Thread: WAAAH! Immigrant workers vital to business owners

Immigrant workers vital to business owners
08:21 AM CST on Saturday, December 1, 2007

A recent e-mail that I received from a Tarrant County business owner decried the state of immigration reform in this country. But not for the reasons you might expect.

His concerns are actually quite typical of what many business owners across the country are feeling.

He wrote a very frustrated, plaintive note:

"I only wish the general media was more interested in generating a realistic depiction of the facts in the immigration issue, instead of simply fanning the flames by quoting and interviewing mainly people from the far negative side of the issue. What does it take these days for the real facts to get to the everyday citizen?

If they can't get it from the media, how can we ever fix any problems?"

I've received similar complaints from others who are now coming forward out of concern that the national debate is being driven by fear and politics rather than facts and basic economics.

The Tarrant County businessman, who requested anonymity, says, "The time has come for the media, our government, and the general public to hear from those of us who live the truth every day."

He's a white, conservative Republican who owns a light manufacturing company and employs about 125 people. In the 1990s, he began getting job applicants with Social Security numbers that could not be matched.

Today, he said, the only factory workers he can find have bad numbers.

And yet, "without this work force, we would not remain in business," he writes. "We did not search them out, nor do we intentionally hire them. We simply have to have employees, and we must take what is available to us."

His biggest competitor is now China, and without these immigrant workers, he said his business will die. He values his workers and their hard work and says Congress must enact real reform and not punish business owners in the process.

Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, said the story is a common one in the business community. And he heard it repeated over and over again at an immigration summit in Tyler this week organized by the Texas Employers for Immigration Reform, a statewide coalition of businesses,

Until now, many business owners have kept silent in the wake of large-scale federal raids, he said.

"They're concerned about ICE and not raised their profile," he said. "But they've got to get engaged in this process and let their elected officials know."

Otherwise, the Texas economy could be severely crippled over the long term, he said.

Business leaders such as Dennis Nixon, president and CEO of the International Bank of Commerce, have indeed begun to speak out. As chairman of the Alliance for Security and Trade in Laredo, Mr. Nixon developed a white paper to outline the main points of the current immigration issue.

Chief among these: Baby boomers are retiring and the U.S. birth rate is falling. It now stands at 2.1 children per woman and is expected to fall below replacement level by 2015. Mexico's fertility rate is 2.4. America has jobs and needs workers. Those workers will have to come from somewhere else.

The paper also offers such solutions as a guest worker program that allows legalization, and border security measures.

Mr. Nixon recently lamented that the country had switched its focus from terrorism to immigration. The ensuing immigration debate that is polarizing the nation is now a "roller coaster that's going straight down," he said.

Eddie Aldrete, a bank executive in San Antonio who also is a member of the Texas employers coalition, said labor shortages are starting to become apparent – from Idaho to Texas.

"Our economic growth in San Antonio has been stunted by the reluctance of employers to create new jobs because of the insecurity of a labor force," Mr. Aldrete said.

He said he attended a meeting in Washington, D.C., this week between the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security and found a high level of frustration.

"Employers from across the country are as frustrated as we are," he said. "And we fear it's going to get worse before it gets better."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 5972a.html

Hmm...Economics 101...law of supply and demand, maybe try increasing wages or benefits to attract American workers.

Today, he said, the only factory workers he can find have bad numbers.

Well how about you offer better wages you cheap bastard, and then maybe you'll find LEGAL workers.

ICE hit it on the head, Economics 101 and the law of supply and demand don't back up the business's world claim of "WE NEED CHEAP LABOR."
If the labor demand, or the quantity of labor demanded goes up, while supply stays the same, this moves the equilibruim price upward along the supply and demand curves; therefore by law of supply and demand, wages should increase.

We all know the only reason you want cheap labor is to maximize profits, nothing more. Don't pull your rhetorical non-sense on the American people anymore because we simply don't buy your BS.

Of course they are... The illegals are not burdened with things like taxes, college tuitions, medical expenses, grocery store expenses, etc. so obviously they can work for half the amount the law abiding citizens of this country are forced to work for.

Maybe the government and the media should tell the working American citizens that there's no way this country will stay afloat on the standards and wages we have become accustomed to. Either work for nothing to survive or not have a job at all because we'll bring in millions of people who will or the jobs will go overseas and we won't have any jobs anymore. Education doesn't matter, experience doesn't matter, the American Dream is dead and since you are citizens we'll give you first dibs to adjust accordingly and if you don't....well...let the chips fall where they may. Forget insurance and health care and anything else and forget the idea that if you try harder or anything else.....you will not get ahead. No folks....the good days are over. It's dog eat dog so study up on your survival skills.

I would rather hear that, and know where I stand, than to play this you are awful because you are white or you are American and you don't deserve to have anything anymore....and by the way....the economy is great for a few and we have no intention of passing it down to anyone and there is limited seating at the top and your hopes for getting there are slim to none. Instead of causing such division among those left to survive.

This is a real slick argument.

Of course, a supply of cheap labor makes your business go---but whoever said you had a right to be in that business in the first place? The precentage of Americans who are positioned to prosper through illegal labor is rather small compared to the percentage who pay the added costs for social services to acculturate a backwards group of people.

If a huge population was the only way to material success Norway, with only 4.5 million people, would not be consistently in the top rankings.

Originally Posted by Dianne

Of course they are... The illegals are not burdened with things like taxes, college tuitions, medical expenses, grocery store expenses, etc. so obviously they can work for half the amount the law abiding citizens of this country are forced to work for.

Any business that doesn't recognize these facts, doesn't deserve to be in business. The "we need cheap labor" is a greedy justification for scoundrels.

Originally Posted by Captainron

If a huge population was the only way to material success Norway, with only 4.5 million people, would not be consistently in the top rankings.

Excellent, excellent point Captainron. I never thought of it that way. I will use this as an arguement point with the OBL's.

Any business that doesn't recognize these facts, doesn't deserve to be in business. The "we need cheap labor" is a greedy justification for scoundrels.

That's for sure.

Move your damn business to Mexico! There is plenty of cheap labor there.