9:01 p.m. | Updated On Friday evening, the group of eight senators who are working to produce bipartisan immigration legislation and racing to work out a final dispute between the business and labor communities before Congress left for a two-week recess hit yet another obstacle, when the four Republican senators in the group spurned what a major union described as a another attempt at compromise.
On Thursday, the talks had broken down over the question of how to handle the future flow of legal immigrants into a low-skilled, year-round, temporary worker visa program. The United States Chamber of Commerce wants a visa program to help meet the business community?s demand for labor, while the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation?s largest federation of unions, is concerned with ensuring that American workers are protected and still receive fair wages.
According to the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the organization offered what it felt was a fair concession: Use the existing language already in laws that govern visas for high-tech, high-skilled worker and low-skilled, nonagricultural worker programs ? known as H-1B and H-2B visas ? as the language for ensuring worker protections in the new low-skilled visa program that the business and labor groups are trying to create. The current language states that ?visas will be issued only when the employment of foreign workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly situated workers in the United States.?
The Republicans in the group rejected the proposal, sending the entire effort back to the negotiating table, just hours before Congress is set to recess for two weeks.
Senate and House Republicans, meanwhile, have begun both publicly and privately criticizing labor, accusing the unions of trying to kill any hope at a comprehensive immigration bill.
Though the chamber and the A.F.L.C.I.O., which have been in almost parallel talks to the official negotiations for several months, had tentatively reached an agreement in recent weeks, the chamber recently pushed Republican members of the Senate group to reopen the sensitive topic of a low-skilled worker program. However, others close to the negotiation say that no agreement ? even tentative ? was ever reached among the eight senators, especially concerning the controversial guest-worker program.
At issue is the median hourly wage for low-skilled workers who could be brought in during labor shortages. The business community wants to pay the workers one step below the median hourly wage, while the unions want to pay them one step above.
The labor community, which was already frustrated by what it viewed as the chamber?s tendency to litigate issues in the press, viewed that twist as akin to an episode of ?Peanuts,? with Lucy once again moving the football as Charlie Brown tries to kick it.
?Working people don?t believe it meets the laugh test for corporate interests to attempt to hijack the moral and political urgency of citizenship for more than 11 million people in order to lower wages for local immigrant and nonimmigrant workers,? said Jeff Hauser, a spokesman for the A.F.L.-C.I.O. ?This immigration reform effort is about preventing deportations from ripping apart families, not lowering the median wages of low-wage workers struggling to get above the poverty level.?
The chamber rejected the characterization.
?It is simply untrue that the business community is seeking to pay foreign workers anything other than what American workers receive,? said Randel K. Johnson, the senior vice president of labor, immigration and employee benefits at the chamber. ?First, any immigrant worker who would come in under this program has the same protections as American workers and therefore it would violate the Fair Labor Standards Act to pay less than the minimum wage. Second, any temporary worker program would require that an immigrant worker be paid the greater of actual wages being paid to comparable American workers or the prevailing wages.?
Last month, the chamber and the A.F.L.-C. I. O reached an agreement, at least in principle, recognizing the need for a visa program that would allow businesses to meet their demand for low-skilled labor, while also protecting American workers.
But the groups remained divided over the maximum number of visas the low-skilled worker program should offer, with the chamber asking for 400,000 visas, and labor preferring a much lower number. Now, the two groups seem have reached a tentative agreement on the size and scope of the program ? up to 200,000 new visas annually for the low-skilled temporary worker program.
The chamber blamed the unions for the stalled negotiations.
?The chamber continues to believe that comprehensive immigration reform needs to be achieved for the betterment of our nation,? Mr. Johnson, the chamber senior vice president, said. ?The unions have jeopardized the entire immigration reform effort, which would provide a pathway to legalization and citizenship for the 10-11 million undocumented workers, because of their refusal to take a responsible stance on a small temporary worker program. These types of programs have always been considered a key part of comprehensive immigration reform.
?We however remain hopeful that we can resolve this problem and still ultimately pass sound legislation that can be signed into law by the president.?
On Friday, the labor community gained some help from an unlikely Republican ally ? Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama. Mr. Sessions, who earlier this week sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee urging its members to slow down and thoroughly consider any immigration legislation to come before the committee, took to the Senate floor Friday to express concern that an overly ambitious guest worker program could hurt unemployed Americans.
?We?ve got an immigration policy that says, we?ve got jobs, we don?t have enough workers ? that?s what the businesses are telling us,? Mr. Sessions said. ?We need to be protecting American citizens who are here, out of work, hurting today. Minorities, blacks and whites, all colors and races, that are hurting today with high unemployment, and we seem to be more focused on how we can ram through this Senate a bill that would legalize millions and create an even more robust guest worker program.?
He added: ?There?s not enough jobs now. Give me a break.?
On Thursday afternoon, the bipartisan group of eight senators convened a second set of meetings that day. As the four Republicans headed over to the Capitol, they seemed encouraged, if not quite optimistic.
?Wait for the white smoke,? joked Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida and a member of the group, invoking the method used to signal agreement on a new pope.
But by early evening, the negotiations had deteriorated over concerns about the labor and business disagreements surrounding the low-skilled worker program. The group took a short break, with plans to reconvene later that evening. Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona and a member of the group, said that the business-labor portion of the legislation was proving by far the thorniest.
On Friday morning, however, the Senate group headed back to the bargaining table, where aides close to the negotiations said significant progress was made. Now, with just hours until Congress embarks on a two-week break, the bipartisan group is taking its latest compromise, and shopping it back to the business and labor communities.
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