Friday, May 26, 2006
What about African Americans?
I've read that 31% of the illegals are working in the hospitality sector, and 19% are in construction. Possibly. If you're looking nationwide--but not locally. In Ohio, our illegals are working in landscape, restaurants and specifically construction trades. These are not jobs Americans refuse--they are the jobs that build a work history, that the less educated use to move up, and people willing to sweat a little use to buy equity in a home and consumer goods. The most successful restauranteur in Columbus went to high school with my kids, blew it off, and started out fixing salads in a local restaurant. Today I wonder if he could even get hired because he's a kid from the neighborhood. Another buddy of my son floundered for years in and out of problems and jobs, but now owns his own construction firm, has a beautiful home and drives a Mercedes (I hope he's not hiring illegals!). The landscape crew at our condo looks like kids earning money for college tuition to me.
Because there are greater penalties for employers for discrimination against them than in winking at their "documents," and because they are very hard workers, there is no incentive for employers to look at Americans who want those jobs. If you can get 10 hours a day and pay $10/hour to your crew instead of an 8 hour day at $12/hour, and if you can claim you checked their documentation and are under the gun of a deadline in your contract, well, why not? The Democrats and the Media outrage will swamp us with stories about Wal-Mart, not the local construction guy or restaurant for hiring practices. Although some restaurants are multi-cultural and "global" in their staff (White Castle, for example) because limited English is needed to clean a stove or chop lettuce, many of our restaurant kitchens appear to be Spanish-speaking only, with friends and relatives hiring and recommending same.
I was in San Antonio a few years ago. Because I'm an early riser (plus a time zone change) and spend a lot of time in hotel lobbies drinking the free coffee, watching the buffet set ups, the early local news and the staff shifts at the desk, I saw a lot. I saw only light skinned Spanish-surnamed news reporters with no accent on the TV screen. I noticed the Hispanic front desk people were all light skinned--the maids weren't even from Mexico, but Central America. But no African Americans. I didn't see them in the hospitality industry or the retail industry or in the restaurants. Is it possible that all blacks in Texas have moved out to the suburbs and joined the country club? Were they all in the office buildings in law firms and brokerage houses? Don't think so.
Flying home, I saw African Americans in the airports. Cleaning restrooms and emptying the trash. It could be Americans aren't taking the jobs that the illegals do because of a hostile, non-English speaking workplace.
Because there are greater penalties for employers for discrimination against them than in winking at their "documents," and because they are very hard workers, there is no incentive for employers to look at Americans who want those jobs. If you can get 10 hours a day and pay $10/hour to your crew instead of an 8 hour day at $12/hour, and if you can claim you checked their documentation and are under the gun of a deadline in your contract, well, why not? The Democrats and the Media outrage will swamp us with stories about Wal-Mart, not the local construction guy or restaurant for hiring practices. Although some restaurants are multi-cultural and "global" in their staff (White Castle, for example) because limited English is needed to clean a stove or chop lettuce, many of our restaurant kitchens appear to be Spanish-speaking only, with friends and relatives hiring and recommending same.
I was in San Antonio a few years ago. Because I'm an early riser (plus a time zone change) and spend a lot of time in hotel lobbies drinking the free coffee, watching the buffet set ups, the early local news and the staff shifts at the desk, I saw a lot. I saw only light skinned Spanish-surnamed news reporters with no accent on the TV screen. I noticed the Hispanic front desk people were all light skinned--the maids weren't even from Mexico, but Central America. But no African Americans. I didn't see them in the hospitality industry or the retail industry or in the restaurants. Is it possible that all blacks in Texas have moved out to the suburbs and joined the country club? Were they all in the office buildings in law firms and brokerage houses? Don't think so.
Flying home, I saw African Americans in the airports. Cleaning restrooms and emptying the trash. It could be Americans aren't taking the jobs that the illegals do because of a hostile, non-English speaking workplace.
# posted by Norma : 5/26/2006 08:49:00 AM
