Noticia Importante / Important News: Friday Demonstration by Hispanic Worker Community
by Bill Simon
The following is the actual letter sent-out by the Hispanic community to the Hispanic community regarding the call to skip a day of work this Friday, March 24:
URGENTE. Noticia publicada hoy Jueves 23 de Marzo En La Vision Newspaper
March 23, 2006
Por favor lean la noticia y envien copia a sus contactos. Es por el bien de todos los Latinos.
Trabajadores hispanos harán paro y boicot mañana viernes marzo 24 Atlanta. La mayorÃa de los hispanos en Georgia han tomado la decisión de realizar un paro laboral pacÃfico y un boicot commercial que se realizará mañana viernes y aseguran que, de los resultados dependerá si la próxima vez este tipo de acción podrÃa extenderse hasta una semana.
¡Tanto va el cántaro al agua que sin orejas termina! Este es uno de los refranes más populares entre aquellos que hablan la lengua de Cervantes. Y todo parece indicar que este dicho popular es el que mejor aplica a la situación entre el Gobierno y los legisladores de Georgia y los trabajadores inmigrantes en su mayorÃa hispanos. Los legisladores republicanos han empezado una guerra sin cuartel en contra de los inmigrantes indocumentados con una serie de propuestas que no solo son consideradas anti inmigrantes sino ofensivas y humillantes para los trabajadores hispanos. Pero no solo son los republicanos, muchos hispanos consideran también a los legisladores demócratas como parte de este ataque ya que la mayorÃa de ellos no ha hecho absolutamente nada por evitarlo.
Se ha llegado al colmo de presentar propuestas de ley que convertirÃan en delincuente a una persona por darle trabajo a un indocumentado o por transportarlo en su vehÃculo; se ha sugerido cambiar la Constitución para que los hijos de indocumentados, aunque hayan nacido en este paÃs, sean considerados también indocumentados; se les niega el derecho a obtener licencia de conducir o tan siquiera una identificación del estado; se les niega el derecho a obtener servicios como luz, agua o teléfono a su nombre; se les quiere imponer un recargo del 5% en sus envÃos de dinero; y con esto estamos tan solo mencionando algunos de los ataques disfrazados en forma de propuestas de ley. A pesar de todos estos ataques los inmigrantes han soportado estoicamente la embestida y han seguido trabajando y produciendo de la misma manera, pero con lo que no contaron muchos es que cuando un hispano ve en peligro su familia no hay nada que lo detenga y ese es el caso cuando estas propuestas pretenden que los jóvenes hispanos no tengan acceso a la educación, servicios medicos o beneficios guvernamentales.
Hasta ahora los nativos de este paÃs se han negado a reconocer que los hispanos no vienen a quitarle el trabajo a nadie, que los hispanos no abaratan el trabajo, que por el contrario vienen a realizar el trabajo que los nativos de este paÃs no quieren realizar y que en lugar de abaratar el trabajo lo que hacen es mejorar el poder adquisitivo y mejorar los precios de muchos productos como los vegetales, las frutas, la vivienda y muchos otros más. Todo esto ha llevado a que la mayorÃa de los hispanos tomen la decisión de realizar un paro laboral pacÃfico y un boicot comercial que se realizará mañana viernes y que, de acuerdo a los resultados que pueda obtener, la próxima vez si se ven obligados a hacerlo podrÃa ser hasta de una semana.
Los primeros pasos para esta acción fueron dados por una organización llamada Alianza 17 de Marzo y es apoyada por diferentes sectores de la comunidad hispana. Al respecto se han venido realizando reuniones de hispanos que trabajan en diferentes áreas como construcción, restaurantes, supermercados y otros tipos de negocios y muchos de ellos han manifestado su apoyo tanto al boicot como a la paralización de labores. Ayer se reunieron un grupo de empresarios del área de la construcción que manejan entre todos ellos más de mil trabajadores y realizan trabajos como limpieza, recolección de basura, carpinterÃa, acabado final, concreto, pintura y más.
