AFL-CIO joins immigrant rights effort [View All]

[NVMojo]

The largest U.S. labor federation has joined forces with the largest organization of day laborers as the languishing labor movement taps the potent energy of the immigrant rights movement.

The AFL-CIO labor organization said that its partnership with the National Day Labor Organizing Network would seek to improve wages and conditions for tens of thousands of laborers and other immigrant workers.

With the agreement, which was signed Thursday, the AFL-CIO is embracing workers who have been accused by many union members of driving down wages. The partnership connects the labor federation with a network that largely represents illegal immigrant workers, many of whom have had run- ins with the police as they stand on street corners soliciting jobs.

The day laborers' network, which is a loose association of day laborers and workers' centers across the country, and the immigrant groups it works with were pivotal in setting up large demonstrations across the country this spring in support of immigrants' rights.

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http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/10/business/labor.php