ABSTRACT
For much of its history, the labor movement in the United States has had an uneasy, at times hostile, relationship with immigrants, including supporting, and even initiating some of the most restrictive immigration policies enacted, despite enormous contributions made to the labor movement by immigrants and the children of immigrants. The economic, social, and political climate in the country and world today, however, has changed the playing field, such that organized labor, both in the United States and internationally, has little choice but to open its doors to these workers. Globalization and the virtually unfettered movement of capital and workers across borders, a growing local and international human rights movement in defense of immigrants and refugees, including immigrant workers’ rights groups working at the local level, have emboldened immigrant workers and pressured trade unions to organize these workers and support more open immigration positions and policies. In some parts of the United States and Europe, the future of unions rests considerably on their ability to incorporate this portion of the labor force; and the ability of workers generally to secure higher wages and better working conditions rests considerably on their ability to organize across ethnic and citizenship status lines.
