Union to rally in Norristown for immigration reform
Labor group plans rally in Norristown to urge comprehensive immigration reform.
Union to rally in Norristown for immigration reform
As a bipartisan congressional panel puts pen to paper on a comprehensive immigration reform package, members of a regional labor union will rally in Norristown in support of the effort.
SEIU 32BJ -- which represents 120,000 janitors, window-washers, doormen, security guards and other "property services workers" -- is planning a rally Saturday at 11 a.m. in front of St. Patrick's Church at 714 DeKalb Street. Afterward, the group will march down DeKalb to the borough hall.
Business and labor leaders announced last week that they had agreed on a broad framework for reform, and passed the package to the Gang of Eight -- four Republican and four Democratic senators -- to hammer out the details. They expect to introduce the legislation after Congress returns from recess April 8.
The plan would provide a new class of worker visas for low-skilled workers, secure the border, crack down on employers, improve legal immigration and create a 13-year pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants already here.
The Norristown rally kicks off what SEIU 32BJ calls a "week of action" across the Northeast, including an April 10 march on the West Lawn of the Capitol.
Norristown is one of Southeast Pennsylvania's largest immigration hubs, with a population that is 28.3 percent foreign-born and 20.3 percent Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2010 Census.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
Of course they will...the need more uninformed lemmings for their declining membership.— Professor1982
the construction trades detest immigrants.— Yogi Spinoza- Selling out the country to fill the union coffers..... Good work.— Gimmemyfreestuff
- SEIU is selling out the other unions. We do not need more workers of any kind or skill in America.— wigglwagon
- IAAD, RE: It's All About Dues! Unfortunately for the newer, kinder, secular amerika, laws which provided for and met the needs of the industrial age no longer are accepted practices governing a now overwhelming illegal system of entry. Skilled craftsmen, who entered the US side-by-side on ships also carrying less skilled laborers, are long gone, as are the tenets behind limiting entry to need. To be or not to be will solely be governed by political expediency. That's why republicans will cower to the relativism of their secular counterparts and "forgive," "accommodate," accede" all while rationalizing the current predicament expedient politicians created. What we are seeing is the decline of our very own Rome, while oue leadership plays the fiddle.— Right To Be Heard
Contact Davis at cdavis@phillynews.com or 610-313-8109.
Contact Parks at 610-313-8117, jparks@philly.com, or https://twitter.com/JS_Parks.
