Union leaders hailed the comprehensive immigration reform package that the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Tuesday. But they said it isn't perfect - especially with a last-minute change opening the way for more foreign high-tech workers - and vowed to improve it.

The panel, after plowing through 150 amendments, voted 13-5 for the legislation. All 10 Democrats plus Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, voted for it.

Graham and Rubio helped draft the measure. It establishes a 13-year path for eventual citizenship and legalization of the nation’s estimated 11 million undocumented people. But as soon as undocumented people register as provisional immigrants, they come immediately under U.S. labor laws, unlike now.

The immigration measure also would strengthen security along the southern border, order an improved – and accurate – system employers must use to ensure workers are legal, and establish a quicker path to citizenship for young people in college and the military who were brought here by their parents.

Labor campaigned strongly for the overall bill, and will continue to do so, despite the high-tech provisions that Hatch inserted at the last minute, after a compromise with Sen. Richard Schumer, D-N.Y., another drafter.

“More than 11 million aspiring Americans took a big step toward becoming citizens today with the bipartisan Judiciary Committee vote,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said. He called the measure “an enormous step toward healing an injustice.

“The next step, of course, is not to rest on this accomplishment, but rather to redouble labor’s campaign for a roadmap to citizenship. That will mean everything from old-school lobbying to new-school social media in conjunction with new and longstanding allies.

“We applaud the progress by the committee, but we will still work to make a good bill even better. We will continue to pursue constructive amendments where needed – whether on family reunification, skilled-worker visas, worker protections, or the Uniting American Families Act,” he promised. That includes yanking out Hatch’s high-tech provisions, the fed said.

“Hatch’s amendments are unambiguous attacks on American workers,” Trumka explained. They “change the bill so high-tech companies could functionally bring in H-1B visa holders without first making the jobs available to American workers. Hatch’s amendments would mean American corporations could fire American workers in order to bring in H-1B visa holders at lower wages.

“If the hard work of America’s tech workers is ever to pay off, we need to craft policy that benefits the people who actually write (computer) code, rather than just rewarding industry honchos who write checks to politicians,” he stated.

“Everybody loses here -- American workers aren’t offered jobs they are qualified for and immigrant workers are hired at the lowest wages possible,” added Ana Avendano, the fed’s point person on immigration. In an e-mail before the final vote, she urged unionists to call or e-mail senators against Hatch’s scheme. The effort failed.

“But our bottom line remains the same: A reliable, inclusive roadmap to citizenship for sisters and brothers who are American in all but paper,” Trumka said. “The committee clears that bar readily and we look forward to helping move it to President Obama’s desk expeditiously.”

Other unions echoed Trumka’s stand, including urging members to keep lobbying lawmakers.

The committee approved “a bipartisan immigration bill that maintains a roadmap to citizenship at its core,” the Service Employees said. “The bill includes several critical amendments that ensure the immigration system remains as broad and accessible as possible to enable as many people as possible to reach the American Dream. But the fight is far from over. SEIU members are calling and meeting with members of Congress every day, demanding the final bill reflects our values of fairness and inclusiveness.”

Members of Laborers Local 78 and other Laborers from the D.C., Long Island and New York City spent May 22 lobbying the GOP-run House for comprehensive immigration reform. The House is much more resistant to comprehensive reform, with dozens of Republicans there taking extreme anti-worker, anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic stands.

“LIUNA members have been closely monitoring the legislative process in the House and Senate to try to ensure that the final bill protects the rights of all workers in America, irrespective of where they were born,” union spokeswoman Erica Hilton said.

Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.