Construction Unions Urging Baltimore County to Mandate E-Verify
After receiving numerous complaints from trade unions, Baltimore County Council Members have unanimously passed a resolution urging County Executive James Smith to enact an E-Verify mandate for companies that receive county contracts. Unions claim that contractors who hire illegal aliens are winning contracts with lower bids.
"If a business knowingly hires illegal aliens on a county contract, they should lose that contract and the ability to bid on future contracts with the county," said Council Chairman John Olszewski in a Baltimore Sun article. "These are tough times, and we want to make sure we are not taking jobs away from those who should have them."
The office of County Executive Jim Smith says they are receiving complaints from construction unions that some contractors are reducing their bids and filling jobs with illegal aliens to secure the contract. The local Ironworkers Union in the Baltimore area is one of the groups that has raised the issue. The union has a third of its members looking for work. Rod Easter who serves as president of the Baltimore Building Trades Council has the same sentiment.
"We know illegals are working around the area," he told the Baltimore Sun. "No one is opposed to people who are legally in the country having opportunities to go to work. But, when you are illegally here and a contractor knowingly hires you, you are taking a job away from a law-abiding citizen, who lives here. Both the employer and illegal employee are committing a crime and should be punished."
For more information, see the Baltimore Sun.