U.S. Chamber Continues to Support Legal Immigration and Invites the AFL-CIO Back to the Negotiating Table

'Legal immigration programs are too important to American competitiveness
to continue being used as the scapegoat during this economic crisis,' Johnson Says

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Following the statement yesterday by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on immigration reform, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Senior Vice President of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits, Randel K. Johnson, issued the following statement:

"The Chamber continues to support President Obama's and Senators Schumer and Graham's attempt to find a bipartisan solution to our broken immigration system. At the same time, the Chamber is disappointed at the AFL-CIO's effective rejection yesterday, through a press release, of their courageous attempt to find common ground.

"The AFL-CIO tells the Chamber to 'abandon its insistence' on a new temporary worker program when they know that this is a pivotal area that must be discussed and negotiated. By taking this position, the AFL-CIO ends any realistic chance of legislation this year.

"The Chamber is disappointed that for close to two months the AFL-CIO has refused to sit together with employers and congressional staffers to air its concerns and chose instead to issue a hollow press release.

"The fact is that the legislation backed by the AFL-CIO allows an additional 100,000 unemployed immigrants a year to enter the country permanently through a lottery—disregarding the current needs of the economy.

"Instead of allowing people to come without jobs to compete with American workers, as called for in the legislation backed by the AFL-CIO, employers support mandating that every reasonable effort be made to hire qualified Americans first.

"Only after employers have tried to hire U.S. workers should they be allowed to resort to a foreign workforce. At that point, employers support a new provisional visa program that gives employers, not a lottery, the primary say in which workers they need to man their businesses.

"From the business perspective the most important element of immigration reform is a program to supply the U.S. economy with the workers it needs to recover from the downturn and grow in years ahead, replacing the current unlawful influx with a legal flow. (The blueprint is found at www.uschamber.com/sites/default/files/press/visablueprint.pdf.)

"The new program must also give the U.S. labor market, not a commission, the primary say in how many workers enter the country annually through workable legal programs, understanding that not every worker who comes to the United States needs, or wants, to stay permanently.

"While we all know that the congressional calendar may make it difficult to achieve final passage this year, having the AFL-CIO walk out of the negotiations and spend its time attacking legal immigration programs does not move the goal of comprehensive immigration reform forward.

"The U.S. Chamber hopes that the AFL-CIO will rejoin those working in good faith at the negotiating table."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.

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