Category: Labor

Time Maggie: “Day Without Immigrants”

http://fortune.com/2017/02/16/day-without-immigrants-strike/

Madeline Farber reports:

“Businesses across the United States are preparing to close as immigrants plan to partake in the “Day Without Immigrants” protests.
Immigrants—namely in Washington, Austin, and Philadelphia, among others—are planning to stay home Thursday, boycotting their jobs, businesses, and even refusing to send their children to school, the Washington Post reports. The strike is in response to President Trump’s promise to crack down on those living in the country illegally, primarily through “extreme vetting.” The immigrants will also be protesting Trump’s mission to build a wall along the Mexican border.”

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According to local news, “Busboys and Poets” and several other DC area restaurants will be closed today, and some others will open but with limited staff providing service.

PWS

02/16/17

Related posts:

  1. WALL? WHAT WALL? – BUREAUCRATIC BARRIERS BEST BAR TO (NEEDED) IMMIGRATION (Hey, I Could’ve Told ‘Em That!) – But, White Nationalist Goal Of Returning To A “White America” Ultimately Doomed — “You can slow the rate of Latino and Asian immigration, but it won’t make the population whiter,”. . . “It will just become less white at a slower pace.”
  2. VICTORY DANCE! — ICE’S HOMAN SAYS CLIMATE OF FEAR HAS STEMMED BORDER CROSSINGS & PROVES UNRESTRAINED, ARBITRARY IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT WORKS! — “There’s no population that’s off the table,” he said. “If you’re in the country illegally, we’re looking for you and we’re looking to apprehend you.” — America Won’t Be Truly Safe Until The Last Cook, Gardner, Construction Worker, Nanny, Janitor, Tree Cutter, Mechanic, Handyman, Carpenter, Home Health Aide, Computer Programmer, Healthcare Worker, Lettuce Picker, Cow Milker, Landscaper, Lawnmower, Bricklayer, Roofer, Window Washer, Waiter, Sandwich Artist, Teacher, Minister, Coach, Student, Parent, Clerk, Fisherman, Farmer, Maid, Chicken Plucker, Meat Processor, Etc., Without Docs Is Removed And US Citizens Take Over All These Jobs!
  3. TIS INDEED THE “SEASON OF MIRACLES” — I WOKE UP THIS MORNING AND FOUND MYSELF IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT WITH CHARLES KOCH!
  4. INCONVENIENT TRUTH: HALEY SWEETLAND EDWARDS @ TIME TELLS WHAT TRUMP, MILLER, COTTON, SESSIONS, & THEIR WHITE NATIONALIST GANG DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW: Human Migration Is A Powerful Force As Old As Human History; It’s A Plus For Receiving Nations; It Won’t Be Stopped By Walls, Jails, Racist Laws, Or Any Other Restrictionist Nonsense; But, It Can Be Intelligently Controlled, Channeled, Harnessed, & Used For The Benefit Of The U.S. & The Good Of The Migrants! — “But to maximize that future good, governments must act rationally to establish humane policies and adequately fund an immigration system equipped to handle an influx of newcomers.”

BREAKING: Labor Pick Puzder Flames Out!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/andy-puzder-goes-down_us_58a4a8bce4b094a129f176f4?

HuffPost reports:

“The White House is expected to withdraw Andy Puzder’s nomination as labor secretary on Wednesday, according to multiple reports. He is the first of President Donald Trump’s nominees to not make it through the confirmation process.

The move came as support evaporated among Republicans for the former fast-food executive. At least seven Republican senators refused to publicly back the former chief executive of CKE Restaurants, which owns the burger chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, as criticism mounted over his hefty stack of labor violations and long-standing support for increased immigration.”

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PWS

02/15/17

Related posts:

  1. IMMIGRATIONPROF BLOG: PROFESSOR BILL ONG HING LAYS BARE THE WHITE NATIONALIST INTENT BEHIND THE RAISE ACT — “Asian, Latino, and African Exclusion Act of 2017” — And, It’s Bad For Our Economy To Boot!
  2. PROFESSOR RUTH ELLEN WASEM IN THE HILL: SAVING ICE – Ditch The Wanton & Counterproductive Cruelty – Supplement “Essential Functions” With “Quality of Life Enforcement!”
  3. IN TIMES OF DISASTER, AS USUAL, AMERICA WILL RELY ON HER UNDOCUMENTED POPULATION TO REBUILD! — “Gonzo Enforcement” Is Just Plain Dumb (In Addition To Wasteful And Inhumane)!
  4. SENATE COMES TOGETHER, PASSES $2 TRILLION RELIEF BILL — FED CHAIR JEROME POWELL SEES STRONG ECONOMIC REBOUND ONCE CORONAVIRUS UNDER CONTROL — Basically, First Things First, Says Powell — Get The Virus Under Control & We’ve “Got Your Economic Back” When The Economy Restarts!

