Let's Stop Hiring Illegals
While on the one hand it's unfortunate to lose a potentially effective pick for Homeland Security Chief, Bernard Kerik should have known better than to hire an illegal alien as a nanny and household helper.
Aside from the law, what do you know about the person's background? How do you know this person is safe to be around your wife and children? Is it really worth the money you save?
This should be a wake-up call to others who might think it's okay to hire illegals, that we are ready to attack it from the demand as well as the supply side.
Aside from the law, what do you know about the person's background? How do you know this person is safe to be around your wife and children? Is it really worth the money you save?
This should be a wake-up call to others who might think it's okay to hire illegals, that we are ready to attack it from the demand as well as the supply side.
published by Brian Maloney at
14:14
1 Comments:
Brian I am sorry that only now am I coming across your comment on illegal hirings. Then again perhaps the fact that there are no other comments on this point demonstrates just how apathetic people are about the problem of illegals. The fact is that there are many citizens that have been economically devastated by the tolerance of job robbing illegals and I am one of them. 10 years ago I began to see an influx of cheap non union workers coming into the construction industry and being hired by both big and small contractors who were at that time my competitors. As a law abiding citizen I was unwilling to stoop to hiring these people and by 1999 I found it too difficult to compete with those who were getting good workers for $10 to $15 and hour while I was forced to pay $25 to $30 an hour for legal labor which was the prevailing wage at the time. Frustrated, I left construction and I took advantage of my experience in another field to got a job in aviation working for Alaska Airlines. At the time it meant a serious pay cut since commercial aircraft mechanics were and still are paid much less than those in the construction industry. I had hoped at the time that with a good economy and rising wages I would recover and be able to make up for the difference in income with overtime and a steady year round job. 9/11 put an end to this hope. Alaska did keep us working for a couple of more years but back in Sept. of last year they were forced to lay off and I was back to looking for a construction job. I did'nt have the funds to start up a new construction business and so I found myself looking for work by going from jobsite to jobsite for the first time in fifteen years. What I found should be alarming to all US citizens but I'm afaid that whenever I bring up the subject I'm looked at like some kind of racist. I live in the San Joaquine Valley and every jobsite I went to was manned by men who's first language was spanish. Often these projects are run by Latinos and the only ones that even offered me work said that they were only payng $15 an hour for journeyman carpenters. I decided to check with the Carpenters Union to find out if they could put me back work on a union job. What I found was that the entire industry had effected by the influx of illegals and that the Union was now taking illegals as dues paying members with no regard for what is going on behind the scenes or how it's putting guys like me at serious disadvantage. Illegals are sponsored by so called legals, many of whom I am told by a associate with the dept. of immigration have gained false documentation and are supposedly being paid union wages of over $30 an hour. What they are really doing is paying them 4 hours for 8 and enjoying the cheap labor. The union reps get to keep their cushie union jobs that pay carpenters scale and the membership lists are saturated with the names of illegals, while those of us who are not of latin decent are discriminately denied a job or are offered work for less money now than we earned 20 years ago. The system that at one time guaranteed a citizen an honest opportunity for a decent paying job has disappeared and it would seem that people like me have been left out in the cold. Here we are at a time when housing is selling for more that we could imagine ten years ago and the developers and contractors are making more money than ever and I can't find a job that any more than I was getting for umemployment. When I started in construction 25 years ago it was a honerable trade that paid a good living in exchange for hard skilled work. Today, politicians, business people and even the union officials are saying that these are jobs that American Citizens don't want. Not only is it not true, if this kind lack of leadership continues, we are going to see this country turned into the next third world where only a small percentage of the people enjoy the American Dream and the multitude work 16 hours a day just to survive.
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Anonymous, at 17 August, 2005 00:00
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