Business, labor get deal on worker program

March 30, 2013 @ 5:41 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) - Big business and labor have struck a deal on a new low-skilled worker program, removing the biggest hurdle to completion of sweeping immigration legislation allowing 11 million illegal immigrants eventual U.S. citizenship, labor and Senate officials said Saturday.

The agreement was reached in a phone call late Friday night with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, U.S. Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donohue, and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who's been mediating the dispute.

The deal resolves disagreements over wages for the new workers and which industries would be included. Those disputes had led talks to break down a week ago, throwing into doubt whether Schumer and seven other senators crafting a comprehensive bipartisan immigration bill would be able to complete their work as planned.

The deal must still be signed off on by the other senators working with Schumer, including Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida, but that's expected to happen, according to a person with knowledge of the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity. With the agreement in place, the senators are expected to unveil their legislation the week of April 8. Their measure would secure the border, crack down on employers, improve legal immigration and create a 13-year pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants already here.

It's a major second-term priority of President Barack Obama's and would usher in the most dramatic changes to the nation's faltering immigration system in more than two decades.

"The strength of the consensus across America for just reform has afforded us the momentum needed to forge an agreement in principle to develop a new type of employer visa system," Trumka said in a statement late Saturday. "We expect that this new program, which benefits not just business, but everyone, will promote long overdue reforms by raising the bar for existing programs."

Schumer said: "This issue has always been the dealbreaker on immigration reform, but not this time."

The AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce, longtime antagonists over temporary worker programs, had been fighting over wages for tens of thousands of low-skilled workers who would be brought in under the new program to fill jobs in construction, hotels and resorts, nursing homes and restaurants, and other industries.

Under the agreement, a new "W" visa program would go into effect beginning April 1, 2015, according to an AFL-CIO fact sheet.

In year one of the program, 20,000 workers would be allowed in; in year two, 35,000; in year three, 55,000; and in year four, 75,000. Ultimately the program would be capped at 200,000 workers a year, but the number of visas would fluctuate, depending on unemployment rates, job openings, employer demand and data collected by a new federal bureau pushed by the labor movement as an objective monitor of the market. One-third of all visas in any year would go to businesses with under 25 workers.

A "safety valve" would allow employers to exceed the cap if they can show need and pay premium wages, but any additional workers brought in would be subtracted from the following year's cap.

The workers could move from employer to employer and would be able to petition for permanent residency after a year, and ultimately seek U.S. citizenship. Neither is possible for temporary workers now.

The new program would fill needs employers say they have that are not currently met by U.S. immigration programs. Most industries don't have a good way to hire a steady supply of foreign workers because there's one temporary visa program for low-wage nonagricultural workers but it's capped at 66,000 visas per year and is only supposed to be used for seasonal or temporary jobs.

Business has sought temporary worker programs in a quest for a cheaper workforce, but labor has opposed the programs because of concerns over working conditions and the effect on jobs and wages for U.S. workers. The issue helped sink the last major attempt at immigration overhaul in 2007, which the AFL-CIO opposed partly because of temporary worker provisions, and the flare-up earlier this month sparked concerns that the same thing would happen this time around. Agreement between the two traditional foes is one of many indications that immigration reform has its best chance in years in Congress this year.

After apparent miscommunications earlier this month between the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce on the wage issue, the deal resolves it in a way both sides are comfortable with, officials said.

Workers would earn actual wages paid to American workers or the prevailing wages for the industry they're working in, whichever is higher. The Labor Department would determine prevailing wage based on customary rates in specific localities, so that it would vary from city to city.

There also had been disagreement on how to handle the construction industry, which unions argue is different from other industries in the new program because it can be more seasonal in nature and includes a number of higher-skilled trades. The official said the resolution will cap at 15,000 a year the number of visas that can be sought by the construction industry.

Schumer called White House chief of staff Denis McDonough on Saturday to inform him of the deal, the person with knowledge of the talks said. The three principals in the talks _ Trumka, Donohue and Schumer _ agreed they should meet for dinner soon to celebrate, the person said.

However, in a sign of the delicate and uncertain negotiations still ahead, Rubio sent a letter Saturday to Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., calling for a deliberate hearing process on the new legislation and cautioning against a "rush to legislate." Rubio and a number of other Republicans are striking a tricky balance as they simultaneously court conservative and Hispanic voters on the immigration issue.