Getting It Right: How a Small Town In Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley Makes Migration Work — For Everyone In The Community!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-one-small-virginia-town-embraces-immigration–and-is-better-off-for-it/2017/02/10/4c3ff190-ecbd-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html?utm_term=.99ac31cc3a66

Andrew D. Perrine writes in the Local Opinions section of today’s Washington Post:

“Who would guess that a city tucked in the Shenandoah Valley of western Virginia, with a population of 53,000 and a hard-working rural history, is a model of international coexistence?

Yet, only 55 percent of the students attending Harrisonburg City Public Schools were born in the United States. The second-largest segment of the population by country of origin is Iraqi. Then there are the Hondurans, Puerto Ricans, Salvadorans and Mexicans. The Congolese, Ethiopians, Jordanians, Ukrainians and Syrians are representd, too. As of January 2016, Harrisonburg City Public Schools are attended by students from 46 countries.

One might guess that so many people from so many places around the world never could get along in such a small town given the unnerving level of social discord represented in the media regarding immigration and the fear of terrorism. Yet they do. Crime is mostly petty. Only four police officers have died in the line of duty since the first in 1959. What on earth is happening in Harrisonburg?

Known since the 1930s as “The Friendly City,” Harrisonburg is an official Church World Service refugee resettlement community. It’s home to James Madison University and Eastern Mennonite University, which brings a lot of foreign nationals to town through its missionary work around the world. And the city lies in the path of Interstate 81. So, even though Harrisonburg is no bustling port city or cosmopolitan metropolis, its high level of diversity is not so hard to believe.

But what is so hard to believe is the level of concord among all the various walks of life. Listening to the current American national dialogue, or observing the rise of nationalist political candidates around the world, one would assume that mixing nationalities, religions and ethnic groups in such close quarters would produce enough emotional tinder to fuel a blaze of angry divisions and open fighting in the streets. Yet it does not.

In fact, less than a week after the White House issued an executive order banning refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries, 30 volunteers from churches of various faiths in Harrisonburg and the surrounding Rockingham County collected food donated to the Islamic Center of the Shenandoah Valley. According to the Daily News-Record, the food was set out after the Islamic Center’s 1 p.m. service, and 300 attendees grabbed lunch to go or sat down to a meal. One attendee reportedly said, “This support shows us the community is standing with us. This makes us feel like we are all Americans.”

Maybe everyone gets along well in Harrisonburg because the town is small and the community actively interacts. It is a lot easier to think badly of some group — or even hate them — if its members are an abstraction to you. If you don’t know or see the people you’re told to fear, it’s much easier to fear them. In Harrisonburg, we plainly see that our Mexican and Muslim neighbors are not as they are portrayed by some in elected office or in the media.

Maybe the answer is not a wall or a moratorium on immigration. Maybe the answer is exactly the opposite. Just ask the good people in the Friendly City of Harrisonburg.”

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Maybe guys like Stephen Miller, Jeff Sessions, and even President Trump need to spend a little less time in “the swamp” of Washington, D.C., and a little more time breathing the fresh air out in the Valley.

PWS

02/11/17

 

Related posts:

