Thread: Readers lash out after TV report

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20061 ... N/61229009

Readers lash out after TV report




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December 31, 2006

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Aspen, CO Colorado

Last week’s television news report on immigration by Tom Brokow, focusing on the Roaring Fork Valley and employer Gould Construction in Glenwood Springs, provoked a torrent of comment from online readers of The Aspen Times.

Articles about Brokow’s segment, and past coverage on the topic of immigration, garnered online comment from readers who had plenty to say about what they saw in the TV report.

Many lashed out at the construction firm for hiring immigrants identified as illegal by Brokow, even though Gould checked workers’ documents and turned away individuals whose documents were obviously forged. On the telecast, Mark Gould said immigrants are filling hard-labor jobs with his firm that Americans no longer want.

Said one reader:

I am watching the report on NBC about this company hiring illegals. The big problem I see is that they complain about not being able to find americans to do the work. Then he says that he starts them at $14 per hour. NO WONDER. We run a union shop here and pay union wages and benefits and NEVER have a problem finding americans that want to work. Quit worrying about profits and take care of your people and you don't have that problem.

Another offered this:

I just finished watching the Tom Barklow story on NBC it made me sick. Who does Mark Gould think he is kidding. He says he pays his workers a fair wage at 12.00 an hour with benefits. Although he doesnt say what those benefits are. Im sure it isnt blue cross or Atena. Mark, 12.00 and hour for digging ditches and using heavy equipment is not fair wages. You also state that you are going to have to go to Mexico to recruit labor. Have you ever considered going to West Virgina or North Carolina for American workers. Have you tried looking locally by paying perhaps 20 to 22 an hour more like what the job is really worth. You claim that money has nothing to do with it that you will just pass on the increase to the buyer. Well prove it and do it. Trust me no one in our country feels sorry for you.

And, there was this:

As a fourth generation Colorado native, I am embarrassed that a national TV documentary on illegal immigration would select the Glenwood, Carbondale, and Aspen/Snowmass and Colorado in general to highlight the greed of some building contractors like Gould Construction hiring illegals.

Gould Construction will get there just do, thank goodness to free enterprise. The contractors that follow the law will in the end get the work. The West has a way of shedding people like this. Gould will fail. Have they ever thought of going to hire young people in the heartland of America? That’s how the entire ski industry was built in Colorado for over fifty years.

The truth is that Tom Brokaw loves to come to the Aspen area to hang out with the rest of the rich liberals, so what a better excuse to get paid to do a report and be with the “swells”. This location for the documentary is definitely just a perk from NBC to an old retired news reader. You think Brokaw would do the same story if the setting was El Paso, Texas or somewhere in Arkansas? Especially since he has no problem using our beautiful Roaring Fork River for fly fishing, getting comped at hotels where illegals serve him food and make his bed.

Another reader offered this observation:

Does Gould have to have so many jobs that they are short of people? Does Gould have to be all over the mountains of Colorado to make ends meet? What if all of the companies like Gould were put in a position of picking up the tab just described in the letter. I am more angry at these cry babies companies who show me nothing but greed. Take some of those white supervisors off their managerial jobs and put them on the end of that shovel and cut your operations down. What a disservice to a customer to sign a contract to do a job and know that you do not have enough people to do it. Gould sounds poorly managed. All of this construction is just fueling the rape of the West.

But, at least one reader sympathized with Gould:

I watched the program...Mr. Gould, like many Roaring Fork employers go through every channel available to them in determining legal status of the applicant pre-hire. As a former manager for a valley employer with restaurant services, we screened EVERY applicant and required documentation supporting their status. Unfortunately, desperate people take desperate measures and many of our hires used fake documents. Once found out, like Mr. Gould, those employees were terminated. In once case, we were sued for wrongful termination because the government made an error in reporting status to us. Just cannot win with our current system. By the way, we paid very good wages and great benefits and never had enough applicants. Most folks just don't want to do the dirty work.

I am glad people are writing back. The contractors and farmers and others are full of it. How can Americans apply for those jobs when they aren't advertised? The farmer in Florida complain they can't get workers yet I did not see one ad at the public university I attended. In fact the two campuses I went to had nothing posted anywhere. I spoke to other students from other colleges and universities and they saw nothing either. I am sure it is the same story in other states as well.
As for the construction jobs, they want illegals not only for cheap labor but they save by breaking safety laws. The illegals don't know them and if they would suspect something isn't right they wouldn't complain as they need the job. I don't know about other states but in Florida it seems that the number of construction accidents which have resulted in death or serious injury have risen in the last 2 or 3 years.

I just finished watching the Tom Barklow story on NBC it made me sick. Who does Mark Gould think he is kidding. He says he pays his workers a fair wage at 12.00 an hour with benefits. Although he doesnt say what those benefits are. Im sure it isnt blue cross or Atena. Mark, 12.00 and hour for digging ditches and using heavy equipment is not fair wages. You also state that you are going to have to go to Mexico to recruit labor. Have you ever considered going to West Virgina or North Carolina for American workers. Have you tried looking locally by paying perhaps 20 to 22 an hour more like what the job is really worth. You claim that money has nothing to do with it that you will just pass on the increase to the buyer. Well prove it and do it. Trust me no one in our country feels sorry for you.

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