America's workers commend Congressman Gutierrez's hard work and dedication in crafting a comprehensive immigration proposal that promotes workers' rights.

A sensible approach to immigration reform that protects the interests of all workers is long overdue.   The current system strips workers of their rights on the job, robs them of wages and endangers their lives with unsafe working conditions.  It also penalizes law-abiding businesses by forcing them into unfair competition with companies who violate workers' rights for profit and then use the excuse of immigration status to avoid penalties or prosecution.  Earlier this year, the labor movement put forth a comprehensive framework for reform based on five interconnected pieces: an independent commission to assess and manage future flows based on labor market shortages that are determined on the basis of actual need; a secure and effective worker authorization mechanism; rational operational control of the border; adjustment of status for the current undocumented population; and improvement, not expansion, of temporary worker programs like the H1-B and H2-B programs, limited to temporary or seasonal, not permanent, jobs.

We commend Congressman Gutierrez's leadership for including key elements of this framework in his legislation. Effective immigration reform must provide an inclusive and effective path for undocumented immigrants to come forward and regularize their status.  This is fundamental to our ability to crack down on employers who use unauthorized workers to drive down wages and benefits.

One of the greatest failures of our current employment based immigration system is that it uses arbitrary caps based on political compromises and not the needs of the labor market.  Determining the number of workers who come into the US labor market should be done by an independent commission that assesses the needs on an ongoing basis and reflects the considerations of all key stakeholders.

The AFL-CIO has a long history of working with Congress to reform - not expand - existing temporary worker programs, to stop the exploitation of workers and safeguard standards in impacted industries.  We look forward to continuing this work to pass comprehensive immigration reform that will protect workers' rights.           

Contact: Eddie Vale (202) 637-5018