  1. VICTORY DANCE! — ICE’S HOMAN SAYS CLIMATE OF FEAR HAS STEMMED BORDER CROSSINGS & PROVES UNRESTRAINED, ARBITRARY IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT WORKS! — “There’s no population that’s off the table,” he said. “If you’re in the country illegally, we’re looking for you and we’re looking to apprehend you.” — America Won’t Be Truly Safe Until The Last Cook, Gardner, Construction Worker, Nanny, Janitor, Tree Cutter, Mechanic, Handyman, Carpenter, Home Health Aide, Computer Programmer, Healthcare Worker, Lettuce Picker, Cow Milker, Landscaper, Lawnmower, Bricklayer, Roofer, Window Washer, Waiter, Sandwich Artist, Teacher, Minister, Coach, Student, Parent, Clerk, Fisherman, Farmer, Maid, Chicken Plucker, Meat Processor, Etc., Without Docs Is Removed And US Citizens Take Over All These Jobs!
  2. MLK DAY 2018 — DR. KING’S DREAM OF AN AMERICA CELEBRATING EQUALITY & RACIAL HARMONY IS UNDER VICIOUS ATTACK BY TRUMP, PENCE, SESSIONS, AND A HOST OF OTHERS IN TODAY’S WHITE NATIONALIST ENABLING GOP — Who Is Going To Fight To Reclaim The Dream, & Who Is Going To “Go Along To Get Along” With The 21st Century Version Of Jim Crow?
  3. WALL? WHAT WALL? – BUREAUCRATIC BARRIERS BEST BAR TO (NEEDED) IMMIGRATION (Hey, I Could’ve Told ‘Em That!) – But, White Nationalist Goal Of Returning To A “White America” Ultimately Doomed — “You can slow the rate of Latino and Asian immigration, but it won’t make the population whiter,”. . . “It will just become less white at a slower pace.”
  4. TIS INDEED THE “SEASON OF MIRACLES” — I WOKE UP THIS MORNING AND FOUND MYSELF IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT WITH CHARLES KOCH!

NYT: Japan Finds Out (The Hard Way) How Limiting Immigration Limits Future Economic Growth

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/business/japan-immigrants-workers-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Jonathan Soble writes in the NYT:

“Japan, on the other hand, long ago achieved what Mr. Trump has promised: It has very little illegal immigration and is officially closed to people seeking blue-collar work.

Now, though, its tough stance on immigration — legal and illegal — is causing problems. Many Japanese industries are suffering from severe labor shortages, which has helped put a brake on economic growth.

That is prompting Japan to question some fundamental assumptions about its labor needs. The debate is politically delicate, but changing realities on the ground — in Japan’s factories and fields — are forcing politicians to catch up. Japan’s total foreign-born labor force topped one million for the first time last year, according to the government, lifted in part by people entering the country on visas reserved for technical trainees.

That growth has also led to an increase in cases of worker abuse and fraud, labor activists say.”

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Yup.  When my parents went into a very “high end” retirement home in this area, I noticed that virtually all of the dedicated staff, from doctors and nurses down to the janitors, were recent immigrants. I never ran into a high school kid, when our kids were at that stage or later, who said he or she aspired to be an orderly, a janitor, or even a Certified Nursing Assistant. But, I don’t think most of our kids and grandkids want to take care of us to that degree, either. So, those of us who plan to live to a ripe old age had better hope that Trump’s upcoming “war on immigrant workers (legal and undocumented)” is less than fully successful. Or else, we’ll be emptying our own bedpans.

PWS

02/10/17

Related posts:

  1. VICTORY DANCE! — ICE’S HOMAN SAYS CLIMATE OF FEAR HAS STEMMED BORDER CROSSINGS & PROVES UNRESTRAINED, ARBITRARY IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT WORKS! — “There’s no population that’s off the table,” he said. “If you’re in the country illegally, we’re looking for you and we’re looking to apprehend you.” — America Won’t Be Truly Safe Until The Last Cook, Gardner, Construction Worker, Nanny, Janitor, Tree Cutter, Mechanic, Handyman, Carpenter, Home Health Aide, Computer Programmer, Healthcare Worker, Lettuce Picker, Cow Milker, Landscaper, Lawnmower, Bricklayer, Roofer, Window Washer, Waiter, Sandwich Artist, Teacher, Minister, Coach, Student, Parent, Clerk, Fisherman, Farmer, Maid, Chicken Plucker, Meat Processor, Etc., Without Docs Is Removed And US Citizens Take Over All These Jobs!
  2. TIS INDEED THE “SEASON OF MIRACLES” — I WOKE UP THIS MORNING AND FOUND MYSELF IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT WITH CHARLES KOCH!
  3. MLK DAY 2018 — DR. KING’S DREAM OF AN AMERICA CELEBRATING EQUALITY & RACIAL HARMONY IS UNDER VICIOUS ATTACK BY TRUMP, PENCE, SESSIONS, AND A HOST OF OTHERS IN TODAY’S WHITE NATIONALIST ENABLING GOP — Who Is Going To Fight To Reclaim The Dream, & Who Is Going To “Go Along To Get Along” With The 21st Century Version Of Jim Crow?
  4. “Warren Buffett on Immigration Reform: Buffett feels that immigrants (including undocumented ones) have been and continue to be a key part of our prosperity — not a part of the problem.“

HuffPost: GOP Senators Seek To Halve Legal Immigration — Mount Attack On American Families, Refugees, Africans, Asian Americans, Latinos!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cotton-perdue-legal-immigration-bill_us_589a4f4ee4b04061313a3090?425ff5si0vd9uow29

Elise Foley and Dana Liebelson write in HuffPost:

“WASHINGTON ― For decades, a central tenet of U.S. immigration policy has been that American citizens should be able to reunite with their siblings, parents and grown children who live abroad. The government doesn’t make this easy. But now, emboldened by President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant stance, two Republican senators want to make it almost impossible.

Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) introduced a bill on Tuesday that would bar immigrants from bringing almost anyone but their spouses and minor children to the U.S. Latino and Asian Americans, who are more likely to be recent immigrants with family living abroad, would be disproportionately affected by this change.

The bill would also eliminate diversity visas, which many recent African immigrants rely on to get to the U.S., and cap refugee resettlement at 50,000 people per year. The bill doesn’t affect the millions of Irish, German and Italian Americans whose families came to the U.S. in earlier waves of immigration and no longer have close relatives abroad.

The senators predict the bill would cut legal immigration per year by half. They also think it stands a chance of passing.

“Once you get here, you have a green card and you can open up immigration not just to your immediate family, but your extended family, your village, your clan, your tribe,” Cotton said of ending the diversity lottery. “I don’t think it works for American workers.”

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The new GOP “family values?” Would we even be having this discussion if most recent immigrants were “white guys” from Canada, Australia, and the UK? My guess is no. It’s not about protecting American workers. The GOP doesn’t give a hoot about them. That’s why they are anti-union, anti-minimum wage, anti-universal health care, anti-safety net, anti-Medicare, anti-consumer protection, anti-financial regulation, anti-pension, anti-equal pay for equal work, anti-environment, anti-science, anti-public workers, anti-education and anti just about everything that doesn’t directly or indirectly help their fat cat friends get fatter and their business buddies get bigger — more profits, more money for upper management, more tax breaks for the rich, less money, fewer benefits, and no chance at a comfortable retirement for workers. No, something else is at work here.

PWS

02/07/17

Related posts:

  1. MLK DAY 2018 — DR. KING’S DREAM OF AN AMERICA CELEBRATING EQUALITY & RACIAL HARMONY IS UNDER VICIOUS ATTACK BY TRUMP, PENCE, SESSIONS, AND A HOST OF OTHERS IN TODAY’S WHITE NATIONALIST ENABLING GOP — Who Is Going To Fight To Reclaim The Dream, & Who Is Going To “Go Along To Get Along” With The 21st Century Version Of Jim Crow?
  2. OUR TOTALLY UNHINGED, RACIST PRESIDENT — FIRST HE MADE RACIALLY DEROGATORY REMARKS; THEN, AS USUAL, HE LIED ABOUT IT! — Get the Inside Dope From Sen. Dick Durbin About The Outrageous Behavior In The Oval Office — GOP “End Chain Migration Demand” Exposed As Part Of White Nationalist Restrictionist Agenda Aimed At Blacks, Latinos, & Other Minorities!
  3. KURT BARDELLA @ HUFFPOST: “Make No Mistake, Trump’s Government Shutdown Is About Racism!” — GOP LATINO LEADER AL CARDENAS SLAMS HIS PARTY’S “LACK OF EMPATHY” ON “MEET THE PRESS!”
  4. ELISE FOLEY @ HUFFPOST: TRUMP’S WHITE NATIONALIST AGENDA APPEARS ON TRACK TO SINK DREAMER AGREEMENT, PERHAPS RESULTING IN USG SHUTDOWN! – Sen. Durbin, Dems “Just Say No” To Restrictionist Measures!

Adweek: Controversial Super Bowl Ad From 84 Lumber Highlights Migration Theme

http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/the-ending-of-84-lumbers-super-bowl-ad-is-a-beautiful-and-provocative-take-on-immigration/

“Maggie Hardy Magerko, owner and president of 84 Lumber, a little-known Pennsylvania-based building material supplier, has been called crazy for buying 90 seconds of airtime on the Super Bowl—a telecast that’s been commanding ad rates of over $5 million for 30 seconds.

Then she went and gave the ad a political theme. And not just any political theme. It’s about immigration, at a time when the issue couldn’t be more divisive.

Fox rejected its original script, so the company and its agency, Brunner in Pittsburgh, divided the piece into two parts. A 90-second section of the short film—a teaser, essentially—just aired on Super Bowl LI. The conclusion was posted to journey84.com.

