Posted By: Melinda Posted On: 1/28/2004 6:31:45 PM Please read the following. and if you are an advocate on increasing the wages for underpaid CNA's, write your rep's and tell them "NO...NO...NO!!!!!So NAFTA isn't enough of a killer for us Americans...having our jobs sent out of the country for lower paid labor...it looks like Bush is now gonna make sure that we can't make a decent living as Americans on our own soil...doing one of the most responsible held jobs there is.I'm a very diversified person...but what worries me even more about this is that I have PERSONALLY witnessed direct care workers, who could not speak English well, much less do documentation in writing.Guess Bush figures it's OK...after all our elderly and disabled are evidently not worth great care that goes along with well paid direct-care workers...so it seems Bush thinks.Senate Considers Easing Rules for Immigrant WorkersA bill introduced into the Senate on January 21 would allow immigrants to obtain permission to work in the United States, making it easier for long-term care employers to hire immigrants to fill direct-care and other jobs.The bill, titled the Immigration Reform Act of 2004, followed a proposal made earlier this month by President Bush, who recommended granting three-year renewable visas to currently undocumented or new immigrants who do jobs that cannot be filled by U.S. citizens or legal aliens. A USA Today/CNN/ Gallup poll found that 55 percent of Americans opposed the president�s plan and two-thirds believe that immigrants hurt the economy by driving down wages for Americans, but business owners tend to favor the proposal. A new group called the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition (EWIC), whose members include the American Health Care Association, the National Association for Home Care, and other trade associations, issued a press release in favor of the proposed bill, despite �significant concerns with a number of its provisions.�To read about the EWIC, go to http://www.ewic.org/To read about the pending Senate bill, go to http://thomas.loc.gov, click on �Bill Summary and Status� and search for S.2010
