BAC Applauds New DHS Policy on Deferred Action: Union Stands With Immigrant Workers Against Unscrupulous Employers

Since our founding, the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC) has been dedicated to ensuring that all workers engaged in the trades that we represent receive the fair wages, benefits, safe working conditions, and the respect and dignity that their labor demands. Exploitation of workers in the construction industry is widespread, and all too often the most exploited are immigrants lacking proper work authorizations. Low-road contractors who profit from abusing such workers are a scourge on society.

On January 13, the Biden Administration provided BAC, and all of organized labor, a new tool to take on these unscrupulous employers. The new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy on deferred action announced by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas provides a path for immigrant workers to stand up to corrupt contractors, expose the shadow economy in which these bad actors thrive, and obtain work authorizations that will afford them the workplace protections that all workers seek.

When immigrant workers have meaningful relief from employer intimidation, their ability to organize, join unions, and raise standards within the industry is a powerful force.

This is not a new challenge for BAC. We are a union whose establishment, growth, and continued success has always relied upon our ability to attract and integrate successive generations of immigrant workers. BAC stands ready to assist the workers unshackled by the new policy achieve the benefits that working in the organized sector of our industry represents. Together, we will strengthen the voice of workers in America.