"Minutemen" going after the employers???

[Walt Starr]

In Herndon, Only Feet Away but Worlds Apart
The Minutemen, Foes of Illegal Immigration, Turn Cameras to Their Cause


By N.C. Aizenman and Timothy Dwyer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 9, 2005; Page B01

The slate-gray light of a wintry morning hung over the 7-Eleven parking lot just after sunrise yesterday when a murmur rippled through the crowd of men gathered there: "Look, they are coming."

Heads turned in unison to a dozen people moving toward them on Elden Street in Herndon. Although the men's clothing -- work boots and bluejeans -- revealed them as day laborers, the new group wore warm winter coats and snug-fitting gloves and carried cameras with long lenses, a camcorder, a couple of walkie-talkies and a clipboard list of license plate numbers collected on previous visits.

"The day is ruined. They're going to scare off the employers," Alex Aleman, a 32-year-old Honduran in a black ski cap, told his friends in Spanish. "When they come, we don't eat."

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/08/AR2005120802068.html

Okay, I agree that going after those who illegally employ undocumented aliens is the best way to solve the problem. I have a problem with the Minutemen, but I don't think I have a problem with what they are doing here.

[MADem]

1. You do know how they'll solve this, eh?

They'll park down the street, walk down, get the guys, give 'em the address, and give 'em cabfare to get to the jobsite. Then they'll slip away.

Then the contractors will deduct the cabfare from the wages.

Who gets screwed? The undocumented worker...

If the Monkey were serious about this issue, he would have fixed it by now. He doesn't want his wealthy contributors to have to pay full fare for labor. It's his way...

[SoCalDem]

2. "Government" could solve this if they wanted to.

But they DON'T want to. The "boss-class" pays lots of money to republican politicians to "look the other way"..

If they can hire "illegal" carpenters for $5 an hour, with no benefits, guess where all the money goes?? The person paying the contractor pays costs as though wages much higher than that are being paid.. Both "know" it's not true, but they all do the dance.

If an "illegal" hurts himself, he just tends to his injury quietly and usually avoids the ER, because these people FEAR being noticed...by anyone.. The contractor does not pay him while he's injured, he gets no workers comp or disability. He's just SOL, until he's well enough to work again...and the contractor just gets a 'replacement part" from the same parking lot he came from.

There are probably many well-trained, and capable American carpenters who would love to do the work, but they cannot afford to work for $5 an hour. If the contractor hired THEM, he would have to pay them fair wages,and really pay into SS and SDI and worker's comp for them. He could not jack up the price of his product, because the buyers of his product are already paying a prevailing cost. the cost of hiring legal workers comes out of the insane profit the contractors are raking in.. They will not willingly give that up..

When a drug dealer gets busted, his property is seized.. When people who hire illegals start having their businesses and homes seized, they will start hiring legal employees for fair wages, and they will just not be as rich.

[jody]

3. CAFTA allows service suppliers from Central America to do business

in the US. Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua are included although CAFTA has not been signed by all the countries.

CAFTA "Chapter Eleven Cross-Border Trade in Service" says, "Each Party shall accord to service suppliers of another Party treatment no less favorable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to its own service suppliers."

NAFTA "Chapter Twelve: Cross-Border Trade in Services" says "Each Party shall accord to service providers of another Party treatment no less favorable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to its own service providers." Mexico and Canada are covered by NAFTA.

Why haven't service businesses in Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua used the "Cross-Border Trade in Services" provisions of NAFTA and CAFTA to bring their employees into the U.S. and compete?