The United States Senate is proceeding quickly towards final passage of a comprehensive immigration reform package that, if approved, will have devastating consequences for the electrical industry and our unions.

A vote on final passage of this legislation is expected to occur sometime during the week of June 4, 2007.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO DEFEAT THIS BILL!

We cannot overstate the seriousness of the situation.

The IBEW has met with many U.S. Senators who are championing S. 1348 to advise them of our opposition to the creation of a new temporary worker program and have urged them to not forsake American workers by agreeing to this flawed legislation.  This provision will have dire consequences by opening the door for further exploitation of guest workers along with an accelerating erosion of the middle class.

We also shared with these senators our views on the need to secure our nation’s borders and implement a reliable employment verification system.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

There is no question in anyone's mind that our nation's immigration policy is broken, and that immediate steps need to be taken to fix the problem. Unfortunately, the immigration reform legislation that is currently pending before the U.S. Senate does not fix our problems. In fact, passage of this legislation will further exacerbate the unconscionable exploitation of immigrant workers, while simultaneously accelerating a further erosion of U.S. workers' living standards. Please consider the following:

-The number of undocumented and illegal immigrants in the United States is estimated to exceed 11.5 million, and that number is growing rapidly;

-There is very little relationship between the needs of the economy and the composition of the work force immigrating to the U.S.;

-U.S. immigration policy needs to be overhauled and realistically aligned with future economic and workforce needs. This legislation does neither;

-The temporary guest worker program, as proposed in the legislation, is bad because it will further exacerbate the unconscionable exploitation of immigrant workers and will accelerate a further erosion of U.S. workers' economic standards;

-A good idea is to expand authorization and funding for additional work-site agents of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of Homeland Security;

-Another good idea is to increase the fines, penalties and sanctions levied upon employers who violate our nation's immigration law;

-There needs to be a mandatory electronic work-eligibility verification system which can effectively detect the use of fraudulent documents;

Please oppose the current "fast track" by the United States Senate to "get something passed" on this issue, and take a breath and truly examine the effects that this misguided legislation will have on those of us who are trying to maintain a decent life for our families. At the very least, the Senate should defeat this bill and start anew.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
May 29, 2007