100 Arrested at Wal-Mart Construction Site.

[gaijindabe]

Construction used to be a decent job, good pay for hard work. I am not anti-immigration or anti-Walmart, but this pisses me off. How can American workers compete with unlimited, unchecked illegal labor?

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Federal immigration agents detained more than 100 workers at a construction site for a new Wal-Mart distribution center, authorities said.

The workers, who Wal-Mart said were employed by a subcontractor and not by the retailing giant, were detained Thursday on suspected immigration violations, said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Marc Raimondi. They were being taken to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers for processing, he said.

More than 50 federal immigration agents, joined by the U.S. Labor Department, Social Security Administration and state police, raided the construction site near Pottsville, about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

Wal-Mart spokesman Marty Heires said the company would cooperate fully with federal authorities.

"We have written contracts with these subcontractors requiring that they follow all applicable local, state and federal employment laws," he said in a statement.

At least 120 illegal immigrants, most of them from Mexico, were detained, Schuylkill County Sheriff Frank McAndrew said. He said he began investigating the site and contacted federal officials after getting complaints from local tradespeople.

"You've got a situation here where illegal immigrants are coming into Schuylkill County and taking (local union workers') jobs for eight bucks an hour. They are working for poverty wages, and creating unemployment because our skilled tradesmen are out of work," McAndrew said.

In 2003, a raid of 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states led to the arrests of 245 illegal workers. An affidavit claimed a pair of senior Wal-Mart executives knew cleaning contractors were hiring illegal immigrants. The retailer agreed to pay $11 million in March to settle the case but denied senior executives knew of the hirings.

[widebody911]

This isn't really a Wal-Mart specific issue. I'll bet they could make the same number of arrests at any large job site; twice as many here in California.

[Eric 951]

Hard to say what happened here, wether the sub always utilized illegal labor on projects, or they may have found themselves under the gun on the completion schedule and suplemented their workforce with the illegals.
Wal-Mart construction is no joke--the last one I reviewed(A Super Wal-Mart) had a 90-day completion schedule--that was everything, sitework, piping, building, concrete, landscaping, etc. with huge LDs. needless to say we declined to bid.

[legion]

I agree Thom, but Wal-Mart is the favorite whipping boy. They are not allowed to make the same mistakes everyone else does.

If you hired a contractor to remodel your house, would you personally screen the immigration status of each and every worker that showed up?

[Rikao4]

Few years back,looking across the flight line (FT Hood ,TX) I see a C-130 make a combat landing..guys rush out with weapons drawn, the whole construction site turned into a beehive.......round them up& and take back off... I'm sure they where all back by weeks end.
Goverment contractor on federal jobsite,employing illegals..what else is new..not this
Rika

[TerryBPP]

All the hard workers are illegal down here. Welcome to America.

[legion]

Originally posted by Eric 951
needless to say we declined to bid.

I can't blame you. Wal-Mart loves to squeeze its suppliers and contractors. I would avoid doing work for them like the plague. I still shop there, though.

[nostatic]

Originally posted by legion
I can't blame you. Wal-Mart loves to squeeze its suppliers and contractors. I would avoid doing work for them like the plague. I still shop there, though.

and you don't see a problem with that?

[john_colasante]

Originally posted by gaijindabe
How can American workers compete with unlimited, unchecked illegal labor?

Remove all "checks" and "limits" on American workers.

[gaijindabe]

Why dont we allow the unlimited immigration of doctors, lawyers and other white collar professionals? I am sure there are a few hundred thousand english speaking Indians who would drive down our costs of healthcare, law sevices and architecture.

[Superman]

As many of you know, I work in the public works construction industry. Public agencies are generally required to award a contract to the lowest bidder. In Europe, they have a system that makes much more sense. They throw out the "outlier" bids, average the rest and award the contract to the bidder that comes closest to the mean.

