Thread: Americans refuse skilled work at unskilled wages

Re.: Work American Refuse to Do ?

I have referenced three articles regarding the use of illegal aliens.
· 80 arrested after probe, the Cincinnati Post, May 10, 2006
· Illegal workers an open secret, the Cincinnati Post, May 13, 2006
· 2 admit hiring illegal workers for N. Ky jobs, the Cincinnati Post, July 8, 2006

They tell of a construction company in Northern KY & Southwestern, OH that uses a subcontractor for labor. Two men, who work for Robert Pratt, a subcontractor, have pleaded guilty to a single count of harboring illegal immigrants for commercial advantage. They admit to being Mexican citizens and knew the construction workers were in the United States illegally.

Robert Pratt and the companies he ran were subcontractors for Fisher Homes. He and several members of his family have been charged with being part of this conspiracy. He and his family members are free on bond.

Construction companies like Fisher Homes ( and other industries) will use subcontractors to provide a buffer between them and the illegal aliens. Unscrupulous builders get around immigration and tax laws by setting up tiers of subcontractors. Sometimes the laborers are hired as independent contractors, absolving the employer of the responsibility of collecting taxes and paying commercial wages.

These laborers performed skilled labor such as framing, drywalling, and roofing, according to court documents. Typically they were paid $7 - $10 per hour. In CY 2000, union carpenters averaged $20.45 an hour and nonunion wages averaged $13.51. Union drywallers averaged $17.93 and nonunion workers averaged $12.19. Robert Platt paid the two men that pleaded guilty by check. They would cash this check and pay the laborers.

Four supervisors for Fisher Homes have pleaded not guilty. Although one of the supervisors told investigators that half the workers in the Fisher job site at Florence, KY were illegal immigrants. The supervisors are charged with harboring illegal workers. Also a contractor from TN, who worked with Fisher Homes faces 10 charges of money laundering, conspiracy and harboring illegal aliens.

Fisher Homes denies knowingly hiring any illegal workers and has said it has little control over how it’s subcontractors run their business. It’s COO reported they require all subcontractors to sign a document promising they will use no illegal aliens as employees.

Employers blame the govt. They claim to have no practical way to know if an employee is legal or not. Anyone can get a taxpayer identification number (ITN). The SSA will even give them to illegal aliens. It’s estimated 90% of this type of work is subcontracted. Builders ask subcontractors to sign an agreement that no illegal labor will be used and do nothing to verify or audit compliance. IMO, they don’t want to know. Having cheap labor to perform skilled jobs, is more important the complying with our laws.

Millions of illegal workers use ITNs to secure employment and millions more use fraudulent SSNs that don’t match their names. Hundreds of thousands have registered “000-00-0000” as a social security number. The SSA fails to follow up on these occurrences and the Dept. of Homeland Security must seek authorization to access Social Security data. The two federal agencies don’t freely co-operate.

This area of the country has an unemployment rate higher than the national average, yet the construction industry has a shortage of unskilled labor. The reason for this is the industry is using unskilled labor, for skilled jobs; such as framing, drywall, and roofing. Americans would be willing to perform this jobs at nonunion rate. The Carpenters Union would be happy to furnish people at the union rate. The real shortage is of skilled laborers working for an unskilled labor rate, in the construction industry.

We must oppose the President Guest Worker Program for it gives amnesty to illegal aliens !
Our President and U. S. Senator John McCain want to give amnesty to illegal workers.
They believe illegal workers simply fill jobs American don’t want. IMO American workers will perform work these jobs when they are paid adequately. However, $7 -$10 is not an adequate wage for this industry.

We must do four things to reverse the flow of illegal immigration.
(1). Secure our Borders. (2.) Crack down on employers that intentionally hire illegal labor. (3.) Remove all benefits such as licenses, in-state tuition, and welfare for illegal aliens. (4.) Empower local police to enforce immigration law.

Business owners and managers that intentionally hire illegal immigrants must receive stiff jail sentences. They enable illegal aliens to steal American jobs. Companies use illegal labor to reduce wages. Unscrupulous companies can easily shield themselves by using subcontractors. Judges fail to give business owners serious jail time.

The SSA will give illegal aliens ITNs, so they can work illegally. The SSA fails to follow up on fraudulent SSNs and hesitates to cooperate with homeland security. To date, no judge has given jail time to any business owner. Our federal govt. fails to enforce the laws of this nation. Our courts hesitate to give jail time to business owners.

I’m sending this to my elected representatives and others, in order to drum up support for taking the necessary action to reverse illegal immigration and oppose the President’s Guest Worker Program.

Sad thing for the buyers is that the poor workmanship looks nice for only just long enough to sell the house.

You should see the mess my dad got into, and that I inherited as a result of this. I swear I could have done better work and I'm far from skilled. The contractor was finally tracked down and found guilty but I haven't heard directly from anyone concerning how I will fare from this deal gone bad, since it was a class action suit. In the mean time, I'm on hold.