Cada uno de los empresarios se comprometió de forma personal a que ninguno de sus trabajadores se presentarÃan a trabajar mañana viernes. “Ya es hora de que nos unamos sin importar quienes son los organizadores y apoyemos cualquier acción que esté destinada a rescatar la dignidad de los trabajadores hispanos. Yo por mi lado me comprometo a que ninguna de mi gente trabaje el viernes”, dijo uno de ellos mientras otro agregaba: “Unamos fuerzas y demostrémosle en forma pacÃfica a los americanos que nosotros necesitamos el trabajo pero que también ellos nos necesitan”, dijo por su lado. “Demostrémosle a Chip Rogers lo que vale nuestro trabajo, pidámosle a los empresarios, a quienes prestamos nuestros servicios, que llamen a sus legisladores y les exijan que nos dejen trabajar”, dijo otro más. “Pidámosle a todos los medios de comunicación que nos apoyen y también al público porque el ataque es para todos y si logramos algo, el beneficio será para todos”, agregaron.
(English Version)
Hispanic workers will go on a strike tomorrow Friday
Atlanta.
Most of the Hispanic community in Georgia has agreed to boycott American products and services and also go on a strike tomorrow. Depending on the outcome from this action it could be repeat it for a longer period of time. If you look for it you’ll find it!!, this seems to be the case between Georgia’s legislators and immigrant workers.
Republican legislators have started a merciless war against undocumented immigrants introducing bills that not only are considered anti-immigrants but are offensive and humiliating for the Hispanic labor force. But not only republicans are against immigrants, many people feel that the Democrats are equally guilty since they have done absolutely nothing to avoid these kind of attacks. They’ve got too far with these bills just to mention some of them: Making employers delinquents if they hire undocumented people or even just for transporting them in their vehicles, some bills propose to amend the Constitution so that the children of undocumented immigrants who are born in this country will be considered undocumented as well, undocumented immigrants are denied the right to get a driver license or simply getting a state ID, they’re denied the right to obtain utility services, they want to impose a 5% fee on money transfers.
These are just a few of the attacks posing as bill proposals. So far, natives of this country don’t want to recognize that fact that Latinos don’t come to this country to take away their jobs, that Hispanics don’t make the pay rates cheaper, but that they come to perform jobs that U.S. citizens don’t want to do. The first steps to this strike were initiated by an organization called 17 de Marzo and is supported by different sectors from the Hispanic community. Meetings regarding this action have been held by Latinos who work in several sectors such as construction, restaurants, supermarkets, among other kind of businesses, and all of them support the boycott as well as the strike.
Yesterday a group of business people from the construction area, who together employ approximately 1000 workers who performs jobs such as cleaning, trash gathering, carpentry, final touch, concrete, painting, among other jobs, have assured that none of their employees will show up to work on Friday.
“It’s about time that we get together regardless of who the organizers are and support actions aimed to rescue Hispanic workers’ dignity. ‘As for me, I commit myself that any of my workers will work on Fridayâ€, said one of the supporters, while another one added “Lets get together and show Americans, in a passive way, that we need to work but that they need us as wellâ€, he said. “Lets show Chip Rogers the value of our labor force , lets ask the company owners for whom we perform our services to start calling legislators and demand them to let us work legallyâ€, added another meeting attendant. “Let’s ask the media and the community to support this action because these attacks go against all of us and if we get some kind of benefit out of this, that benefit will be for everybody’â€, they all said.
March 24th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
This article employs the Orwellian euphemism of “undocumented” to describe those whose first act upon entering the country they would inhabit is to violate its laws. Those who advocate amnesty for illegal aliens and open borders are greatly mistaken if they suppose that illegal immigration is a fake issue ginned up by clever politicians to whip up support from voters during an election year. Rather it is a deeply troubling matter that resonates with ordinary Americans who rightly believe that the laws of our country should not be cast aside to please corporations on the make for cheap labor and to satisfy the lunatic utopian fantasies of multiculturalists on the left. Anyone with a shred of intellectual honesty must acknowledge the very essence of illegal immigration for what it is: a massive criminal enterprise aided, abetted, and encouraged by foreign governments that constitutes a full-scale, full-throttle assault on the fundamental American principle of the rule of law. All praise to the courageous Senator Chip Rogers for pressing ahead on this key issue in the face of slurs, threats, and intimidation.
