LA Workers Join Fierce Debate Over Immigration

[peejay 327]

L.A. Workers Join Fierce Debate Over Immigration

Jobs are a key issue in an area with a large Latino population and high black unemployment.

By Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer

Drexell Johnson and his Young Black Contractors of South Central Inc. are hungry for work — and when polite requests for an opportunity are rebuffed, they're not afraid to raise a ruckus.

After Johnson was cut out of a contract when Staples Center was being built, he drove to the construction site, spinning 360-degree rolls and kicking up doughnuts of dust until, he said, a bulldozer nearly ran him down. In Torrance, his group staged a mock hanging in front of an automaker's office. And earlier this month, they hauled a makeshift "slave ship" to an Inglewood mall development to symbolize economic injustice.

The tactics may seem outrageous, but they underscore the rage and frustration that Johnson and his cohorts feel about losing out to other workers in the region's construction boom. Their anger is fueled by a 14% unemployment rate among African Americans in Los Angeles, twice as high as among whites.

So the news that President Bush and some members of Congress are pushing to bring more blue-collar guest workers into the country — perhaps 400,000 annually — leaves the contractors indignant.

"Hell, no, don't bring no one in from nowhere," said Johnson, a 47-year-old Mississippi native who founded his consortium of 35 minority contractors a decade ago. "Train the people here. Give the people here the same opportunity you're willing to give someone out of this country."

The guest-worker proposals have reignited fierce debate — and sharply divided the Republican Party — over some of the most controversial aspects of national immigration policy. Do immigrants take jobs from Americans? Or are they needed to fill jobs Americans won't do? Do they lower the wages of America's least-educated workers? Or do they benefit most Americans by providing cheap labor for a wide range of jobs, from nannies to construction workers?

Such questions are particularly critical in California, where immigrants make up one-third of the state's labor force, the highest percentage in the nation.

Unlike legislation recently passed in the House, the Senate's comprehensive immigration bill, scheduled for debate next month, is expected to contain bipartisan provisions for guest workers and a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants.

The proposal to allow hundreds of thousands of guest workers into the country each year to fill jobs if qualified Americans can't be found for them is sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass). It is considered the most likely of several proposals to be included in the Senate's bill; Bush also advocates a temporary-worker program but has provided few details about how it would work.

http://www.latimes.com/business/careers/wo...usiness-careers

[daisy16 0]

their tactics may seem unorthodox, but it appears that that is necessary to make law makers pay attention to their situation. Good for them.

I'm wondering if the racism card would work here too? I'm all for doing what it takes in order to take care of your own before worrying about the lot of others.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Right or wrong, certain businesses want and will get the cheap labor. When did it ever matter that ordinary Americans are the ones left behind in the process?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I'm not sure where I stand on this.

If a job opening exists that really can not be filled by someone who lives here, I am all for creating the legal framework necessary to get the necessary talent from other countries.

The problem is this: how do you determine when a job opening is unfilled due to lack of talent in the US? How hard and how long should an HR department have to look before they decide to look overseas? The devil is in the details.

[pedroh 21]

IMHO.. the problem is.. employers know that they can geat cheap foreing labor, so when they want to hire americans, of course Americans wouldn't work for the money they can pay to an alien.. so, I think is not that much employers don't hire local worforce, but local worforce wont work for the wage that an alien would gladfully accept.. and I think this has always been present in USA..

my opinion.. the employers can choose who they hire.. and if the low-wage employers complain, then, get certifications or more education, so they can get better jobs.. dah

[almaty 19]

i agree..if there were no jobs there be less people coming across the border, until it is curtailed the flow continues..

[Jasman0717 9]

Right or wrong, certain businesses want and will get the cheap labor. When did it ever matter that ordinary Americans are the ones left behind in the process?

Ain't that the truth. Who is hiring the guys standing around the Home Depots?

[Satisfaction 1]

I'll sparre you a debate this time, Peejay Where is the Terminator?

[almaty 19]

I'll sparre you a debate this time, Peejay Where is the Terminator?

probably molestating some woman...he excells at that

[Satisfaction 1]

I couldn't resist

[peejay 327]

Actually, when I first posted the link to the rest of the article it showed it in its entirety. Now it asks to log on. The point of the rest of the article explained what happened to certain union jobs after Reagan relaxed the border to allow illegals easy entry and the 1986 amnesty of these same illegals. It did what Reagan intended...it broke the labor unions and drove wages / benefits down. Unions and their good paying jobs have been losing ground ever since. Unions are all but dead in the USA.

Is it any wonder that the average middle class American worker has been losing ground big-time for many years as the upper management pay and perks has soared to the stratosphere. American CEO's are the highest paid in the world. The wealth of this country isn't trickling down as Reagan predicted, but flowing up.

I think it is odd that the 20-something lefty liberals on VisaJourney that blast Bush at every turn and consider him the devil incarnate on most issues don't stop and ask...why is he so gung-ho for this guest worker program, huge expansion of the H1B program, and why does he try so hard to keep anyone from controlling the US / Mexico border?

How is it that you guys don't believe anything Bush says, but yet many of you brand anyone that even considers a reduction in immigration to responsible levels as a xenophobic, racist, redneck, extremist? Do you believe for a second that Bush wants to bring all these immigrants to America because he loves them?

