Medill News Service, May 2, 2013, Thursday

Medill News Service

May 2, 2013, Thursday

Medill News Service (full article)

Union support for immigration reform wasn’t always a sure thing

“It’s a complicated, contradictory, long story, said Gene Carroll, co-director of the New York State AFL-CIO and historian at Cornell Union Leadership Institute. During the 19th and 20th centuries labor unions mostly opposed immigration.

Ileen A. DeVault, professor of labor history at Cornell University, understands how immigrant citizenship could lead to a pay increase. Unions have realized that immigrant acceptance will actually help them gain more members and more money.