Acting partly out of conviction but mostly prompted by self-preservation, big labor sees in the large pool of illegal workers an opportunity to reverse decades of decline. As white males become less important, and people of color rise, particularly in farming, hotels, construction, meat packing and general service industries, the union movement had to change. The labor movement is on the side of immigration in this country. The goal is to make it clear which side the labor movement is on. You have the makings of a business-labor compact that could draw new immigration policies for the next decade.
Big business welcomes the change.
That was precisely what Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan had in mind this same week when he looked into his crystal ball for the House Banking Committee. While the pool of official unemployed and those otherwise unwilling to work may continue to shrink, as it has persistently over the past seven years, there is an effective limit to new hiring, unless immigration is uncapped. Not everyone welcomes the big news. We should be focusing on policies that help American companies gain access to a wide pool of international skilled talent in order to grow our economy. But the real challenge is to get the AFL-CIO to say that.