I can smell a rat when it bites me on the toe and I trust this guest worker plan as far as I can throw a bus. I have watched illegal labor slowly creep into the construction side of the oil industry I work in. These employers do it because they can do it without fear. They have a friend in the White House.

Congress is convening within the a month to debate these proposals and Heaven help us if they shove it down the American worker's throats. It is much easier to stop it than it will be to get rid of it once it is law. These guys do their best to circumvent present immigration laws, but you can bet they will use the guest worker provisions to their fullest advantage if they get it. No matter who it hurts.

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

tells us how you really feel about all them mexicnas croosing the border pj.

seems like every thread you start has to do with how illegal immigration from mexico is the bane of the entire country.

seems to me that according to your favorite president(W) the economy is doing just fine despite all them illegal mexicans breaking the law by crossing the border.

i have no idea what the cuase of your anger is, but dang dude, a lot usually comes from within oneself.

okie dokie, off to watch the mexican football leagues match( Guadalajara vs Atlante on Telefutura).

Daniel

:energetic:

[pedroh 21]

tells us how you really feel about all them mexicnas croosing the border pj.

seems like every thread you start has to do with how illegal immigration from mexico is the bane of the entire country.

seems to me that according to your favorite president(W) the economy is doing just fine despite all them illegal mexicans breaking the law by crossing the border.

i have no idea what the cuase of your anger is, but dang dude, a lot usually comes from within oneself.

okie dokie, off to watch the mexican football leagues match( Guadalajara vs Atlante on Telefutura).

Daniel

:energetic:

not only about illegal immigration.. he also dislikes legal immigration because he thinks mexicans have so easy to come to USA even legally.. lol.. and that, is so ironic, USA has very tough rules with MExico related to legal immigration..

but my main point, the jobs illegals take, are NO way middle class American jobs.. haha, man.. all Mexicans'd be rich if they took middle class american jobs.. they work in the fields, in the food processing plants, in the worst jobs.. if u call that middle class job, then I have the job of a freakin CEO... it is sometimes easier for the low-class jobs to blame it on the illegals than see reality as it is.. if u have a low-requirement minimum wage job, I wouldnt expect to be paid 10 bucks an hour. so, instead of complaining, why not get a better job? go to study, etc? USA has a lot of ways to do that, community college, college aid.. etc, I'd be so happy getting those programs to do something better with my life

and sadly Ana and Daniel, Chivas lost

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

tells us how you really feel about all them mexicnas croosing the border pj.

seems like every thread you start has to do with how illegal immigration from mexico is the bane of the entire country.

seems to me that according to your favorite president(W) the economy is doing just fine despite all them illegal mexicans breaking the law by crossing the border.

i have no idea what the cuase of your anger is, but dang dude, a lot usually comes from within oneself.

okie dokie, off to watch the mexican football leagues match( Guadalajara vs Atlante on Telefutura).

Daniel

:energetic:

not only about illegal immigration.. he also dislikes legal immigration because he thinks mexicans have so easy to come to USA even legally.. lol.. and that, is so ironic, USA has very tough rules with MExico related to legal immigration..

but my main point, the jobs illegals take, are NO way middle class American jobs.. haha, man.. all Mexicans'd be rich if they took middle class american jobs.. they work in the fields, in the food processing plants, in the worst jobs.. if u call that middle class job, then I have the job of a freakin CEO... it is sometimes easier for the low-class jobs to blame it on the illegals than see reality as it is.. if u have a low-requirement minimum wage job, I wouldnt expect to be paid 10 bucks an hour. so, instead of complaining, why not get a better job? go to study, etc? USA has a lot of ways to do that, community college, college aid.. etc, I'd be so happy getting those programs to do something better with my life

and sadly Ana and Daniel, Chivas lost

i know, i was watching it.

they better win this sunday!!!

Daniel

:energetic:

[Jaylen Brit 0]

Bottom line for me is tight-as$ed companies who won't pay the mimium wage so they hire illegals who will work for less.

As they now have illegals they also don't bother to pay them any medical benefits or insurances, wonderful savings if you're a big boss. If you get sick not only do you get no medical help you also get no sick pay, if you get injured at work - tough - you dont work you get nada.

Legal Americans rightfully expect an employer to look after them.

Why wouldn't they? They put in the hours, they work well..and they expect to be treated right. That's not unreasonable.

Without workers there would BE no businesses.

But do some of the big companies care?

Of course not. They are loyal to their own bank balances and their shareholders.

Do I sound a little cynical?

I used to work for some big corps - and the ones who had the best, most loyal, less likely to take sick leave or quit workforces were the ones who actually gave a sh!t about their employees.

One of the places I worked for never had problems finding people to stay late, or work another shift for someone who was off sick because everyone cared - and the bosses would work as hard, if not harder, than the rest of us.And we KNEW they wouldn't ask us to do jobs that they were not prepared to do.

I know all things are not equal - sadly - but we allow these big companies to hire illegals because when they are found out they get a wrist slap instead of a heavy hit them where it hurts fine.

Ilegals are seen as a 'disposable workforce' - doesn't matter HOW badly you treat them there will always be more.

We don't need to start asking legal Americans to work harder we need to start telling the companies that hire illegal workers that it won't be tolerated.

/soapbox

(edit -spelling)

Edited February 23, 2006 by Jaylen Brit