Posted on 07/01/2008 8:33:21 AM PDT by Larry381
In 1983, when the seafood processing plants on the New Bedford waterfront broke the back of the Seafarer's Union, the starting salary for a line worker was around $7.50 an hour.
Twenty-five years later, the starting salary for processing and packing workers at the New Bedford fish houses was about the same, $7.50 an hour.
(Excerpt) Read more at southcoasttoday.com ...
Did it ever occur to the moron who wrote this that maybe that is all that job is worth?
I did summer construction labor in the late 70’s, at $6.00 to $8.00 ($8.00 was the UNION rate at the time on the DC Metrorail project).
Using any of several metrics including CPI, Average Wage Rate, inflation, etc., those numbers normalize to $22.00 to $28.00 per hour in 2006.
I have **never** heard (anecdotally) of illegals being paid more than $12.00 to $16.00 per hour in the DC Metro unskilled labor market. Yet passing any construction site or landscaping job or road project you’ll see that the crew is 80 percent to 100 percent Hispanic.
It’s pretty obvious that illegals have reduced the pay for unskilled laborers by 40 to 60 percent since the 70’s.
Did it ever occur to you that illegally hiring illegals might be a criminal act?
The point is not what the job is worth. The point is why its worth what its worth.
What a job "is worth" is determined be the market. The "market" does not include illegal aliens that will work for a fraction of the existing pay scale. ( a little fish pun there...)
Nobody is saying that these jobs should pay $30/hr, but then again we'll never know because there is always an illegal that will take anything you offer.
How about you and I have our jobs revert back to 1983 wage levels?
After all, the job we are doing today is the same job that was being done in 1983 (except for some technology) so why raise the pay above what it was in 1983.
BTW This is why most Republicans resist protecting our borders. There is money to be made.
It’s a atarting position, not a career choice.
Right, and the Democrats don’t because there are votes to be had. In short, we’re screwed.
Something all the apologists for amnesty want to forget. But, more importantly, has none of them ever considered that the public's seeing them refuse to enforce the law has helped to discredit our government better than any advocate for anarchy could ever have hoped to?
We should hire an illegal alien under the table to be President. He could protect the borders GW Bush is too lazy to.
True, so true.
Dems see potential voters, users of governement programs.
Republicans see cheap labor. Money to be made.
Either way the illegals are being used and abused.
Why would ANYONE support anything that encourages illegal immigration.
The illegals get shafted, the cities have to support the underclass of the 3rd world, workers here get their salaries depressed.
Everyone loses.
You just finished pointing out how both Democrats and Republicans stand to gain. Plus you left out the fact that a lot of Republicans are equally as willing to pander for votes from the relatives of illegal immigrants.
Re: What a job “is worth” is determined be the market. The “market” does not include illegal aliens
If you truly believe that, you are delusional.
25 years ago the guys working the waterfront in New Bed-fed were all Portuguese guys of questionable immigration status. This is NOT new. I’m not saying that it is a good thing, but this has been going on for years.
Let me rephrase. It "shouldn't" include illegal aliens.
Did it ever occur to you that this is totally irrelevant. Tell me do you support minimum wages too?
Again, let me rephrase...
Why would anyone "who isn't a pandering avaricious misanthrope" support anything that encourages illegal immigration.
ping
If given a choice between a world with a minimum wage law and one where laws can be disregarded in the name of lower wages, well, gee, I guess I’ll take the former.
Love the last line in the article:
"If we had 30 million more people paying taxes, this would be a great country," he said.
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