With the illegal immigration debate sizzling, organized labor’s effort in Denver to recruit immigrants into union jobs is suddenly getting a lot of attention.
The reality is that illegals are a big part of the American workforce, many contributing to society by paying taxes.
In downtown Denver, two-thirds of construction workers and carpenters are believed to be immigrants, more than half undocumented. Jim Gleason, executive secretary of the Mountain West Regional Council of Carpenters, estimates there are something under 1,000 people doing carpentry downtown and more than 1,000 working construction.
Most illegals do not belong to a union because they fear being found out and deported, or at least losing their job. Some are paid substandard wages and benefits as employers take advantage of their illegal status and poor language skills.
Unions are trying to increase their membership ranks by providing wage protections that immigrants wouldn’t receive in nonunion jobs. It’s a smart initiative, because substandard wages paid to nonunion workers tend to drag down pay scales for all workers, union or not, immigrant or not.
“We’re trying to raise their standards so that they’re more comparable with someone who lives here, has a mortgage and children,” Gleason says.
His initiative has drawn some flak from inside and outside the union, with skeptics worried it will lower wages or drive Americans out of trade jobs. But the train has long since left the station, Gleason says. “They’re already here and working in the industry.”
Some employers, according to recent reports in The Wall Street Journal and The Denver Post, pay undocumented laborers off the books, with no benefits. That hurts both workers and the local economy.
In the last three decades, union carpenters have seen their share of interior construction jobs plummet from 70 percent to 10 percent. Last year, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners began a campaign to win back jobs in downtown Denver.
The effort is apparently paying off. The union says its share of high-rise remodeling work is up from 1 percent to 7.5 percent, and Gleason says membership is up 10 percent.
Labor’s efforts are naturally frowned upon by nonunion employers. But economics professor Vernon Briggs at Cornell University says given the rising number of immigrants being hired by employers, unions have a choice: ignore them or organize them.
