Good for the AFL-CIO. It has decided to link up with the significant movement trying to organize day laborers, who are predominately immigrant workers. It’s a great move not simply because day laborers are exploited–it puts the AFL-CIO directly on the side of workers who are being targeted by the hysteria over “illegal immigration.”

Here’s a snippet from The New York Times’ piece today:

Labor Federation Forms a Pact With Day Workers
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

The A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the nation’s largest organization of day laborers signed a partnership agreement yesterday intended to help the languishing labor movement tap into the potent energy of the immigrant rights movement.

The A.F.L.-C.I.O. said its partnership with the group, the National Day Labor Organizing Network, would also seek to improve wages and conditions for tens of thousands of laborers and other immigrant workers.

With the agreement, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. is embracing workers who many union members have accused of driving down wages. The partnership connects the labor federation to a network that largely represents illegal immigrant workers who often have run-ins with the police as they stand on street corners soliciting jobs.

The day laborers’ network and the immigrant groups it works with were pivotal in setting up the large demonstrations this spring that backed immigrant rights.

The rest of the article is here.