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    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    Schwarzenegger Calls On Californians To Ignore Protest

    http://www.nbc4.tv/news/9014427/detail.html


    Video: http://www.nbc4.tv/video/9014627/detail.html

    State, Local Leaders Deliver Views On May 1 Boycott
    Schwarzenegger Calls On Californians To Ignore Protest


    POSTED: 8:57 am PDT April 26, 2006
    UPDATED: 1:03 pm PDT April 26, 2006

    LOS ANGELES -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling on immigrants and supporters to ignore the call to protest a proposed limited-immigration bill that would criminalize undocumented workers by staying home from work and boycotting businesses on Monday, May 1.

    "No work, no school, no selling, no buying" is the call to action for Monday -- which is being billed by organizers as "The Great American Boycott" and "a day without an immigrant," but Schwarzenegger said he believes it's a bad idea.

    "I don't see the upside .. I only see downside," Schwarzenegger said. "So therefore I strongly recommend to everyone to go and continue working."

    It's not just businesses that could be affected by a boycott in the Southland. Los Angeles schools lose $28 in reimbursement funds for every student day that's missed, and that could add up to quite a bit if students join the boycott and cut class. Many students told NBC4's Patrick Healy they'd wait until after school to protest, because of actions taken by the Los Angeles Unified School District, including an offer by the school board to send a resolution to Congress protesting a proposed law that would criminalize undocumented immigrants.

    Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, schools superintendent Roy Romer and Cardinal Roger Mahony also called on parents to send their children to school.

    "We firmly believe children should be in school every school day, including May 1, present and ready to learn," the three local leaders said in a joint statement. "We urge parents to share this view with their children. We are not opposed to student protests after school or on weekends. Missing school is not in the best interest of our children."

    Mahony, Villaraigosa and Romer asked that Californians contact their representatives instead of skipping school.

    "To express our belief in and commitment to the future of this great country, let us focus our advocacy for just, comprehensive immigration reform by writing and calling our Congressional representatives and expressing ourselves responsibly," they said.

    On Tuesday evening, in the Westlake District, which is heavily populated by immigrants from Central America, many shopkeepers said they've already decided to close on Monday, according to NBC4's Patrick Healy.

    Stay-at-home mother Maria Vernal, from Mexico, told Healy she won't buy anything on Monday.

    "No trabajo -- no work," shoemaker Oscar Gutierrez, a Guatemalan immigrant, told Healy.

    Healy said there's no consensus on how widespread the boycott might be, because many workers who sympathize with the cause cannot afford to put their jobs at risk.

    Mexico: Day Without Americans

    Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, the call is moving quickly through Mexican cyberspace: Boycott the endless array of U.S. companies and restaurant chains in Mexico to pressure Congress to legalize undocumented migrants in El Norte.

    American executives said the attack is misguided; they said that as the largest private-sector employers in Mexico, U.S. businesses are doing more than anyone to provide jobs there.

    A quarter of Mexico's formal private-sector jobs with regular pay are provided by U.S. firms, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico. The nation's biggest private employer is Walmex -- the Mexican subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- which employs 140,000 people. Delphi Corp., the auto parts maker, is second, with 70,000 workers.

    Business leaders also said the U.S. business community is one of the strongest supporters of legalization of undocumented migrants in the United States or guest-worker programs.

    "This (boycott) is like shooting oneself in the foot," said Larry Rubin, the chamber's president. "U.S. companies have been the first to lobby, launching a huge lobbying effort for immigration reform ... Why hurt something that is helping you?"

    Under the motto "Nothing Gringo," the Mexican boycott urges people to shun all products from U.S. businesses on May 1, a sort of "Day Without Americans," timed to coincide with the "Day Without Immigrants" boycott planned by activists north of the border.

    "That means no Dunkin' Donuts, no McDonald's, Burger King, Starbucks, Sears, Krispy Kreme or Wal-Mart," reads one e-mail making the rounds.

    But even the activists are confused about which companies are U.S.-owned. Sears has been mentioned by boycott organizers, despite the fact that Sears' Mexico stores were bought by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim in 1997. And few organizers are mentioning Vips -- the chain of ubiquitous Mexican diners -- even though they are owned by Wal-Mart.

    Many activists in the United States are telling people to skip work and school and not spend money on May 1 to demonstrate the migrants' importance to the U.S. economy as Congress debates everything from tightening border security to offering legalization for some of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the country.

    It remains to be seen how successful the boycott will be in Mexico, where consumers routinely flock to U.S. stores. But May 1 is Labor Day in Mexico, and many businesses are closed anyway.

    Mexican labor activists are pressing ahead, saying that in most cases, the wages paid by U.S. companies aren't enough to keep people from heading north.

    The American Chamber's Humberto Banuelos conceded that starting salaries for unskilled workers at U.S. companies usually are Mexico's minimum wage of $4.35 a day. While many workers earn more, such as seamstresses who on average make $5.89 a day, even these wages pale in comparison to paychecks offered by the same companies north of the border.

    A cashier at Subway earns about $189 a month in Mexico City. In Colorado, Subway cashiers make $824, four times that amount.

    Companies often hire workers in Mexico for three-month periods to avoid paying health insurance or other benefits, activists said.

    "Yes, we are aware that they are the largest employers in the Mexican republic, but they are paying crumbs," said Martha Suarez Cantu, coordinator of Alianza Braceroproa, a Mexican labor-rights group helping organize the boycott.

    If the U.S. business community and Washington are serious about stemming illegal immigration, they should invest in economic development in Mexico, Suarez said.

    The only way to stem immigration is to narrow the income gap between the two countries, agreed Robert Pastor, director of the Center for North American Studies at American University in Washington. He pointed to the European Union, where migration slowed after heavy investment reduced the income gap in its poorer countries.

    Washington does not invest directly in job creation in Mexico. The U.S. Agency for International Development gave Mexico $31 million last year, but it went toward scholarships, tuberculosis, AIDS prevention, and financial advice to lending institutions.

    Felix Boni, director of equity research at Scotiabank's Mexican brokerage firm, said raising wages in Mexico wouldn't necessarily help, because Mexico would lose ground to countries with cheaper labor, such as China and India. He suggested reforms to boost Mexico's productivity and job growth.

    "U.S. aid is not going to do it," Boni said. "It doesn't make sense to pour money into something that's broken. Mexico needs to make structural changes."
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    Re: Schwarzenegger Calls On Californians To Ignore Protest

    Quote Originally Posted by Brian503a
    http://www.nbc4.tv/news/9014427/detail.html


    "U.S. aid is not going to do it," Boni said. "It doesn't make sense to pour money into something that's broken. Mexico needs to make structural changes."


    EXACTLY!!!....


    The nerve of some of these people, glad to see that 'girly man' is saying something plausible, and toilet guy is urging his under-educated community to stay in school, which by the way they need. Education is power.

    It's not America's responsibility to help a country that doesn't even want to help itself.

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