I've written before about how a key element of SC's economic development is to offer employers who move here more of less: less in land costs, less in taxes, less in employee benefits, less in threats of lawsuits for improper behavior, less environmental protection for the people the company leaves behind when it succumbs to the largess of Mississippi, or a foreign country, less education in the work force, less and less and less.
Because such people can be had on the cheap. Here's a glimpse of the next rung down the economic ladder:
The National Labor Relations Act, which guaranteed the right of collective bargaining, was not passed until 1935. The Fair Labor Standards Act, which established a federal minimum wage, outlawed child labor, and mandated a 40-hour work week, was not passed until 1938. The Occupational Safety and Health Act was not passed until 1970. The upsurge of illegal immigration in recent decades can be seen as an adjustment, by employers, to the new regulatory environment. So, of course, can outsourcing. Most of our immiserated workers now are overseas, at places like Foxconn. But many jobs cannot be outsourced: washing dishes, building houses, cutting grass, picking crops, taking care of children and old people, cleaning houses.
Illegal immigrants don’t take jobs Americans won’t. They take jobs Americans won’t—actually, can’t—under those conditions. They work below the minimum wage and without the protection of occupational health and safety laws or even the most theoretical rights of collective bargaining. Basically, they exist as if the New Deal never happened. Their enforced docility and legal defenselessness are precisely what make them attractive to employers. If they work so hard, it’s not because they have a stronger work ethic than Americans; it’s because they have no choice.
Attractive to employers, and thus, indirectly, to us. Or not so indirectly. When I moved to Park Slope in 1993, I was amazed at how many mixed-raced couples the neighborhood seemed to have, because there were so many black women pushing white babies. (I’m a little slow on the uptake.) As for my father, this is what I used to reply. “Dad,” I would say, “the woman who takes care of you is an illegal immigrant, remember? That’s why you hired her—because she’s cheap.” All in the family, indeed.
Because such people can be had on the cheap. Here's a glimpse of the next rung down the economic ladder:
The National Labor Relations Act, which guaranteed the right of collective bargaining, was not passed until 1935. The Fair Labor Standards Act, which established a federal minimum wage, outlawed child labor, and mandated a 40-hour work week, was not passed until 1938. The Occupational Safety and Health Act was not passed until 1970. The upsurge of illegal immigration in recent decades can be seen as an adjustment, by employers, to the new regulatory environment. So, of course, can outsourcing. Most of our immiserated workers now are overseas, at places like Foxconn. But many jobs cannot be outsourced: washing dishes, building houses, cutting grass, picking crops, taking care of children and old people, cleaning houses.
Illegal immigrants don’t take jobs Americans won’t. They take jobs Americans won’t—actually, can’t—under those conditions. They work below the minimum wage and without the protection of occupational health and safety laws or even the most theoretical rights of collective bargaining. Basically, they exist as if the New Deal never happened. Their enforced docility and legal defenselessness are precisely what make them attractive to employers. If they work so hard, it’s not because they have a stronger work ethic than Americans; it’s because they have no choice.
Attractive to employers, and thus, indirectly, to us. Or not so indirectly. When I moved to Park Slope in 1993, I was amazed at how many mixed-raced couples the neighborhood seemed to have, because there were so many black women pushing white babies. (I’m a little slow on the uptake.) As for my father, this is what I used to reply. “Dad,” I would say, “the woman who takes care of you is an illegal immigrant, remember? That’s why you hired her—because she’s cheap.” All in the family, indeed.
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