Mexican Worker Protest

I fully support the boycott and taking the day off. I have seen the mistreatment exploitation of hispanic workers in various environments for years and I am personally glad that they are standing up for themselves.

I know that all of us have seen hispanic workers who are legal and who work their butts off as hard or harder than we do who don't get paid as much. They are the ones who get sent to the crappiest jobs and the nasty clean up jobs because the employers know they won't complain. The best ground crew I have worked with in Portland is two hispanic guys who are both taking the day off today. After everything I have seen them do I know they deserve a three day weekend.
 
Unfortunately the results of this protest will be the same as if the illegal immigrants were given full citizenship. Regardless of what happens these jobs need to be filled and if they are not filled with the same cheap labor costs they are currently paying then there will be a major rise in costs for products/services in the economy because there are about 12 million of them to consider.

If the illegal immigrants stop working their jobs then those jobs will have to be filled by legal citizens all of whom will receive by law at least minimum wage and benefits. This will have a huge negative impact on the economy. This same thing will happen if all of the illegal immmigrants are granted full citizenship.

America has been cutting corners by favoring illegal immigrants for cheap labor far too long. It has so far given these employers an edge on cheaper costs for their services/products while maintaining a high standard of quality. If these employers cannot maintain this cheap labor they will certainly increase their prices to make up the difference. If they cannot do this they will either go out of business altogether or will move to another country and "outsource" jobs.

In reality, it is unfair to continue this present exploitation but it has gone too far and now the question is whether or not the U.S. can even afford financially to make it right again.
 
Well, how did it go for you all today? All my men came in to work except one who let me know last week that his daughter had a doctor's appointment today.

Of course, I had made it clear last Friday that no work on Monday, No work forever.

Then again this was an Illegal Allen Protest, and as far as I know I don't have any.
 
I pay my goundies $20/hr. I use Mexican workers(with papers) seldomly. These guys are my friends who I met working line clearance. Brought to America when they were kids and graduated from American high schools.

Now, the problem I have is insurance companies. IMO insurance companies make it an incentive for employers to keep wages down.

If you think I am wrong, then look at it this way. Workers Comp is based on gross salary. So, if you employed a guy at $10/hr at 40/week, then your gross salary would be $20,800, right? (Your W.C. insurance premium is therefore low). However, if you decided to pay that hard working guy $20/hr at 40 hrs/week, then you are looking at $41,600 (Your W.C. insurance premium is therefore high)

So, what if American employers protested big fat insurance companies?

What does this have to do with illegal immagrants protesting to work a day?

Nothing really. Just food for thought. /forum/images/graemlins/bangtard.gif
 
You would have to be an illegal immigrant in order to get less than mimimum wage. In all likelihood they would be the only ones that would ever agree to it for the American dollar is worth much more back in Mexico.

It would be very unlikely that a legal citizen would ever even agree to working for less than minimum wage for they have no intentions of trading in the American dollar for Mexican pesos. Moreover, it would be extremely risky to do so for the IRS would not be too happy to find out they werent getting theirs.

The funny part of it is is that the punishment for breaking U.S. labor laws can be much more severe than employing an illegal immigrant unlawfully.
 
I think if we were to compare horror stories between immigration law violations and the IRS, the IRS would be the winner of the day. They have seized enough property in the past to deserve that recognition.
 
Over a million turn up!

47532-229847-0502protest.jpg


http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14250361p-15067121c.html

Many meatpacking plants, restaurants, hotels, construction companies and farming companies in California and elsewhere allowed workers to go to protests and reported scattered absences

Tomato farm worker Cayetano Hernandez, 67, who received amnesty after a 1986 immigration reform, said he has sons who live and work in Sacramento without papers and have been waiting years to become legal residents.

Also in Sacramento, immigration attorney Douglas Lehrman, said: "People wonder why the illegal immigrant population has grown so much. It's now taking about six or seven years for a person of lawful status to get his wife or children here. And no, I'm not trying to get more clients. I have plenty right now."
 

Attachments

  • 47532-229847-0502protest.webp
    47532-229847-0502protest.webp
    34.4 KB · Views: 28
A side note on the Worker's comp insurance thing. The rate is tied to wages as the payout is also. It's not a fixed amount that is paid regardless of how much one earns.

we have similar problems with temporary and illegal immigrant labour here in Canada. The market may not bear an increase if labour costs rose significantly.

My ex-brother-in-law recently received his green card. He married an American woman and applied shortly after. Took about 9 mths. I'm figuring on about the same for me. I hope I'm right in this!
 
What the heck, I'll bite again. I paid my illegal guys in Texas $12/hr to move brush. $15/hr for a top hand groundy. You worked hard or you didn't get invited back. Any day less than 8hrs paid 8hrs.

I was very selective with who I chose. Just guys with tree experience.

You couldn't get a wet nose from a hungry dog for minimum wage.

That was when I left in 2003. BTW, I would not use such labor again.
 
You seem very generous. Unfortunately, I dont think everyone is so kind. Nevertheless, as we all know the real costs are not with wages but rather unemployment, health benefits, liability insurance for employees, etc.----none of which are given to illegal immigrants.
 
[ QUOTE ]
If the native americans had a more restrictive immigration policy 500 years ago you wouldn´t hav had this discussion.
Svein

[/ QUOTE ]

Good one Svein, believe me they tried. They were mainly defeatd by accidental and in some cases intentional germ warfare (smallpox blankets) and then cheated and outgunned for the rest of it.

The U.S. economy would grind to a halt without a constant source of cheap immigrant labor. That's the way it's always been and it won't stop now. There's always been a tendency for those who got in the door to slam it shut behind them. Funny thing, the wind keeps blowing it open again.
 
