Today is May Day, traditionally the holiday of the labor movement. In honor of that (perhaps), four more countries have eased the labour restrictions on workers from EU accession countries. Good.
I'm glad that Spain, Portugal, Finland and Greece have joined Ireland, Sweden and the UK to allowing the full rights of employment and residency to the new EU citizens from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and the Baltics. It's about time, too. Failure to do so by France, Italy, Germany and Austria should be seen as a mark of shame and failure to live up to their own vision of the European Union.
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And in America, of course, there's big labor news, too. In a Day without Immigrants, undocumented workers hope to make an impact by not showing up at their place of employment and instead showing up in downtowns across the land.
It's time for America to have a much more sensible policy to immigration - and I believe that means a much more open one. I don't think that wanting to work for a better life ought to be a felony. I don't think that managed, efficient immigration is a bad thing. The US immigration system appears to be in shambles, taking years to process some people who seem to have clear cut cases for residency or citizenship. Is it any wonder that people respond to economic pressure and slow and backward bureaucracy to work illegally in the US?
Technorati: immigration
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