March 26th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
The only way to maintain the rhetorical purity of your argument is to advocate the round-up and expulsion of the 11-12 million people from the United States, in addition to the construction of a Berlin Wall/Maginot Line along the Rio Grande. Are you prepared to formulate and submit a budget for these two projects, with a cost comparison vis-a-vis a guest worker program?
March 26th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
The admirable rhetorical purity of my argument notwithstanding, I would suggest to you that an effective solution does not require perfection, only a committed effort by the Federal government to secure American borders and enforce existing immigration law. Better enforcement at the border, including expansion of physical barriers, and targeting businesses and corporations that hire illegal aliens are reasonable starting points. Over time, the population of illegal aliens will decline through attrition. Is this a perfect solution with absolutely no additional costs? No, it isn’t, but if you think 12+ million illegal aliens aren’t costing American taxpayers a bundle, then you are not paying attention to reality. You also fail to address my point on the slow, but relentless obliteration of the rule of law where illegal aliens are concerned. I make no apologies for defending the absolute right of the United States as a sovereign nation to control its borders. Do you?
March 27th, 2006 at 6:41 am
I think apologies are due when the costs of major proposals are being masked by appeals to fear and resentment. I think apologies are due when people scream “Rule of law, rule of law!”, while quietly admitting that exercising that very law (illegals must be expelled) will not happen. I think apologies are due when Rep. Peter King (R-NY) calls for prosecuting those who shelter illegal immigrants, Catholic ministries which do that very thing become alarmed, and then King turns around and attacks Archbishop Mahoney for overreacting, saying essentialy ‘Oh, we don’t mean you, we’re talking about other people.’ About whom is Rep. King speaking?
The hallmarks of the anti-immigrant argument are deliberate ambiguity and double-standards. Here’s an idea; why not address the reason for this migration? There are huge economic disparaties in play. It seems to me that boosting the purchasing power of Latin America’s working class is easily the most expedient way to not only stop the flow, but see a voluntary return of illegals already here to their homeland (the assumption being that they would rather live in their own culture if that were an economically viable possibility, which, for far too many, it is not).
This goes back to something that I’ve already discussed on other PV threads; the need to renegotiate trade agreements to include mandated increases in Third World wages and labor standards. Also, the practice of the U.S. discouraging leftist activities in Latin American nations must cease. If anything, governments committed to wealth redistribution would end up being a boon to us vis-a-vis our illegal immigrant problem. The only losers are the major corporations who lose a source of cheap labor, and those who have read my posts should know I totally do not give a s**t about them!
Once the economic engine of illegal immigration has been starved of fuel, THEN we will have the resources to get tough, becasue by then, no one will be making clandestine crossings unless they are intent on doing harm (drug dealing, terrorism, etc.) As long as the genuine criminals are being masked by hordes of men and women seeking nothing but the means to support themselves and their families, our nation will continue to be at risk.
I too make no apologies for wanting to defend my country or its’ borders. I simply feel that we need to use our heads, and truly analyze the problem. Is that unpatriotic?
March 27th, 2006 at 9:39 am
Charley,
You raise excellent points that contribute to the debate, but understand that many of us who see illegal immigration as a serious problem are not “screaming” about the rule of law. It is, in fact, a central part of discussion on this issue. Neither are we driven by fear and resentment. You are correct that there are significant economic disparities in play that are centered on wage differentials between countries rather than a problem with labor supply and demand in the U.S. Again, I point out that enforcement of existing laws at the border and against corporations who employ illegal immigrants will result in substantial attritiion of the illegal alien population over time. Is it a perfect solution? No, it isn’t, but it would be far more effective than the status quo. I say again that a sovereign nation has the right to control its borders, including the regulation of who will be permitted to enter the country. Acknowledgement of that point has to be the basis for any reasonable discussion of how to address this serious problem. If the open borders lobby, including large corporations and the so-called conservatives on the “Wall Street Journal” Op-Ed page, wants to openly proclaim its support for de facto eradication of national borders, then they are free to make that argument against the large majority of the American people who want an effective solution to the problem of illegal immigration and the very real threat it poses to national security, as you rightly assert. Thanks for your thoughtful response.