And a remarkable conclusion it is. Watch it here:

The vision of the giant wall, which of course is not yet built; the American flag that the girl pieces together; the enormous doorway, which is what the workers were building; the onscreen line “The will to succeed will always be welcome here”—it all adds up to a very poetic pro-immigration statement of tolerance.

That message, of course, is one that will be embraced widely by many—and rejected angrily by others. And it will likely make Budweiser and Audi’s mild ad controversies over the past week pale in comparison.

In the run-up to the Super Bowl, Magerko said the ad shouldn’t be considered provocative at all. In fact, she says she voted for Donald Trump in the election, and the image of the door in the wall comes directly from Trump himself, who said he wanted a “big beautiful door” in his wall, for legal immigration. (See the video below.)”

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Go over to Adweek at the link to read the full story and watch the entire commercial.

PWS

02/05/17

 

Related posts:

  1. ELISE FOLEY @ HUFFPOST: TRUMP’S WHITE NATIONALIST AGENDA APPEARS ON TRACK TO SINK DREAMER AGREEMENT, PERHAPS RESULTING IN USG SHUTDOWN! – Sen. Durbin, Dems “Just Say No” To Restrictionist Measures!
  2. THE “DREAMERS’’ ARE OUR FUTURE – THEY’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE – WE CAN DO THE SMART THING, WELCOME & INTEGRATE THEM INTO OUR SOCIETY – OR WE CAN “JERK ‘EM AROUND” THE WRONG WAY – But They’re Here To Stay, Either Way! — “What you’re seeing in the Dreamers is a reflection of the American ideals!”
  3. STATE OF DISUNION! — TRUMP TRASHES IMMIGRANTS, THREATENS TO DESTROY CIVIL SERVICE — “[A] Flabby, Divisive Speech” From A “Shell President!”
  4. COLBY KING @ WASHPOST: The “Original Dreamers” Were Disenfranchised African Americans! — “That fight must continue on behalf of today’s dreamers, the disenfranchised, the demeaned and left out, and all freedom-loving people in this nation.“

Wow! Senator Tom Cotton (R-ARK) Wants to Jack Up Wages And Benefits For Lower Level US Workers And Make the “Fat Cats” Pay Their Share — How? — By Cutting Immigration, Naturally

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2016/12/seantor-tom-cotton-r-arkansas-fix-immigration-its-what-voters-want.html

Over on ImmigrationProf Blog and the NYT, Sen. Cotton says that cutting immigration, both legal and illegal, will solve all the problems of working class Americans.  Yet, I’m skeptical that the Senator’s Republican businessmen buddies will be paying  $25+/hr. plus full bennies for folks to pick veggies, clean buildings, be nannies for their kids, mow lawns, pour concrete, wash dishes, wait tables, clean tables, empty bedpans, make beds, work grocery checkout lines, pick up garbage, cook short orders, cut brush, dig trenches, trim  trees, prune shrubs, provide daycare for their elderly parents, etc.  But, I’m even more skeptical that out of work coal miners, factory workers, administrative assistants, air conditioning fabricators, secretaries, etc. will be lining up to to relocate at their own expense to take these jobs, even at higher wages.   And, even if they did, things like harvesting, pruning, caring for others, and cooking actually take skills that many out of work Americans don’t possess or don’t care to learn, no matter how dire their personal circumstances. If Sen. Cotton thinks that’s what Americans really voted for, perhaps he’s spent too much time inside the Beltway.

PWS

12/26/16

 

 

 

Related posts:

  1. WANTED: MORE IMMIGRANTS TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT! — Trump Administration’s “White Nationalism” Likely Road To National Disaster!
  2. HARD-WORKING, TALENTED SALVADORANS ARE THE BACKBONE OF THE U.S. RESTAURANT INDUSTRY! – SO WHY ARE TRUMP & THE GOP RESTRICTIONISTS TRYING TO DEPORT THEM?
  3. THE “DREAMERS’’ ARE OUR FUTURE – THEY’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE – WE CAN DO THE SMART THING, WELCOME & INTEGRATE THEM INTO OUR SOCIETY – OR WE CAN “JERK ‘EM AROUND” THE WRONG WAY – But They’re Here To Stay, Either Way! — “What you’re seeing in the Dreamers is a reflection of the American ideals!”
  4. COLBY KING @ WASHPOST: The “Original Dreamers” Were Disenfranchised African Americans! — “That fight must continue on behalf of today’s dreamers, the disenfranchised, the demeaned and left out, and all freedom-loving people in this nation.“