“Every single conversation that I have with our membership around immigration is a tough one,” Williams said recently at a union hall outside Minneapolis. Williams speaks to union apprentices during a training session at the IUPAT offices in Little Canada on Oct. 21. Those demographic shifts have come to Williams’ union, with commercial painting and drywall work offering first- and second-generation immigrants entry into decent union jobs. The painters union tries to combat that practice by bringing wage complaints to the government on behalf of laborers who have been cheated out of overtime. AdvertisementThe painters union is also having to make adjustments due to the climate of fear.
