I found this Buzzfeed post on the abuse of H-2 work visas about as upsetting as it gets:
MOULTRIE, Georgia — “All you black American people, fuck you all…just go to the office and pick up your check,†the supervisor at Hamilton Growers told workers during a mass layoff in June 2009.
The following season, according to a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, about 80 workers, many of them black, were simply told: “All you Americans are fired.â€
I know from first hand experience that this sort of abuse of work visas has been going on for at least the last 40 years and probably a lot longer. And it’s not limited to H-2s. It’s true of H1-B visas and L1 visas, too. It’s precisely why I’ve argued for a central job clearing house where employers who are seeking work visas for imported employees need to post the jobs they’re putting on offer. The article lists a lot of the tricks.
I find this particularly galling:
What’s more, companies often do this with the complicity of government officials, records show. State and federal authorities have allowed companies to violate the spirit — and often the letter — of the law with bogus recruitment efforts that are clearly designed to keep Americans off the payroll. And when regulators are alerted to potential problems, the response is often ineffectual.
And people wonder why the suicide rate is going up among Americans.
I agree with Chesterton. It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged in this country.
A lot of those older white males bought into and are still buying into the “what is good for business is good for the country”, “free trade benefits the consumer”, “lower taxes increase investment”, blah, blah, blah. They are learning the hard way that these tropes are true for a few who spout them, but when you do not have a job, cheap goods can never be cheap enough.
Anybody who claims hardship for you while excusing him/herself is full of sh*t, and buying indulgences does not change that.
When you are poor, nothing comes easy, easy yes to work when you are young, strong and healthy. This is what employers want.
If you age or become ill, why is it the employers problem? Whether an individual owner or corporation, they must serve profit to survive. Else capital will flow elsewhere.
So then, who is your champion? Charity? family? savings?government? Do we really expect to be cared for beyond our worth?
Are we strong enough to accept our end without sapping the strength of our economy. That’s where my thoughts are today, thank you.
GS, I was forcibly ‘retired’ two days before turning 40. I wasn’t in bad health or declining on my productivity. Same was true for big swathes of people in IT, too. Employers want to hire non-Americans because they’re cheap & vulnerable. Allowing all that foreign labor in the country is a policy preference, not some immutable law of age & profit.
Seriously, was I supposed to kill myself on the eve of turning 40 while healthy, just to help some company screw over some Indian so more Democrats could get elected? Fuck that.
“Employers want to hire non-Americans because they’re cheap & vulnerable.”
I’ve been informed by fearless leader that the solution is to let more refugees in, because those are Americas’ values. I’m confused though, fearless leader isn’t an “older white male.”