They’re back. Stung by the failure to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, unions are taking a new approach to sign up more workers: “We’ll protect you from unfair immigration laws.”

The latest union campaign feeds off the recent passage of Arizona’s law that allows law enforcement officers to detain anyone they have “reasonable suspicion” of being an illegal alien. Union recruiters are using the law to underscore two points to non-union workers:

1. When your state passes a similar law, the union will be there to protect you and your job from overzealous police.
2. Employers will prey on your fears by paying you less and giving you fewer benefits.

What’s really behind the push are raw numbers depicting current union membership nationwide (according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics): Hispanics, at 10%, make up the lowest segment of union membership but also make up the fastest growing group of worker in the U.S. Thus, a potential large labor pool  — Hispanics — aren’t union members, and union organizers have taken notice.

Arizona, where the immigration law just passed, is a good example. Employment law attorneys there, speaking to the Phoenix Business Journal, report that they’re seeing stepped-up union recruiting that plays on worker fears about the law.

How can employers respond?

• Make sure your company’s I-9 forms and other employment-verification data are up to date and accurate,
• Educate employees about the company’s commitment to its workers.
• Educate workers about laws that cover immigration and employment. The more workers know, the less they’ll have to fear.

Interesting note: Most unions don’t require members to prove their legal immigration status.

The problem facing factories, power plants and eventually small businesses is that if Congress fails to adopt some sort of climate change bill, EPA will regulate GHG emissions, starting with carbon dioxide.

Key point: The Obama administration is willing to limit EPA’s authority to regulate GHGs in exchange for creating a national cap-and-trade emission system that reduces climate changing pollutant releases.

But this limit on EPA is contingent on getting a cap-and-trade program adopted — this year — and before the 2010 election season kicks in.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been working with Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to write a Senate bill that would replace EPA regulations with a limited cap-and-trade program. The tri-partisan bill would also promote offshore oil and natural gas exploration and new nuclear power plant constructions. Details were supposed to have been revealed April 26.

The widely expected new Senate proposal was so expected that EPA chief Lisa Jackson was booked on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to discuss the new approach.

However, the sudden spike in interest to revive the immigration debate might have killed momentum for the Graham/Kerry/Lieberman plan.

Graham was so annoyed that the Obama administration is giving immigration a higher priority than climate change legislation, that he pulled out of the cap-and-trade negotiation. That left Jackson and Stewart with nothing to discuss.

However, Jackson did reiterate that the administration’s key goal is to establish a price on carbon.

The notices kick off the first round of inspections for 2010, after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conducted 1,652 inspections in the last six months of 2009. The most recent notices went to employers in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Employers who receive a notices have three days to get their I-9 documentation in order for federal inspectors.

The fines for faulty documentation run from $100 to $1,100 per violation.

Note to HR and Payroll directors: Inspectors will be looking at paperwork for “recently separated” workers, as well as current employees. So make sure you have appropriate documents for employees who’ve left in the last few months.

In a fact sheet released April 30, the new administration’s DHS announced: “Effective immediately, ICE [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] will focus its resources … on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegal workers.”

Of the 6,000 arrests made in 2008, 135 were top management officials for employers hiring illegals — a ratio the DHS now feels is much too low.

Does this mean companies need to do anything differently? No — they should just continue rigorously following all hiring laws.

Nothing in the law is changing — just the way the law is enforced. According to the fact sheet, ICE use “all available civil and administrative tools, including fines and debarment, to penalize and deter illegal employment.”