Separately, the new immigration bill also is expected to offer many more visas for high-tech workers, new visas for agriculture workers, and provisions allowing some agriculture workers already in the U.S. a speedier path to citizenship than that provided to other illegal immigrants, in an effort to create a stable agricultural workforce.

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Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (3)


  • Add A Comment

  • C"mon Man wrote...
    No funds............
    February 7, 2013 10:22 am
    Have to identify, fill out a W4 and pay taxes. Break the law: Adios!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • monkeyal wrote...
    Menendez is probably angling
    February 7, 2013 10:29 am
    for a 'path to citizenship' for some of his 'gal pals' stemming from his numerous trips south of the border into the islands. And, if there are 11,000,000 illegals here, who is to say that all 11 million want and desire a 'pathway to citizenship'? Visa over-stayers, criminals, gang members, etc. who are illegals should be deported asap.
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  • Rick W7PSK wrote...
    Only path Id like to see is out of the USA
    February 7, 2013 12:33 pm
    But since both sides are hell bent on doing this, then we might as well say Adios Amigos to the USA.

    There are more than likely almost double the 11 Million, Plus the idiots in DC will put a date into the future, thus ensuring a mass of border crossers to make the date

    Also close the border, yea right they were supposed to do that last time. didn't happen and wont happen again.

    Actually another poster on yahoo posted it best so Ill just repost it here.

    1) They are an economic necessity - Not true. The idea that a bunch of desperately poor, uneducated, unskilled, illegal foreigners are an economic necessity is ludicrous. In fact, when you compare cost vs. benefit, it is obvious that they are not only NOT a necessity; they are not even an asset. Rather, they are a liability and a huge one at that.

    2) They do work Americans won’t do - Not true. They do work Americans won’t do for $5 an hour (especially if Americans can collect welfare and unemployment forever). Of course, if you got rid of the illegals, the jobs wouldn’t pay $5 an hour. The people who wanted the work done would have to pay a wage that was attractive enough to get Americans to do the work. And it might even be enough so Americans could support themselves and get off welfare and unemployment!!

    3) They work & contribute to our society - So do I. And if I break the law and commit crimes, I can expect to pay a penalty of some kind. Anything from a small fine to the death penalty. I do NOT get rewarded. This argument makes no sense.

    4) They are just trying to make better lives - Aren’t we all? The difference is that most of us understand that we don’t have a right to acquire by illegal means those things that we find difficult to acquire by legal means. And we certainly don’t have the right to do it in a foreign country. Mexico does not allow foreigners to enter their country illegally and break it’s laws. If you believe differently, go give it a try. Call me collect from the dungeon. Let me know how it went.....

    5) It is impossible to round up and deport the illegals - We don’t have to. All we have to do is remove the incentives that brought them here in the first place. No jobs. No housing. No services. No benefits. Once we remove the incentives that brought them here, they will leave on their own.

    6) It would be too expensive to round them up and deport them - See #5.

    7) Immigration control is racist - This is just another play of the race card by people who have no other cards to play. Immigration control is the world-wide status quo. There is nothing racist about it. Furthermore, the USA welcomes LEGAL immigrants of all races and ethnicities from all over the world who have gone through the legal immigration process. This is not just a bad argument, it is an attempt to create hatred and division. Racist is their code word for patriot.

    8) We are a nation of immigrants - We are a nation that has, historically, allowed and even encouraged legal immigration. And we continue to do so. The issue at hand is illegal immigration, which has nothing to do with legal immigration. This argument is totally irrelevant. illegal aliens are not good people, they lack the morals to respect our laws !

    9) They are people. We must treat them humanely - Yes & yes. But lets not pretend like they are victims who were dragged here kicking and screaming against their will. Nothing could be further from the truth. They came of their own free will and for their own benefit and they broke the law to do it. People should not be rewarded for breaking laws and committing crimes. Sending them home is the right thing to do. There is nothing “draconian” about it.

    No other country on Earth allows foreigners to come in illegally, work illegally, steal jobs from it’s citizens, break laws, commit crimes (serious crimes!), evade taxes, etc. etc. etc. And there are no rational reasons why we should either. There are only political reasons, and they aren’t rational.

    Why do we have to jump through hoops at the airports for our security, yet MILLIONS of people sneak in here illegally? We are being lied to that's for sure

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