Posted on 05/01/2006 2:51:34 PM PDT by Sterm26
Illegal immigrants made their point Monday: Without them, Americans would pay higher prices and a lot of work wouldn't get done.
As nationwide demonstrations thinned the work force in businesses from meat-packing plants to construction sites to behind the counter at McDonald's, economists said there can be no dispute within the context of the contentious immigration issue that the group wields significant clout in the U.S. economy.
"If illegal immigration came to a standstill, it would disrupt the economy," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "It would lead to higher prices for many goods and services, and some things literally would not get done. It would be a major adjustment for our economy, for sure."
Another economist, Diane Swonk, said it would be an economic mistake to restrict entry and work rights when revising immigration policy.
"Given the obvious hardship of having illegal aliens flooding in, we also know they are critical to the functioning of the U.S. economy," said Swonk, chief economist at Chicago-based Mesirow Financial. "To be turning our backs on people who want to work is kind of silly in an environment where you've got tight labor markets and we're getting older and need younger people to work."
While the full impact of the one-day Day Without Immigrants boycott was hard to immediately gauge, it was palpable in some industries with a heavily Hispanic work force. On-the-job turnout was dramatically lower at some locales in the meat-packing, masonry, restaurant and landscaping businesses, and numerous firms closed for the day.
Mike Collins, who owns 500 acres of Vidalia onions in southeastern Georgia, was forced to shut down his packing shed and postpone his harvest when none of his 175 seasonal workers showed up.
"We need to be going wide-open this time of year to get these onions out of the field and we have nobody working today," he said. "Losing a day in this part of the season causes a tremendous amount of problems."
Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, shut five of nine beef plants and four of six pork plants in anticipation of widespread absences. Perdue Farms Inc., the nation's third-largest chicken producer, closed eight processing plants in seven states. Cargill Meat Solutions, the nation's second-largest beef processor, gave more than 15,000 workers the day off and closed plants in six states.
Gold Kist, another poultry producer, shuttered two North Carolina plants and operated its two Georgia facilities at reduced productivity after many employees failed to heed requests by the company's managers and CEO to show up despite the protests.
"We've tried to be open," said Wayne Lord, a vice president for the Atlanta-based company. "They were urged to come to work today because of our focus on satisfying our customer requirements."
Others publicly supported their employees' cause. Arthur Velasquez, founder and chief economic officer of Azteca Foods in Chicago, said he was "extremely proud" of his workers and noted that illegal immigrants keeps alive companies that need seasonal employees.
"It's a seasonal situation, so people need workers right then and there," he said. "And either that or they don't survive."
Many companies rediscovered what they already knew: They can't operate effectively without the extra help.
Work sites operated in the Washington, D.C., area by Beltsville, Md.-based Manganaro MidAtlantic, a concrete and masonry company where immigrants comprise up to 75 percent of the work force, were quiet Monday. John Livingston, a business developer for Manganaro, said his firm has not been able to fill its staffing needs without immigrants for more than a decade.
Low attendance also was the story at hotels in Indianapolis, construction sites in Miami and plant nurseries and landscapers across a wide area.
McDonald's Corp. said some of its employees participated in the rallies, prompting it to operate an unspecified number of its nearly 14,000 restaurants with limited crews, shortened hours or drive-thru service only. The Oak Brook, Ill.-based company did not provide further specifics but released a statement saying it strongly supports U.S. immigration reform.
Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at LaSalle Bank in Chicago, said the boycott underscores that immigration is not only political issue but a big economic one, too.
"The American economy really relies to a large extent on a growing labor force," he said. "There's a certain replenishment to the labor force that immigrants provide, and I think we have to be careful about taking steps that would hinder that process."
I see a lot of people walking the streets of San Jose, in and of itself unusual, and they are for the most part wearing white T-shirts. The march is going to start here pretty soon.
roflmao
I wonder if Jesse Jackson is marching in support of this.
It is my understanding that black folks ....er...."African Americans" are none too happy about the hispanic invasion.
Truly. The MSM seems to be on exactly the wrong side of everything. It's as though they want to bring this country down--and yet, this country gives them all the perks they now have. In Mexico, dissident reporters have a way of disappearing. They face less fortunate prospects in places where groups like the Taliban are in charge. Have they really thought this through?
Lol! That's funny, and probably accurate. Dispite this misguided venture, a lot of illegals understand not to bite the hand that feeds them.
In fact, while driving home on the LA freeways today I saw an old broken down truck pulling an unsafe trailer ... with a Hispanic behind the wheel.
I realized that we need to add the lack of unsafe vehicles to our Day Without Immigrants equation.
LOL. I spent $25 for my son's shoes and I am going to get about $400 worth of boards this evening. At least those are things I need!. I am also going to have dinner at Denny's (making an exception today, regarding eating out, but that's going to be only a few bucks).
Well perhaps we should use the same tactics and boycott businesses that use illegal aliens, i.e McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Mexican restaurants, landscaping companies.
See who gets hurt worse, us or them.
I'm just teling you what LA's leading conservative newstalk radio station reported at 3pm. Maybe they're wrong, I dunno.
Sounds about right!
I think I sent you a freep mail on this, can't remember...I was in the nightclub Pure at Caesars. They were offering bottle service and the waitresses couldn't keep up with orders for Grey Goose at $475 per...I don't know who owns the joint, but they're making a bloody fortune.
I'm in North Carolina. There's a large construction project, major redesign of a city street that I use every morning, in downtown Greensboro, and the work crews are by far and away hispanic. No hispanic faces this morning, though. No workers at all by lunchtime.
Outside of that, I haven't noticed a thing. There's a demonstration that was scheduled to begin at 3:00 PM, and I haven't heard anything about it. Had it been well-attended, outbound 5:00 traffic would have been snarled, and it wasn't.
Oh, I'm sure they're closing it. Gotta amplify.....
I think I'll just celebrate my anniversary on that day.
Yep, some guy called Rush this morning and said he loved it, breezed right into work today and didn't have to worry about so many uninsured drivers on the road.
This doesn't prove anything. This only shows what would happen in the short term if we actually bothered enforcing immigration laws. Long term, the economy would adjust. However, I'm sure many employers will look at their bottom line and support illegal immigration or amnesty to avoid losing money short-term, which is the whole idea of today's events.
Hampton Roads, Virginia was hit really hard! Nearly a dozen demonstrators in Norfolk, maybe two dozen in Virginia Beach and none on the Lower Peninsula.
The lingo of professional economists does not include "turning our backs" on people. She may be a "chief economist", but her choice of descriptions tells us that she spouting political talking points, not providing economic analysis.
Investigating further, we find that she has a book:
She is passionate, don't you know. Not for her is "turning our backs" on people.
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