Thread: If they don't keep working, will N.C.?

Found this piece of "work" posted on a national board.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/ ... 552701.htm

FRANCO ORDOÑEZfordonez@charlotteobserver.com

Roofer Andrew Rowland has his own take on the immigration debate: He needs his immigrant workforce to stay competitive.

The American workers he's hired have shown a disdain for the long days spent atop hot asphalt roofs, tearing down one shingle at a time, and repeatedly carrying 70-pound boxes of new materials up tall ladders.

It's back-breaking work, he says, but one Mexicans and Hondurans do without complaint.

"Americans just won't do the work that Hispanics will do," said Rowland, owner of Charlotte-based Above the Rest Roofing & Construction. "Hispanics are not expensive. And they do great work. They don't take breaks. They don't talk on the phone. They work sunup to sundown."

Finding workers to fill unattractive low-paying jobs is at the center of an ongoing debate in North Carolina and across the nation.

The issue gained steam this week with the release of a study by UNC Chapel Hill. The school's Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise reported Tuesday that the Hispanic community has grown to an estimated 600,913. And it has contributed $9 billion to the state's economy. But the study also reports that low-wage Hispanic workers held down wages by nearly $2 billion in 2004.

"The state needs low-wage labor to compete. I don't care where you are," said John Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute. "If we get rid of all our low-wage labor, we're in trouble."

Considering the growth of the population, Ron Woodard, head of N.C. Listen, an immigration reform group, said it doesn't surprise him that immigrants are spending more money in the state.

"But at what cost?" he said. "With (millions) of Americans either unemployed or who cannot find a full-time job, who says we need the current `mass' level of immigration?"

Most agree that today's immigration system, which has allowed an estimated 10.3 million foreigners to remain in the United States illegally, is flawed. But that is about as far as the consensus goes.

Many academic studies have attempted to assess the effects immigration has had on U.S. wages. Some report little to no impact, while others conclude that immigration severely hurts American-born workers.

Researchers at the Federal Reserve banks of Dallas and Atlanta reported in 2003 that increases in the share of newly arrived immigrants had no significant impact on wages of many manual laborers.

But Harvard economist George Borjas says immigration in the past 20 years has reduced the average annual earnings of native-born men by $1,700, or roughly 4 percent. Among U.S.-born residents without a high-school education, who roughly correspond to the poorest tenth of the workforce, the estimated impact was even larger, reducing wages by 7.4 percent, Borjas concluded in a 2004 study for the Center for Immigration Studies.

"Some people lose, and some people gain -- namely the employer," he said. "And that is the key impact of immigration."

Kasarda agrees there are going to be some displacement costs, but he says they're outweighed by the positives.

Wayne Cooper, honorary consul of Mexico in Charlotte, says consumers probably benefit from the Latino community more than they realize. Many industries depend on the labor force -- particularly construction, he said, noting problems in Florida as officials look to train and recruit construction workers to fill an estimated 14,000 vacancies.

"Where would Florida be if they didn't have the current Hispanic workforce?" he said.

Rowland said he doesn't know how he'd be able to stay in business without his immigrant workers.

"They're dependable," he said. "They're reliable. We need more people like that. In general, the working man doesn't want to work anymore. And the Hispanic community has changed that."

"Americans just won't do the work that Hispanics will do," said Rowland, owner of Charlotte-based Above the Rest Roofing & Construction. "Hispanics are not expensive. And they do great work. They don't take breaks. They don't talk on the phone. They work sunup to sundown."

Well, "Above the Rest Roofing & Construction" is violating OSHA, US Labor Law and US Immigration Law. Breaks are required by OSHA. Minimum hours at regular rate pay are required by the US Labor Department and Automatic Over-Time Kicks in long after "sunup" and low before "sundown". This man is working these people 12 hours a day (sunup to sundown) without overtime pay; breaks; and has hired these people illegally. So Above the Rest Roofing and Construction needs to be Set Above the Rest on the 3 floor of a maximum security prison and the business shutdown. If this moron thinks that generations of Americans who fought for OSHA, every US Labor Law we have AND US Immigration Law for our American Roofers to be illegally and wrongfully displaced with "Mexican and Honduras" workers, then he needs to think again.

ICE ICE ICE--Come In, Come In!! We've got a Fat Cat Fry Fur ya!!

Finding workers to fill unattractive low-paying jobs is at the center of an ongoing debate in North Carolina and across the nation.

And here is the problem. "Unattractive low-paying jobs". See this is an oxymoron. In our free market system based upon supply and demand the more unattractive the job, the higher the pay. The concept of "unattractive low-paying jobs" violates every single concept of our free enterprise free market supply and demand SYSTEM.

The harder the job, the more unattractive the job--the higher the pay to draw the workers so they are properly and fairly and legally compensated in the United States for this hard and unattractive work.

See how this works?

Very simple.

Shut this turd business down immediately and deport his workers.

"The state needs low-wage labor to compete. I don't care where you are," said John Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute. "If we get rid of all our low-wage labor, we're in trouble."

Like we need low-wage roofers to compete? With whom? Are we now shipping buildings and homes overseas or is China building them and bringing them in on boats?

Get Real, Kasarda. You may be able to fool these idiot government workers and the New Morons at the University of North Carolina, but meet me--the real world who has already forgotten more about roofing crews and construction than you'll ever know. We do not need "low page construction workers" in the United States to compete with anyone. We control that market; it's our market; we don't compete with anyone in "construction".

Kasarda you are a Globalist. I've checked out your website. I've seen your clients. UNOCAL-Thailand??? Oh pleeeeease.

I certainly hope no public money was spent on this study because if so, we want our money back.

Has anyone else noticed that each one of these stories starts off with a mention of an immigrant working or running a business? We are looking at four different write ups about the report and they all start the same way but with a local immigrant worker.

W

That's the PR Pattern for the OBL, an attempt to "personalize" the issue.

It might have worked for them 5 years ago, but NOW, who cares who they are, where they're from, what they do, what they earn, how many hours they work?

NO ONE I KNOW.

We just want them O U T!!

:P

You forgot to mention COAL MINERS. I didn't see any Mexicans working at what would be THE MOST DANGEROUS, UNDESIRABLE and DIRTY JOB I could imagine. Looked like AMERICANS to me. I bet they would LOVE a construction job or a landscaping job.

Well actually, they would take the jobs if the miners would let them in but they won't. Miners who have built that skilled profession and worked very hard to get wages commensurate almost with the risk, would never allow a company to hire illegal aliens. They would take it to the streets with ball bats. The United Mine Workers protect all miners even those that are non-union. But coal mining is an example of our system working properly--good pay commensurate with legal supply and demand.

That is so true, Bootsie! You don't see them lining up for the coal mining jobs. And that article, my gosh! Do they not realize that it sounds alot like "slavery"? No breaks, those long hours? And how long do these employers think it will be until those workers get tired of being the company slaves and start demanding better wages and benefits? Employers like this guy are the scum of American business, making HUGE profits off the illegals they hire and at the same time, being an American traitor by knocking hard working American citizens out of jobs. The media makes it sound like NO ONE will work these jobs if the illegals are deported...........BS! We got along just fine here in NC before they came and I know many, many people who worked as roofers, carpenters, etc. and loved their jobs, they were just pushed aside and replaced with a low wage employee so the greedy company owners could fatten their wallets a little more

Coal miners start out at $40,000 a year and with experience can earn between $50,000 and $70,000 a year and now have very good benefits and health insurance.