http://www.hispanictips.com Hispanic & Latino News Redefined - Empowering & Engaging Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:13:20 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.hispanictips.com/2011/05/12/the-afl-cio-the-nations-largest-labor-federation-signed-groundbreaking-partnership-agreements-in-nyc-may-10-with-the-national-domestic-workers-alliance-and-the-national-guestworkers-alliance-the/ http://www.hispanictips.com/2011/05/12/the-afl-cio-the-nations-largest-labor-federation-signed-groundbreaking-partnership-agreements-in-nyc-may-10-with-the-national-domestic-workers-alliance-and-the-national-guestworkers-alliance-the/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 16:01:43 +0000 TomasC http://www.hispanictips.com/?p=128272 Tomás @ HispanicTips from peoplesworld.org
Hispanic & Latino News Redefined. Empower Yourself!]]> http://www.hispanictips.com/2011/05/12/the-afl-cio-the-nations-largest-labor-federation-signed-groundbreaking-partnership-agreements-in-nyc-may-10-with-the-national-domestic-workers-alliance-and-the-national-guestworkers-alliance-the/feed/ 0 http://www.hispanictips.com/2010/08/06/the-afl-cio-calls-on-members-of-congress-to-take-immediate-steps-to-pass-the-dream-act-in-2010-as-down-payment-to-comprehensive-immigration-reform/ http://www.hispanictips.com/2010/08/06/the-afl-cio-calls-on-members-of-congress-to-take-immediate-steps-to-pass-the-dream-act-in-2010-as-down-payment-to-comprehensive-immigration-reform/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:10:56 +0000 Tomas http://www.hispanictips.com/?p=92308 HispanicTips :: Hispanic & Latino News & Information]]> http://www.hispanictips.com/2010/08/06/the-afl-cio-calls-on-members-of-congress-to-take-immediate-steps-to-pass-the-dream-act-in-2010-as-down-payment-to-comprehensive-immigration-reform/feed/ 0 http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/11/18/afl-cio-letter-to-clinton-opposing-honduran-elections/ http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/11/18/afl-cio-letter-to-clinton-opposing-honduran-elections/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:40:08 +0000 Tomas http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/11/18/afl-cio-letter-to-clinton-opposing-honduran-elections/ HispanicTips :: Hispanic & Latino News & Information]]> http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/11/18/afl-cio-letter-to-clinton-opposing-honduran-elections/feed/ 0 http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/10/28/american-rights-at-work-immigration-study-finds-enforcement-has-undermined-workers-rights/ http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/10/28/american-rights-at-work-immigration-study-finds-enforcement-has-undermined-workers-rights/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:07:56 +0000 Tomas http://www.hispanictips.com/?p=65186 A comprehensive report issued today by the AFL-CIO, American Rights at Work and the National Employment Law Project finds that the federal government’s immigration enforcement in recent years – including a heavy reliance on raids and often inadequately trained enforcement agents – has severely undermined efforts to protect workers’ rights, to the detriment of immigrant and native-born workers alike. Drawing on several case studies from across the country, the report offers an unprecedented analysis of how the division between labor and immigration enforcement has eroded, and a blueprint for how the new administration and federal agencies can restore the balance. The authors, joined by a group of affected immigrant workers, presented their findings and recommendations today at a conference at AFL-CIO headquarters.

“The balance between worksite immigration enforcement and labor standards enforcement must be recalibrated,” argued co-author Rebecca Smith of the National Employment Law Project. “ICE’s failure to uphold the firewall between enforcement of immigration laws and enforcement of labor laws has undercut both policies. Employers have been encouraged to violate wage and hour laws, OSHA requirements, and labor laws that protect collective bargaining rights. All workers, both immigrant and native born, are suffering from depressed core labor standards as a result.”

ICED OUT: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights builds on a growing body of research that points to a decline in workplace protections – and details how the dramatic increase in immigration enforcement agents, arrests and prosecutions of immigrants in the U.S. has repeatedly taken precedence over labor law enforcement. Drawing on case studies from across the country – including California, Texas, Tennessee, Kansas, Iowa, Rhode Island, Florida and Oregon – the report examines a series of alarming incidents between 2005 and 2008 in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, has:

1. taken enforcement action at the behest of employers, their surrogates, and other police agencies;
2. conducted immigration-focused surveillance in the midst of labor disputes;
3. conducted enforcement action with full knowledge of an ongoing labor dispute;
4. engaged in subterfuge to carry out enforcement actions; and
5. directly interfered with the administration of justice by arresting workers on the courthouse steps.

In 2008, the report notes, ICE made 6,287 (5,184 administrative; 1,103 criminal) arrests for immigration offenses at workplaces, and only a small fraction of its arrests (2.1 percent) were of employers or employers’ agents. In August 2009, ICE reported having enrolled 63 agencies and trained 840 officers in a program to assist in identifying undocumented immigrants. However, the GAO recently criticized ICE for inadequate oversight and training under the program, and it has frequently been cited as contributing to racial profiling.

“Focusing on raids and other types of immigration enforcement without regard to enforcement of labor and employment laws does not address what is really sustaining illegal immigration—the virtually unfettered ability of employers to exploit immigrant workers economically,” said Ana Avendaño of the AFL-CIO organization, a co-author of the report.

In 1998, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the then-named U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS, now ICE) and the U.S. Department of Labor established a firewall between immigration and labor law enforcement, with the purpose of reducing economic incentives for hiring unauthorized workers, limiting abusive treatment of workers, and promoting jobs for legal, authorized U.S. workers.

The MOU provides guidelines for when cooperation between workplace and immigration enforcement agencies is appropriate, and when it is not. For example, when workers complain about wage and hour violations, the MOU stipulates that DOL should not conduct reviews of work authorizations or inquire about the immigration status of complainants.

“Simply put, there needs to be a better balance of communication between immigration and labor agencies, and it starts with heeding the policy that already exists, but is being ignored. There is a serious impact for the economy and for workers – both native and immigrant – when immigration enforcement overshadows the equally important goal of protecting labor rights,” co-author Julie Martinez Ortega of American Rights at Work said.

At today’s conference Josue Diaz, an immigrant worker who was recruited from a day laborer corner in New Orleans to work on reconstruction efforts in Texas after Hurricanes Ike, shared his personal story. “We were forced to live in tents in an isolated labor camp at an abandoned oil refinery. We were made to work in toxic conditions without safety equipment. We were subjected racist and dehumanizing treatment…When we protested the discrimination and illegal treatment, our employer…called local police and ICE. We were arrested immediately. Instead of enforcing our labor rights against the company, the police and ICE tried to turn us into criminals.”

For a full copy of the report, and the authors’ specific recommendations for the Obama administration and several federal agencies on how to restore the proper balance between immigration and labor law enforcement, click here. Aggregated by HispanicTips :: Hispanic & Latino News & Information]]> http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/10/28/american-rights-at-work-immigration-study-finds-enforcement-has-undermined-workers-rights/feed/ 0 http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/10/08/government-terminates-no-match-rule-harmful-to-legal-workers/ http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/10/08/government-terminates-no-match-rule-harmful-to-legal-workers/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:31:10 +0000 Tomas http://www.hispanictips.com/?p=63777 Aggregated by HispanicTips :: Hispanic & Latino News & Information]]> http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/10/08/government-terminates-no-match-rule-harmful-to-legal-workers/feed/ 0 http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/06/01/national-launch-of-the-reform-immigration-for-america-campaign/ http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/06/01/national-launch-of-the-reform-immigration-for-america-campaign/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:45:46 +0000 Tomas http://www.hispanictips.com/?p=53099 "WHAT: PRESS CONFERENCE announcing the launch of a national campaign uniting business, labor, religious, civil rights, and immigrant leaders under a broad umbrella for immigration reform
WHEN: Wednesday, June 3, 2009; 9:30 a.m., EST
WHERE: National Press Club
1st Amendment Room
529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC
WHO: Ali Noorani, Executive Director, National Immigration Forum, Moderator
Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
Eliseo Medina, Executive Vice President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Hilary O. Shelton, Director, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Washington Bureau, (NAACP)
Janet Murguía, President and CEO, National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
John Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress
John J. Sweeney, President, AFL-CIO
Karen Narasaki, President and Executive Director, Asian American Justice Center (AAJC)
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC)
Robert J. Dolibois, Executive Vice President, American Nursery & Landscape Association, Co-Chair, Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform
William McNary, President, USAction
WHY: Leaders playing a central role in promoting immigration reform, including NCLR (National Council of La Raza), will officially launch the Reform Immigration FOR America Campaign. This groundbreaking, momentum-building effort organizes supporters of immigration reform into a stronger, more effective, and politically savvy national campaign which will help support President Obama and ensure that his promises of addressing comprehensive immigration reform become legislative reality.

The press conference announcing the Reform Immigration FOR America Campaign is part of a weeklong series of events, including more than 30 local campaign launch press events in 20 states (June 1), a national summit in Washington, DC bringing together 700 grassroots advocates representing more than 35 states (June 3–5), and a National Town Hall Meeting on Capitol Hill (June 4) on immigration reform.

For more information on the Reform Immigration FOR America Campaign, please visit www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org or www.reformamigratoriaproamerica.org or www.nclr.org" HispanicTips is Essential Hispanic & Latino News & Information
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My readers say it best: "love it," "addictive,""useful," "great," & "invaluable." - View quotes & testimonials]]> http://www.hispanictips.com/2009/06/01/national-launch-of-the-reform-immigration-for-america-campaign/feed/ 0 http://www.hispanictips.com/2008/10/27/afl-cio-launches-campaign-to-help-protect-us-hispanics-against-voting-rights-abuses/ http://www.hispanictips.com/2008/10/27/afl-cio-launches-campaign-to-help-protect-us-hispanics-against-voting-rights-abuses/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:57:29 +0000 Tomas http://www.hispanictips.com/2008/10/27/afl-cio-launches-campaign-to-help-protect-us-hispanics-against-voting-rights-abuses/ "The AFL-CIO today announced the launch of a special voting rights protection program in six states - Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia - aimed at educating U.S. Hispanics about their voting rights and helping to prevent voting rights violations on Election Day. The effort comes as a part of the AFL-CIO's "My Vote, My Right" program, wherein members of local union and labor groups across the country are working in coalition with civil rights organizations, faith groups, local lawyers, and other community allies to protect voting rights.
"It's time to turn around America, and we will start by protecting our right to vote and making sure that every single vote is counted," said AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker. "Many Hispanics will be first time voters in this election, making them especially vulnerable to voter intimidation and misinformation, which is why we are making a special effort to reach out and educate them."
The AFL-CIO's public education effort aimed at Hispanics is comprised of five main components:
-- A Spanish-language radio advertising campaign featuring actor Edward James Olmos that details voter protection issues and how to avoid being disenfranchised
-- Spanish-language "Voter Bill of Rights" fliers describing state and federal voting rights laws, which by Election Day will be distributed to more than 10,000 voters in Nevada
-- Spanish-language voting rights cards, which by Election Day will be distributed to more than 10,000 voters in New Mexico
-- An op-ed written by former AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez Thompson outlining voters' rights
Grassroots educational outreach to voters
The Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), an affiliate of the AFL-CIO and Change to Win, is also actively reaching out to Hispanics voters through their "Tu voz es mi voz" campaign (Your voice is my voice). Elements of the campaign include:
-- Canvassing door to door in Grand Rapids; Lansing/East Lansing; Pontiac and Southeast Detroit, Michigan and Northern Virginia with sample ballots for Latino voters and voter education information
-- Disseminating Spanish-language voter protection information in Philadelphia, Reading and Allentown, Pennsylvania
-- A radio program in Philadelphia, PA with voter education information
-- Stationing bi-lingual election voter protection monitors at the polls in Prince William County, Virginia where an anti-immigrant statute was passed earlier this year
-- Town hall meetings along with a voter registration, voter education and voter protection drive in Central Florida.
-- The sending of letters to the supervisors of elections in seven Central Florida counties requesting a plan of action to increase, maintain, support and protect the participation of Latinos.
In several states, the AFL-CIO voter protection program is also recruiting and training volunteers to serve as nonpartisan poll workers and poll monitors on Election Day, helping to address voting problems including long lines, misuse of provisional ballots, and demands for voter IDs which are not mandated by law. The volunteers will be thoroughly trained on federal, state and local election laws. On Election Day, poll monitors will be deployed outside of polling places where they will be available to answer voters' questions about their rights and help resolve any problems voters may encounter.
The AFL-CIO is the umbrella organization for America's unions and represents 10.5 million working people nationwide. " HispanicTips is Essential Hispanic & Latino News & Information
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