By Tom deignan

THE woes of New York Irish American power broker Brian McLaughlin have been dominating news headlines in recent days.

McLaughlin, trained as an electrician from a family of such laborers, is under investigation following charges of bid rigging. McLaughlin is a mover and shaker in city and state labor circles, not to mention a highly visible presence at many Irish and Irish American affairs.

But across the nation, McLaughlin’s investigation is not the issue that has top Irish labor leaders debating fiercely. The burning question, instead, is this — where do top unions such as the AFL-CIO, led by John Sweeney, the Bronx-born son of Irish immigrants, stand on the question of guest workers, undocumented immigrants and other topics taken up recently by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR)?

Just last week, the AFL-CIO announced a major position on immigration. It runs counter to the beliefs of a prominent union rebel movement led by another top Irish labor leader.

So, it is interesting to note that as the U.S. once again debates immigration, Irish Americans named Sweeney and Kennedy, as well as O’Sullivan, are debating the issue from the top of the social ladder, rather than the bottom.

But first things first. Sweeney and other top AFL-CIO leaders met in San Diego last week for their annual winter meeting.

As Reuters reported, “AFL-CIO leaders (have) said they would reject guest worker proposals now in Congress, saying that all foreign workers who come to the United States to fill labor shortages should come as permanent residents.

“In a comprehensive policy on an immigration issue that has divided labor as well as Republican lawmakers, leaders of the 54-union federation ditched the idea that a temporary guest worker program could be made acceptable.”

Though they tend to represent workers at the lower tier of the economy, U.S. labor unions — long dominated by Irish Americans — have a long history of hostility towards undocumented immigration. They often fear that immigrant labor drags down wages and waters down hard-earned job protection.

But things have changed somewhat in recent years. The AFL-CIO does support the legalization of more than 11 million undocumented foreign workers in the U.S.

But AFL-CIO still has doubts about existing U.S. guest worker proposals. Several U.S. Senate proposals, such as the much-discussed McCain/Kennedy bill, seek to expand those programs.

That’s where Terrence O’Sullivan comes in.

O’Sullivan is president of the 800,000-member Laborers’ International Union of North America and part of the “Change to Win” labor coalition which broke away from AFL-CIO back in the summer and represents six million workers.

O’Sullivan’s union and others in the “Change to Win” coalition support McCain-Kennedy. In fact, the question of organizing undocumented workers confounded labor leaders, hastening Change to Win’s split from AFL-CIO.

It is, of course, only natural to have Irish American labor leaders struggling over the question of immigration reform. The labor movement in the U.S. would be radically different if not for the presence of Irish labor leaders, many of whom came over as immigrants.

Now, as Irish immigrant reform moves to the forefront of a broader debate about the undocumented in the U.S., the big unions are still divided.

Will Sweeney and the AFL-CIO be able to continue walking their tightrope? They want to legalize many undocumented workers but also oppose efforts to broaden legalization unless imported workers are granted the labor rights of full citizens, not guest workers.

Then there is O’Sullivan and the Change to Win coalition. They support broader organization of immigrants, undocumented or otherwise, hoping that they can offset the flat wages of U.S.-born workers with the added clout an influx of immigrant members can bring.

This will surely be on the agenda when O’Sullivan and Change to Win hold a major organizing convention later this month in Las Vegas.

Senator John McCain was not talking about labor leaders when he spoke to the Irish Voice about reform last week. But in light of Kennedy, Sweeney and O’Sullivan, what McCain said is clearly true — the Irish are the key to this issue.”

(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net.)