ALCA Pres Addresses UFW to Support AgJOBS Bill

?EUR??,,????'??Our anti-immigration adversaries have nothing to offer,?EUR??,,????'?? Peter Orum, a nursery owner and president of the American Nursery & Landscape Association, told an estimated 1000 UFW delegates.

For the first time in its 42 year history, a grower, Peter Orum, owner of the Midwest Groundcovers nursery in St. Charles, Ill., addressed the biennial convention of the United Farm Workers Union, August 29 in Fresno, Calif. Orum, recently elected president of the American Nursery & Landscape Association, spoke to the UFW delegates at the invitation of Arturo Rodriguez, UFW president.

The UFW and the ALCA both support enacting sweeping farm labor reform legislation known as AgJOBS (S.1645, H.R.3142). Years in the making, AgJOBS has the backing of 63 senators of both parties, 117 representatives in the House, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and every major national Hispanic and immigrant rights group.

Orum told the crowd that the labor and Immigration bill (AgJOBS) is essential to having a dependable workforce, least American specialty agriculture disappears little by little to other countries.Orum noted that worker shortages affect not only thefruit and vegetable market, but nursery plants, livestock and many other crops and products.

Orum lambasted the anti-immigration community for having not solution but to ?EUR??,,????'??stand by the principle that our nation must 'never reward illegal behavior,' yet they seem to tolerate the lawless status quo of smugglers, and deaths in the deserts, and farmers struggling to stay out of jail or bankruptcy court.?EUR??,,????'??

Orum and Rodriguez urged President Bush to pass AgJOBS immediately upon returning to Washington in September.

For further information, visit www.anla.org.