I-Team Extras: The Unsafe Skies Over South Florida
Mar 2, 2009 7:42 pm US/Eastern
DeFede: AFL-CIO Boss on Economy, H2B Visas
OVERTOWN (CBS4) ―
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The U.S. Department of Labor allowed companies to pass over American workers so that cheaper foreign workers could be brought into the country to work on this new hotel in South Florida.
While vacationers gather around the pool the newly refurbished Fontainebleau Hotel, inside the conference rooms the AFL-CIO is holding an executive council meeting. Featuring the heads of more than 50 of unions, representing millions of workers, the executive council is discussing the best way to move the economy forward and to advance labors issues.
"We're at a time when our economy is in collapse and working people are suffering as a result of it all," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told
CBS4 News.
Labor played a critical role in President Barack Obama's election and their support remains essential as he tries to pass his economic recovery plans.
"We have to focus on rebuilding the middle class and when you look the major factors in the stimulus package it goes a long way in that direction," he said.
CBS4 News asked Sweeney about our recent series on H2B visas, which showed how the U.S. Department of Labor allowed companies to pass over American workers so that cheaper foreign workers could be brought into the country.
"Well, that was the sad part about the Department of Labor over the last eight years; that they weren't enforcing laws like the [H2B] regulations," Sweeney said. "But it didn't just stop there. They weren't enforcing safety on the job issues; they weren't enforcing minimum wage and wage and hour issues. They reduced the number of people who were responsible for enforcement of these laws. The immigration laws should be enforced just like all of the other laws that pertain to workers."
Monday night, more than a thousand union members are expected to gather in Overtown to hear from Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. It will be a town hall meeting in which workers will be able to describe some of their concerns and they will get a chance to hear from Secretary Solis about what the Obama Administration plans to do for workers.
CBS4's Jim DeFede will be moderating the event.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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