In looking at bid amounts, very often the very good, known, local, efficient contractors' bids are incredibly close. Sometimes amazingly close to each other. And then sometimes there is some yayhoo that submits a bid that is tens of thousands of dollars, maybe 30%, lower. Trust me when I tell you that it is not advantageous or advisable to award the contract to the yayhoo. In the long run, any of the other bidders would have been less expensive than the lowball guy. But hey, rules are rules and the cretins who listen to conservative talk show radio think it's simple, and think it's a waste of money to not use the lowest bidder. I wish the public were a lot smarter than they apparently are.

[john_colasante]

Originally posted by gaijindabe
I am sure there are a few hundred thousand english speaking Indians who would drive down our costs of healthcare, law sevices and architecture.

Great. So let them. Maybe the cost needs to be driven down. Let it be a free market and let the best win.

Of course I'm being facetious. There is way too much regulation on our own folks to be able to compete in a free market with unregulated immigrants. But you get the point, remove the egregious barriers that keep us from competing on our own soil and then let's have a free-for-all.

I'll bet the American worker kicks butt in that game any day.

PS: If you reply that American workers are lazy, etc. you haven't got my point. Yes, by some standards American workers are lazy because they are not really competing in this over regulated society.

[DaveE]

Originally posted by Superman
....... I wish the public were a lot smarter than they apparently are.

Just imagine the GOVERNMENT we'd have if that were true.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by gaijindabe
Why dont we allow the unlimited immigration of doctors, lawyers and other white collar professionals? I am sure there are a few hundred thousand english speaking Indians who would drive down our costs of healthcare, law sevices and architecture.

Same issue here in Canada. Doctors working as janitors and parking lot attendants.

The problem with Canada is that we're a bunch of freakin hypocrites. We like to think we're so open to immigration. In fact, we attract these professionals, then offer no assistance to get their qualifications recognized.

[john_colasante]

Originally posted by notfarnow
...In fact, we attract these professionals, then offer no assistance...

What kind of "assistance" is the Canadian government not giving this professional immigrants?

[Superman]

Originally posted by DaveE
Just imagine the GOVERNMENT we'd have if that were true.

I do. I do each day. This is what gives me hope. This is the greatest country in the world. Revolution is theoretically unnecessary. But revamping certainly is. Now, if we could only get people informed, instead of the marketing and divisiveness we pursue today.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by john_colasante
What kind of "assistance" is the Canadian government not giving this professional immigrants?

We take them in as professionals, giving them the impression that they will be able to work in their profession. Then they get here and their accreditation isn't recognized by any of our institutions, and we make no attempt to help them.

[john_colasante]

Originally posted by notfarnow
We take them in as professionals, giving them the impression that they will be able to work in their profession. Then they get here and their accreditation isn't recognized by any of our institutions, and we make no attempt to help them.

First, It's not your government's responsibility to give them an impression that they will be able to work. That is your first problem. They may be terrible doctors and you don't know that before they get there. Second, if they can't pass the same board test that Canadian doctors took then that's the end of the story. Maybe they can't pass it.

[legion]

Originally posted by nostatic
and you don't see a problem with that?

Not at all.

The way I see it, capitalism works on greed. It is to my advantage economically to buy goods for the cheapest price possible, assuming no difference in quality. (When a quality good is desired, generally I don't go to Wal-Mart.) I see their position as temporary. There is only so much downward pressure they can put on prices before it blows up in their faces, when that happens, I will go somewhere else.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by john_colasante
First, It's not your government's responsibility to give them an impression that they will be able to work. That is your first problem.

Agreed, except that we need doctors, and we ARE telling them that they will be able to work. It's a typically canadian situation. We have a "feel good" system that we can brag about, but doesn't work.

Imagine if I hired you to work up here. You sell everything, move your family. You show up at the door and say "I'm ready to go", and I say, "well, I can't actually hire you until you get the proper documents". Then offer you no help getting them. You'd probably think I gave you a pretty raw deal.

They may be terrible doctors and you don't know that before they get there. Second, if they can't pass the same board test that Canadian doctors took then that's the end of the story. Maybe they can't pass it.

You're absolutely right. But most ARE passing the Medical Council of Canada's examination of basic medical knowledge. But after that they are required to do 2-6 years of additional training, but they have difficulty getting medical schools to recognize their training. Under 20% are able to get admitted for addition training (that many of them don't need anyway).