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There are Americans willing to do those jobs after all. Provided the wages are right.

 

After ICE agents descend on poultry-processing plants, pork factories and meatpacking facilities across the USA, in some cases plant owners are forced to raise wages to get Americans to sign up, Swain said.

 

Catherine Singley, a policy analyst for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights organization, said the post-raid increases in salaries were also necessary for Americans to accept the harsh, dangerous working environments.

 

She said wages did not plummet in recent decades because of immigrants undercutting Americans, but because employers took advantage of the immigrant population fearful of seeking help from authorities.

 

"If you've got a segment of the workforce that's afraid to speak out against violations of their labor rights, then that drags down wages and working conditions for all workers," Singley said.

 

I'm willing to wager that the illegal population working at a Swift plant was not earning the same amount as the legal population was. Nor were they paying for the same benefits for that illegal population either.

I'm really not sure people actually want all the labor in places like California to be done by legals at the rate that would cost once they realize how it will affect the prices of their goods.

 

 

T. Willard Fair, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Miami, said it has taken the greatest recession in a generation for poor Americans to line up to work in fields and factories.

 

"We'll take anything now," Fair said. "We're willing to be exploited for a while."

 

We'll see what happens when the economy turns around. But this is exactly why I favor a guest worker program. We should be able to regulate how many guest workers are brought in each year. Raise and lower the number based on the needs of American business and employees.

 

 

 

There are Americans willing to do those jobs after all. Provided the wages are right.

 

But when the wages get too high, like the American auto worker, then people start criticizing and wanting to see those wages cut and benefits dropped.