Best regards.
March 28th, 2006 at 6:09 am
I appreciate your thoughtfulness as well. I wish the problem were exclusively one of enforcement, and not the hair-pulling tangle that it is. I readily concede that there is a border enforcement and employer enforcement component to the solution of illegal immigration. Further, I am sick of the statement “We need immigrant labor to do the jobs Americans will not do.”. That statement should be “Business needs immigrant labor to do the jobs for which business does not want to pay a decent wage.”
That said, are businesses large and small liable for being presented forged documentation? There’s a huge industry in forged IDs now; imagine what it would be like with tougher enforcement. Reworking identification documents to make them more difficult to forge would be an integral part of any enforcement package, and that will be free of neither monetary cost nor general civil liberty implications.
Any meaningful solution to illegal immigration will raise inflationary pressures. That is true for your proposals, my proposals, and any other proposals that impact the status quo. We need to be honest about that from the start, which is not to advocate the status quo or embrace the “open borders” policy of the Wall Street Journal. Neither of us do. My fear though is that a spike in consumer prices might produce (as hard as it might be to believe given current polls) a backlash against immigration reform. Honesty at first will blunt that.
Must dash, but will write again soon. Be well.
March 29th, 2006 at 10:08 am
A hispanic friend of mine referred to this as ‘shoot ourselves in the foot day’..
April 18th, 2006 at 7:31 am
“Most of the Hispanic community in Georgia has agreed to boycott American products and services.” I wonder, did they stay out of hospital emergency rooms, clinics and county courthouses that day? I doubt it.
“Republican legislators have started a merciless war against undocumented immigrants introducing bills that not only are considered anti-immigrants but are offensive and humiliating for the Hispanic labor force.” “Undocumeted” is the politically correct description, “American Workers Subsidized Illegal Immigrants” is the correct description. Why arent AWSII humiliated when they receive free health care, food stamps, etc.? (My Husband and I pay over $700.00 per month for health care.) You would think,if they are so proud, they would want to pay their way.
“Making employers delinquents if they hire undocumented people or even just for transporting them in their vehicles, some bills propose to amend the Constitution so that the children of undocumented immigrants who are born in this country will be considered undocumented as well, undocumented immigrants are denied the right to get a driver license or simply getting a state ID, they’re denied the right to obtain utility services, they want to impose a 5% fee on money transfers.” Employers who employ AWSII are breaking the law. Children of AWSII should not be American citizens because they are born here. Their Mothers are here illegally. As for Drivers license and state ID’s, they are AWSII. The fee on money transfers should be taxed at a rate of 10% as they are wages that are earned in America. Legal Americans have to pay taxes on their wages.
“So far, natives of this country don’t want to recognize that fact that Latinos don’t come to this country to take away their jobs, that Hispanics don’t make the pay rates cheaper, but that they come to perform jobs that U.S. citizens don’t want to do.” I ask, who did the jobs before AWSII came here? AWSII’s do contribute to lower wages in the work force. American citizens do perform the same jobs that AWSII’s perform.
” lets ask the company owners for whom we perform our services to start calling legislators and demand them to let us work legally†These company owners are “breaking the law”, and, if they contact legislators, the legislators who make our laws, should, instead of seeking votes, help enforce the very laws they make.
“Let’s ask the media and the community to support this action” The Liberal Media does support AWSII’s.
April 19th, 2006 at 5:17 am
There seems to be a lot of resentment toward the free health care that illegal immigrants receive in this country. To that end, Congress passed a law that denies hospitals Medicaid reimbursements if their patients do not produce citizenship papers. The total savings: $200 million over 5 years. With that mighty windfall, we’ll be able to fight in Iraq for another full week! That one tenth of one percent of the national budget deficit over the same period – gone!
Of course, there is the small matter of the state sales taxes that everyone, regardless of their status, pays. If you figure 11 million people in this country are spending money on groceries, gasoline, cable/satellite service, soccer balls, etc., I wonder if the sales taxes collected on those expenditures exceeds $200 million over 5 years. Food for thought, amigo. Vaya con Dios.