On guest-worker program, White House tries to foster a deal between business and labor

[alp227]

Source: Washington Post

The Obama administration is trying to broker a deal between business and labor leaders over a controversial guest-worker program for foreigners, resolving a long-standing sticking point that has created political peril for President Obama in the past.

In the 2007 debate over immigration reform, Obama — then a senator from Illinois — voted for an amendment backed by labor unions that would have phased out a guest-worker program after five years. That amendment passed by a single vote, but some Republican leaders now say the measure helped kill broader reform legislation.

The White House is treading cautiously, sensing that business and labor leaders are closing in on an agreement that would make the two sides powerful allies in Obama’s push to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws this year. On Tuesday, the president met separately with representatives from both sides, hoping to marshal their support.

“We talked about a data-driven system that is actually driven by needs and not by aspirations of employers,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who attended the meeting with labor leaders. “We talked about a fair system. .?.?. We’re working on it now. We’re hopeful.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/on-guest-worker-program-white-house-tries-to-foster-a-deal-between-business-and-labor/2013/02/05/2ad2924e-6fab-11e2-aa58-243de81040ba_singlePage.html

[iandhr]

1. Hope it works.

[Fuddnik]

2. Fuck guest worker programs.

What's the advantage to a program where employees are forced to train their replacements, to take their jobs for less money?

[awoke_in_2003]

3. The fat cats make more money...

that is why the laws won't change.

[Brigid]

4. No guest worker programs.

Companies need to suck it up and train American workers like they used to do -- and like companies on other countries still do.