone before the next morning. L-1s, of course, have no limit. Personally, I think that’s just great, because now, instead of shipping our jobs overseas to India, down to Mexico or into Indonesia, we can now just import those workers and pay them pennies on the dollar. Some might say this is just grand, I don’t. Do you?

Read More...

As you know, I'm a huge fan of Sisters in the Building Trades and Hard Hatted Women. However, it appears I've now got to add a new one, STITCH.

From their site:

Women in Central America and the U.S. face similar challenges in the workplace, especially when it comes to low wages, discrimination, insufficient childcare services and dangerous working conditions. To change these shared conditions, STITCH, founded in 1998, unites Central American and U.S. women workers to exchange strategies on how to fight for economic justice in the workplace. STITCH equips women with the essential skills through trainings and educational tools, and in the process, builds lasting relationships with women across the two regions, further empowering women in the labor movement. STITCH also ensures women's voices are heard in global debates and discussions on issues that impact them: globalization, trade agreements, immigration policy, and global labor standards.

They have some amazing empowering programs like working with Latina women in the US called other immigrants, there's the Leadership Workshops, and there's a Delegation to Central America as well.

This group is also working to document the effects of free trade on women

STITCH presents a new publication that explores the impact of free trade on women workers in Central America and the United States . In their own words, these courageous women talk about their lives and their struggle to survive in—and challenge—an economic system that is stacked against them. This publication is completely bi-lingual (English and Spanish) and includes stories of women working in export clothing factories, healthcare, and agriculture.

They have some amazing quotes from this document, my favorite was this one:

"My first job [in the factory] was cutting cloth. I only did that for two days. On the third day, a supervisor, who was very tough, put me on a machine attaching sleeves. She wanted to take advantage of me because I was so young. She insulted me, made me cry, and hit me. She threw pieces of cloth in my face and demanded that I attach sleeves as fast as the more experienced workers. That's how I learned my first operation. I was 17 when I first joined the union. Once I understood what unions could mean for workers, I was able to recruit a lot of compañeras. But here in Honduras, trade unionists are treated like criminals. If you try to organize a union, they take pictures of you and send them to the other companies. That makes it very difficult for a worker to get a job once she's known as a unionist. At first, I was afraid, but later I thought, why should I be afraid? Legal is legal, and I'm really only defending the laws of our country."

Interested in the work the Stitch does, then check out their joint labor blog

Read More...