AFL-CIO wants alternative to guest-worker program

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published February 27, 2006 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

The AFL-CIO calls the nation's immigration policies outdated. The union proposed a plan today in San Diego that would allow foreign workers to become residents. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

The AFL-CIO calls the nation's immigration policies outdated. The union proposed a plan today in San Diego that would allow foreign workers to become residents.

KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more

The union wants Congress to overhaul current immigration laws. In addition, union officials say guest-worker programs are bad public policy. The programs allow foreign citizens to temporarily live and work in the U.S.

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But Union Spokeswoman Linda Chavez-Thompson is adamant foreign workers must have the chance to become permanent residents.

Chavez-Thompson: "We believe there is absolutely no good reason why any immigrant who comes to this country prepared to work, to pay taxes and to abide by our laws and rules, should be relegated to this oppressive, second-class guest-worker status."

Chavez-Thompson says guest-workers are not immigrants, but more like indentured
servants. The union also criticized a new Senate bill for proposing a temporary guest-worker program.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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