SHORT BLOG BREAK

    Friends, I'm going to take a short break--just a few days--to catch up on some sleep and just turn the brain off. So, going to be off-line until Wednesday morning. See you then...But, keep discussing any issue you want right here as an open thread:

   What's on your mind?:

THE ECONOMY?

WAGES?

UNION STUFF?

THE WAR?

Comments

[John Williams]

The Wall Street Journal 9/18/06 has a lengthy article about the $2.4 billion construction boom where thousands of construction workers are building 100s of heavily gov't-subidized ethanol refineries, mostly in the Midwest, that make alcohol from corn to substitute for gasoline.

Trouble is that the construction companies are getting most of their workers by advertising in Mexico. As a result, Construction wages have fallen 16.5% over the last 5 years. And these folks aren't illegal, somehow they got green cards.

I know these are my brothers and sisters, but they are working for half the union wages.

[John Foster]

What we really need to do is expand, and enforce, Davis Bacon, that is; any and all government subsidized work, has to pay prevailing wages. Big business once again exploits immigrant labor for greed and pumped up profits, and the government's pro business policies feed into this culture of greed and profits at any cost. There slogan that immigrants are needed to do work that American workers don't want to do, is rubbish. We have to be certain that we don't get caught up in the anti-immigrant histeria that sometimes evolves out of these specific situations. These people are workers and deserve the standards of fairness that other American workers should have.

The Drum Major Institute put together a great article on immigration and how a sound policy would benefit the middle class. It frames the immigration debate with reference to workers rights and providing ways for a policy that enhances the status of the immigrant community, as well as; middle class America....see the link that follows.

http://www.drummajorinstitute.org/library/report.php?ID=29

John Foster
GCC/IBT Local 4C

[D Flinchum]

"As a result, Construction wages have fallen 16.5% over the last 5 years. And these folks aren't illegal, somehow they got green cards." John Williams

Don't assume that because they have "green cards" that these workers are legal. Document fraud is rampant in construction. Why? Because employers only have to make a half-hearted check and many don't even bother to do that. They know that they are likely to get away with hiring illegal workers. This was one of the great flaws in the 1986 amnesty that has allowed illegal immigration to go from an estimated 1.5 million people eligible for amnesty then (final count 2.7 million with massive fraud) to 12-20 million now in the US.

The 1986 plan was amnesty right away with enforcement to follow shortly. Enforcement never came. It was either undermined by subsequent laws or simply not funded. I supported the 1986 amnesty. What was not to like? Give 1.5 million illegal immigrants a break and end illegal immigration through solid enforcement. This time I want to see enforcement FIRST. Rank and file union members are well aware of the problem that John Williams mentions. It seems less obvious to people who work in jobs where they are not in direct competition with workers brought - or lured - in from other countries to do "the jobs Americans won't do."

Some good links are: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2006/09/16/2003262477.pdf regarding the decline of construction wages during the housing boom.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003265139_imprices19.html which refutes the idea that a low-paid illegal work force actually lowers prices for most people.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2006/back806.html and
http://www.thinkandask.com/2006/092206-worker.html - the effect of immigration on young workers just starting out.

A section from the second one:
Construction along with landscaping, retail, office cleaning, and hotel workers report strong job growth in the past few years. And the authors report these industries are leaping to take advantage of new illegal immigrants. "Many of these jobs are filled by illegal immigrants who arrive on street corners, informal shape-ups, and convenience store parking lots waiting for any of a number of potential employers to come by and pick them up for a day's work," the authors concluded.

Employers are operating outside of the legal framework that has defined labor markets since the New Deal.

Expansion of contract employment, off-the-books workers, and black labor markets in an increasing number of communities throughout the nation has meant that a growing fraction of workers now provide their labor outside of the fundamental worker protections that the nation had previously taken for granted.

The authors cite such practices now bypass wage and hour laws, worker safety and health mandates, and minimum wage protections established some 70 years ago. "These changes in labor relationships also have reduced rates of unionization, lowered the share of workers receiving key employee benefits, such as health insurance, paid vacations, and pensions and have decreased unemployment insurance, Social Security, and workers’ compensation tax receipts."

More to come the authors stated: The past formal relationships between workers and employers will continue to unravel, undermining the unemployment insurance and social security systems and basic worker protections that have evolved in the nation over the last century.

"These adverse effects on employer-worker relationships have to be taken into account in any benefit-cost calculus of the impacts of new immigration. Advocates of guest worker programs have been derelict in addressing these key economic concerns in the United States over the past five years."

[0 apr credit cards]

Credit card
0 APR Credit card
Business Credit card
Airlines Mile Credit Card
Secured Credit card
Apply online for a Credit card
Credit card Debt Consolidation
Credit card Application
Credit card Company
Credit card Processing