SEIU to split from AFL-CIO?
Andrew Stern of the Service Employees International Union - which is one of the unions in the AFL-CIO conglomeration - is considering leaving the federation and forming a new group of unions. According to the L.A. Times article "Head of Big Service-Workers Union Weighs Separation From AFL-CIO", he wants to concentrate on just two areas: recruiting new members and consolidating small unions into larger groups.
The Times Q&A is at about the level of a Robert Hilburn Q&A, but it includes this from Stern:
For our union, there are three challenges. One is to continue to build a global union. We thought we had made a big step forward because we put someone to work in Geneva. Now we have people working in Australia, in London, South Africa. We hope to have people in South America soon. We're about to have a second meeting of a group of unions to talk about launching a couple of different global campaigns. So we are well on our way to try to do what's never been done: to try to figure out how to have a global union or global campaigning...
Hey, it's been tried, but that time it was called a "Soyuz." But, seriously, previous coverage starts in "SEIU's Hostile Leftist Takeover".
Comments
mr civil rights (not verified)
Sat, 05/28/2005 - 19:26
Permalink
Why we don't need illegal alien construction workers
http://majorityrights.com/
So all necessary jobs would in fact get done without immigrants but it would cost more. Otherwise how does Australia get by? Our immigration is controlled so we have nothing like the Hispanics. So who are the building workers in Australia? I ought to know as I have employed many of them over the years. They are people of British and European ancestry. And they may cost a lot per hour but because they know what they are doing they work fast. And housing in Australia is generally a lot cheaper than in America! Silly old Lee Harris!
jonjayray on 05/25 at 5:44AM
mr civil rights (not verified)
Sat, 05/28/2005 - 18:43
Permalink
Some obvious but seldom stated points from John Ray's blog:
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:RrlCM99KZPQJ:pcwatch.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_pcwatch_archive.html+john+ray+%2Bconstruction+workers&hl=en&client=fir
efo
2. Mexico is NOT a poor country. It has the fifth richest economy in the world, and by sending its teeming masses to our country, that status keeps on rising. Mexico has more resources per square mile than the U.S. and plenty of money to take care of its own people. Why should the taxpayers of this country subsidize Mexico's corruption?
3. Illegal aliens are NOT necessarily coming here to work. Lou Dobbs recently reported that 33 percent of our prison population is now comprised of non-citizens. Plus, 36 to 42 percent of illegal aliens are on welfare. So, for a good proportion of these people, the American dream is crime and welfare, not coming here to work.
4. Illegal aliens are NOT doing work Americans won't do. What jobs won't Americans do? In most states, Americans still clean their own houses, do their own landscaping, clean hotel rooms, work in restaurants and fast food places, paint houses, DO CONSTRUCTION WORK, work in airports, etc. - just like we have the past 200 years before "our" government allowed these people to invade our country. There are 18 million Americans who cannot find a job, so illegal aliens who are coming here to work do so at peril to American workers.
5. Illegal aliens absolutely do not contribute more than they cost. Certainly the millions in prison and on welfare aren't contributing a dime to our economy, and the ones who are working often are paid in cash with no deductions for taxes at all. The ones who use fraudulent social security numbers and qualify to pay taxes and social security have so many deductions for dependents that they pay little if any taxes. We have seen them pay less than $100 in taxes and get back $4,000 refunds (thanks to earned income tax credits and multiple dependents). The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that the average Mexican illegal alien costs U.S. taxpayers a whopping $55,000 each. Some bargain, eh?
6. The economy does NOT depend on illegal aliens. Sure, greedy CEOs (making $50 to $150 MILLION a year) and business owners depend on illegal aliens, but due to #3, #4 and #5 above, the only thing illegal aliens are contributing to is the collapse of our economy and making the rich richer.
mr civil rights (not verified)
Sat, 05/28/2005 - 18:32
Permalink
Some obvious but seldom stated points from John Ray's blog:
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:RrlCM99KZPQJ:pcwatch.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_pcwatch_archive.html+john+ray+%2Bconstruction+workers&hl=en&client=fir
efo
2. Mexico is NOT a poor country. It has the fifth richest economy in the world, and by sending its teeming masses to our country, that status keeps on rising. Mexico has more resources per square mile than the U.S. and plenty of money to take care of its own people. Why should the taxpayers of this country subsidize Mexico's corruption? /i>
3. Illegal aliens are NOT necessarily coming here to work. Lou Dobbs recently reported that 33 percent of our prison population is now comprised of non-citizens. Plus, 36 to 42 percent of illegal aliens are on welfare. So, for a good proportion of these people, the American dream is crime and welfare, not coming here to work.
4. Illegal aliens are NOT doing work Americans won't do. What jobs won't Americans do? In most states, Americans still clean their own houses, do their own landscaping, clean hotel rooms, work in restaurants and fast food places, paint houses, DO CONSTRUCTION WORK, work in airports, etc. - just like we have the past 200 years before "our" government allowed these people to invade our country. There are 18 million Americans who cannot find a job, so illegal aliens who are coming here to work do so at peril to American workers.
5. Illegal aliens absolutely do not contribute more than they cost. Certainly the millions in prison and on welfare aren't contributing a dime to our economy, and the ones who are working often are paid in cash with no deductions for taxes at all. The ones who use fraudulent social security numbers and qualify to pay taxes and social security have so many deductions for dependents that they pay little if any taxes. We have seen them pay less than $100 in taxes and get back $4,000 refunds (thanks to earned income tax credits and multiple dependents). The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that the average Mexican illegal alien costs U.S. taxpayers a whopping $55,000 each. Some bargain, eh?>
6. The economy does NOT depend on illegal aliens. Sure, greedy CEOs (making $50 to $150 MILLION a year) and business owners depend on illegal aliens, but due to #3, #4 and #5 above, the only thing illegal aliens are contributing to is the collapse of our economy and making the rich richer.
7. Without illegal aliens, the price of agricultural products and other goods and services will NOT soar. The definitive study on this subject is the University of Iowa's "How Much Is That Tomato?" The study concludes that 'since labor is such a small component of the end-price of agricultural products (which includes price to the growers, transportation costs, processing /storage costs, grocers' profit, etc.), using minimum wage workers instead of illegal aliens would increase prices of agricultural products by approximately 3 percent in the summer and 4 percent in the winter ... hardly the making of $10 heads of lettuce, $25 hamburgers, $1,000 per night Days Inn hotel rooms like the pro-illegal alien lobby claims."
posted by john ray 07:28
Monday, April 19, 2004