Posted on 04/29/2006 10:08:17 AM PDT by LouAvul
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) - Chris James needed help moving a piano and three dozen boxes of records from his music studio - so instead of corralling some buddies, he rented a truck and hired some labor from outside the local Home Depot.
Within minutes, two Guatemalan men promised $12.50 an hour were in his truck.
If James, 31, worked solo "it would take all day."
The two men finished the job in an hour and a half while James looked on. For hauling a piano and wedging a sofa into his condo, then stacking the boxes in a back room, James owed the men less than $40.
It's the kind of scene replayed daily across the nation.
It was first time James hired day laborers, but it won't be his last.
"Absolutely satisfied," said James. "Relaxing."
The No. 1 employers of day laborers are private homeowners - not construction contractors, not professional landscapers.
"Day labor is not a niche market," said Abel Valenzuela, a UCLA professor and one of three authors of the first national day labor study, which was released in January. "It's now entering different aspects of the national mainstream economy."
Forty-nine percent of day labor employers are homeowners, according to 2,660 laborers interviewed for the study. Contractors were second, at 43 percent. The study also found that three quarters of day laborers were illegal immigrants and most were from Latin America.
There are myriad reasons homeowners hire the men who call themselves "jornaleros." They are a flexible labor pool with no red tape and no overhead. And they'll do backbreaking jobs much cheaper than traditional contractors.
Day laborers like homeowners, too.
Shady contractors routinely stiff them. Not homeowners -the workers know where they live.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.excite.com ...
yeah....................
“WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US.”
Notice that the alternative, let's get a handle on who's here and allow people who want to come here legally and work for $12.50/hour, is not in the story, suggesting that only illegals can do this for $12.50 an hour.
meanwhile, American high schoolers and college kids, who could also use the money, are now not even an option.
I'm sick to my stomach over this bs.
I prefer to use neighborhood teenagers. I know where they live.
Not to be accused of being an apologist for illegals (I'm far from it), but I think you'd have a heck of a time finding college or high school kids willing to do such work at a moment's notice.
I hire local teenagers but I make 'em fill out an I-9.
So the writer of this article is pre-supposing that hiring day laborers is bad? NOT! The fact that our porous border's have so many ILLEGAL's filling the day laborer pickup spots is the problem, not the fact that homeowners need laborers.
Also, make random arrests of the illegals and fines for the homeowners, so that the homeowners make an effort to check citizenship before hiring.
Heaven forbid we 'enforce' the laws on the books ... let's blame the homeowners instead. sheesh ...
Personally, I don't know what all those limousine liberals are going to do without Paco cutting the grass, watering the garden, and raising their kids. Talk about Democrats being for the "working-man."
The article isn't blaming homeowners. It's simply pointing out where the illegals are working, how much they are getting paid and the reasons why.
It's because too many people are too lazy to call ahead of time. Or, they think they need it done immediately.
Now this is something that a politition can wrap his teeth around. Think of the money that could be "Grubbed" by setting up stings with undercover's posing as illegals outside home depots. What's the max fine like 100,000 or something? Easily plea bargained down to 10,000.
There was a guy in our town who paid illegals to rip out his asbestos insulation.
"meanwhile, American high schoolers and college kids, who could also use the money, are now not even an option.
"
That's a good idea, but don't hire minors to do any sort of dangerous work. Check your homeowner's insurance policy. Most will cover day laborers, but not minors.
In today's litigious world, it pays to be careful. A sprained back could cost you plenty.
“WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US.”
NOT ME!
Cheap, disposable employees....
Demand meet supply
Direct blame is surely not in the article, however with all the 'excuses' going on as to wanting to make a case "that illegals only do work that no one else will do", there is plenty of 'indirect' blame in this article.
Also, considering the source being AP ...
The net of it is that the left wing liberal media continues to paint this picture that this is just an unsolvable problem, etc.
It is quite easy to read between the lines on this article and see the 'intent' of the piece.
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