The Service Employees International Union, which claims over two million
members, said it had bought more than $1 million in television
advertising on cable networks nationwide this month.
Five ads feature police officers, Republicans and small-business owners —
not traditional supporters of labor — calling on Congress to stop
fighting over immigration and to “fix what’s broke” in the system. The
ads call for a pathway to citizenship for 11 million immigrants in the
country illegally.
The A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation’s largest labor federation, said it would
bring 50 union leaders from 27 states to Washington on Wednesday to
lobby in the Senate and the House. The organization said it was starting
a call-in campaign by union members focusing on about two dozen
senators, from states including Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, North
Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee, who have not made public their positions
on the legislation.
Richard L. Trumka, the federation’s president, was among an array of
supporters who appeared with President Obama when he spoke from the
White House on Tuesday morning to urge the Senate to pass the bill.
Immigrant workers, especially Latinos, have brought growth to unions
that have struggled for years with declining membership. The
A.F.L.-C.I.O reached a hard-fought agreement with the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce in March on a temporary program for low-skilled foreign workers
that is included in the Senate bill.
Carlos Padilla, 21, from Seattle, with his mother, Josefina Hernandez
Madrigal, at the border fence. She went to Mexico in 2008 and has not
been able to re-enter the United States
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