The new Democratic-controlled Congress has brought a fresh “to-do” issue list. And with the exception of the war in Iraq, arguably no issue ranks higher on the lawmakers’ agenda than immigration reform. “Reform,” however, is a highly fungible term. Too often, it means perpetuating, and even expanding, Third World mass immigration – the very thing that led to the cries for reform in the first place. Opinion polls this decade repeatedly indicate most Americans want more restrictions placed on immigration, and not because they are “anti-immigrant,” but because they believe the nation needs a breather from the consequences of high levels of immigration, especially by ethnic groups whose leaders often are avowedly hostile to assimilation. But the pressure that citizens exert on Congress tends to be less pronounced than that exerted by interest groups with a stake in maintaining a high flow of immigrants, legal or not. Last year, a Special Report issued by the National Legal and Policy Center presented strong evidence that unions, along with big business and radical ethnic separatists, during this decade have worked closely with one another to block immigration reform under the guise of promoting it. Already this young year, the coalition has asserted itself.
On June 8, Kathy Oatman, former secretary-treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 228, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to embezzling $4,662 in funds from the Eau Claire union. She also will have to make full restitution. The local belongs to a breakaway faction of UNITE (textile and laundry workers), Americans United, which affiliated in 2009 with the Service Employees International Union. The guilty plea follows a probe by the Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On February 2, Donald Spell, former employee of Local 12 of UNITE HERE, the restaurant and garment employees union, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to two years of probation for embezzling funds from the Cincinnati local. He also was ordered to pay full restitution in the amount of $16,422.83 plus a special assessment of $100. He had pleaded guilty last October. The sentencing follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On August 27, Terry Hacker, former secretary-treasurer of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (part of UNITE HERE) Local 12 in Cincinnati, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to one count of embezzling union funds in the amount of $38,146. The plea follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
On July 29, Terry Hacker, former secretary-treasurer for UNITE HERE Local 12 in Cincinnati, was charged in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio with one count of embezzling $38,146 in union funds. The information count follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor-Management Standards.
In labor as in business, a merger doesn't always work out. In the case of UNITE HERE, which represents well over 450,000 hotel, food service, textile, laundry and other workers, it's a marriage gone sour. The odd man out is General President Bruce Raynor. But he's far from out of the picture. In fact, he may wind up on top. Raynor and some 150,000 supporters recently jumped ship and formed a new union, 
