Rubin Navarette screws American Workers to the wall

[scarletlib]

Rubin Navarette had a nifty editorial in the paper today ( and I could post this in editorials) and it made my blood boil.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/navarrette/20070204-9999-lz1e4navarret.html

"I've heard from employers who say that, when they try to hire Americans, all they get are headaches and demands and complaints and demands and attitude and more demands. Once on the job, the employers say, many of these employees don't want to work; in fact, they spend their energy trying to find creative ways not to work and still get paid. Some quit after only a few weeks on the job – but not before making the employer feel as if they're doing him a favor instead of the other way around. In some cases, even the low-skilled are demanding high salaries because they value their time as much as the high-skilled workers do.

One employer told me that, when she hired the native-born, she got a barrage of questions: “How much does this job pay? What are the benefits? How much vacation time do I get?” But when she hired immigrants, some of whom may have been illegal, she got only one question: “How much work can you give me?” Now, which one would you rather have working for you?

I still don't condone the hiring of illegal immigrants, but I'm beginning to understand it. "


Yes, Mr. Navarette has the gall to say it. If illegal immigrants are taking are jobs it's all our fault. How dare the American worker ask for benefits, vacation or even how much the job will pay.
I am incensed. I am so sick and tired of these attacks on the american working public.

So here is my letter to my local paper. Let me know what you think.

"Dear Sirs,

I read Mr. Navarette’s editorial 3 times today and each time I get angrier and angrier. His thesis is that American citizens and legal immigrants are just too lazy to want to work at a hard job. Not only that but we have the nasty tendency to ask about such things as pay, benefits and vacation time when interviewing for a job.

According to Mr. Navarette it’s the uppitiness (my interpretation) of the American worker daring to ask for such things that makes hiring illegal immigrants so appealing to employers. Mr. Navarette states that these poor immigrants only want to know one thing when applying for a job and that is “How much work can I do for you.” Never mind the pay much less any expectations of other benefits or vacation. These are the words that make the heart of employers just sing with joy.

How sad for this country. What does it say about the so-called “American Dream”? When did it become a crime for any one working in this country to want a job that offers some basic decency and respect as shown by a reasonable paycheck, benefits and a vacation. Isn’t that what a part of the American Dream is about? How much does the American worker have to give up? How low do we have to go in the pay scale to satisfy these greedy employers and corporations?

Mr. Navarette states that the immigrants who take these jobs do so to get ahead and fulfill their promise. But what do they want to get ahead to? Just to work 40 or more hours a week for nothing and no hope of getting more in the future?

Finally, I wonder if Mr. Navarette would be willing to take a cut in benefits, reduce his wages and give up his vacation if his employer came and asked that of him. Or would he be one of those whinyy American workers he so ruthlessly scorns in this disgusting editorial."

(edit for typy errors)

[muntrv]

1. Kind of hard to get ahead when you get no health insurance and low wages.

Does Rubin want Americans to work for crap wages?

[scarletlib]

2. sure seems to be what he is saying.

[msedano]

3. redirect your ire, hold up a mirror

navarette isn't saying that's his position, he's saying employers tell him that unitedstates origin american workers have this "me, me, me" attitude that contrasts with these not-unitedstates american workers (mexico is an american country, you realize that, right?) who want a job. people who want to perform labor in exchange for capital. people who recognize their future as a breadwinner begins with the first step, getting the job. you're far too quick to sling around prejudiced terms like "illegal immigrants". who the heck says anyone is an "illegal" worker? that's a distinction only a court can draw, under the US Constitution an undocumented worker--even a brown-skinned non-english speaker, if that's what you mean by the kyrpto racism of "illegal"--has a presumption of innocence.