The costs will be incurred by someone if the issue is truely dealt with. Either in the form of increased labour costs, law enforcement costs, etc....

You can't outsource or move the work offshore for service work like ours or many of the jobs performed by illegals. It's supply and demand. Consumers are unwilling to part with their hard earned dollars and companies are willing to lower prices to gain business. Wage and labour costs being the most significant expense in any business that is the easiest target for cost reductions. Whether it's illegal immigrants working for less than minimum or "independent contracting" that sees employees laid off then contracted as self-employed to perform the same tasks without any consideration for the additional expense they know incur (all those labour-related costs). Business finds a way.
 
Just watching the roll out

http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/3285192p-12110550c.html

Though these fences are criticized for shifting would-be border-crossers to more dangerous and remote spots, they do make it harder for illegal immigrants to reach urban areas where they can slip into a car and head for the nation's interior to find work.
Now, as Washington seeks to overhaul America's broken immigration policies, Congress is considering putting many more such barriers along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, which already has 83 miles of fences.

A bill that cleared the House in December would put fences at immigrant- and drug-smuggling corridors in all four southern border states. At an estimated cost of $2.5 billion, the fences would cover 850 miles of border - roughly one-fifth the length of the Great Wall of China - though it would not be one continuous wall.

The gaps would be policed the way many remote areas of the border are already guarded now: with motion sensors, cameras, unmanned drone aircraft and Border Patrol agents.

Among other things, House legislation calls for a mostly continuous 392-mile fence from Calexico, Calif., to Douglas. The second-largest piece would be a largely uninterrupted 305-mile segment in the Texas brush country from Laredo to Brownsville, a corridor used by cocaine smugglers.

Immigrant rights groups say fences waste taxpayer money because would-be border-crossers who are desperate to earn a better living in America will always find a way around or through barriers, as evidenced by the lower sections of the fence in Douglas, where rods have had to be welded into place to patch up breaches.

Even some proponents say erecting fences, without using other border enforcement efforts, will not stop illegal immigrants.

"All by itself, it's not a magic solution," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors limiting immigration.

But the Border Patrol says fences slow down immigrants so authorities can have enough time to respond to those who try to come across. That, in turn, frees up other agents to focus on remote areas, where they already use aircraft and ground sensors.

"Fencing by itself is not effective, but not having a fence is not effective either," added Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Advocates for beefing up border security said a 14-mile fence near San Diego, once the country's most prolific smuggling center, shows that barriers work. The fence there is made of corrugated metal sheets previously used as landing surfaces for military aircraft. Behind it is a second fence, made of tightly woven mesh.

Within that area, the barrier is credited with dramatically reducing the flow of illegal immigrants.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who is the leading voice in Congress for more fences, said the costs of building fences are much lower than the government expenses associated with illegal immigration, including huge sums spent on incarcerating immigrants convicted of crimes in the United States.

Opponents say there are some costly consequences as well. Immigrant rights advocates say fences prompt migrants to cross in remote areas where they face dangerous obstacles, such as rivers where some drown, deserts where some succumb to the heat, and mountains where some are injured or die.

Also, a large-scale fence could force immigrants to remain in the country longer, while in the past they came to earn money and then returned home, said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the pro-immigrant National Immigration Forum.

"If it's riskier and harder, people don't leave," said Kelley, who believes a guest worker program will reduce illegal crossings.

In Douglas, Louis Hahn, a retiree who tends horses on his ranch, said the fence reduces traffic through the city. But he said it is simplistic to think that a huge physical barrier will trump the economic forces that prompt fathers to leave their families and risk their lives for a chance at a better life.

"You have got to put yourself in the position of the man crossing the border and what he's willing to take," Hahn said.
 
Two and a half billion for 850 miles of fence? that's $600 per linear foot. The last security chain link I put up was around a municipal pool; 500 feet of fencing, posts, barbed wire with angled posttop brackets, and the concrete needed to set the posts only ran us $750 for an 8 ft fence.

Sumo
 
Here's the latest:

H-2B Program Users:
Support Comprehensive Immigration Reform




The Senate is currently debating the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (S. 2611). This is a strong bipartisan piece of legislation that that includes not only an extension of the H-2B return worker exemption but also creates a year-round, multi-year guest worker program (H-2C). Please act now to ensure that the Senate passes this comprehensive piece of legislation when they vote on it tomorrow.

The Time To Act Is Right Now!

TCIA encourages you to visit your Senators' district offices and, focusing on the fact employers who use the H-2B program are obeying the rule of law, tell them what this legislation means to the continued viability of your business. For maximum effectiveness, include in your discussion your support of the legislation’s border security and internal enforcement provisions and that the country's needs should trump the politics surrounding the reform issue.

If you cannot visit the district offices, please contact both your Senators by calling the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and asking for your Senators’ office by name. (Don’t know your Senators? Look them up online at www.senate.gov.)

Our friends in the Senate tell us that for every one call they receive backing our pro-immigration position in this debate, they receive over 100 anti-immigrant calls. Please take action now and don't wait for someone else to weigh in on your behalf. Please forward to colleagues, friends and family; we are all stakeholders in this debate and need to make our concerns heard.

For additional information contact Mark Garvin at 1-800-733-2622 or garvin@treecareindustry.org



Mark Garvin - VP Public Policy & Communications
Tree Care Industry Association
3 Perimeter Rd, Unit 1, Manchester, NH 03103
E-mail:garvin@treecareindustry.org
Phone: (603) 314-5380, Ext. 108
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom