No Match Rules Heading Back To Court

From the People's Weekly World:

The United Food and Commercial Workers has stepped up its fight against Bush administration use of “no match” Social Security letters against workers whose on-the-job identification doesn’t match what’s in government files. The government uses the program to pressure companies to fire employees and to force workers to prove “legal” status or face deportation.

The UFCW, joined by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the American Federation of Government Employees and various business and community groups, is saying it will renew the fight against the Department of Homeland Security in court on this issue. The renewed court battle is necessary, the UFCW and its allies say, because of recent DHS action. ...

Witold Skwierczynski, president of AFGE [American Federation of Government Employees, which represents a good part of Social Security's workforce] Council 220, explained that workers at the Social Security Administration are being asked to take on ever-increasing loads by a mean-spirited and vindictive Bush administration. He said that recently the administration has demanded agency workers run checks against Social Security records on the eligibility of millions for prescription drug and other programs. All of these demands are made, he said, with no increases in staff.