So how did it affect you ?

Pooh Bear wrote: > Without the illegals ... oops sorry immigrants ... working ? >

In LA, the morning drive was easier. The ride home near where a LARGE group was gathering (scheduled) needed a little creative re-routing but not bad. Nearly all of the staff was present as the boss pays pretty well and nobody wants to create an issue. Only annoyance was KABC stayed local all afternoon -- no Sean Hannity. In other words, no complaints here (except for no Paul Harvey and Hannity). I heard there were no lines at the DMV. 27000 kids played hookey but hey, its spring and they don't need much of a reason anyway.

GG

Didn't even notice. But here in Phoenix there was a decided influence based on many announcements of, "Skip work and be fired".

...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |

| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Traffic was light. No need to take the shortcut on the way to soccer practice.

Day Without an Illegal... morning rush was VERY light. Very nice. We need more days like this.

Only bad thing - garbage wasn't collected, for my whole neighborhood. Called the county - they said they'll pick it up tomorrow. Gotta wonder why the county hires illegals to pick up garbage...

"Pooh Bear"

Traffic actually moved in Houston, it was great. Not having to listen to the screaming leaf blowers was really nice too.

Normally on Mondays we go to a Mexican restaurant for lunch, but we decided to boycott it for the day and went to an American one instead.

No work got done on my patio wall project. But that's because I fired the contractor some time ago after he showed up with a crew of illegals after we specifically said, "No illegals."

Another contractor has been hired who agreed to work under the same "constraints".

Why would I want to contribute to everyday events like this?

I was at this intersection (a bit earlier) on Sunday. I could have been the victim. Actually, I am the victim, my tax money is caring for this piece of crap.

Four of my employees are Hispanic, and they all showed up for work. The big protest in San Francisco was at City Hall, just a few blocks from our building, so we saw some of the groups passing and chanting outside; they seemed pretty cheerful in general, and all looked well-dressed and well-fed to me, a bit too well-fed maybe. Maybe a bit more traffic on the way home, and a lot more bicycles. News helicopters thup-thupping overhead all day. I didn't hear any reports of violence or arrests here. I read that LA had a half million marchers and zero arrests. Pretty tame overall.

John

Cute story from Southern Minnesota heard on local radio station:

Teacher is doing a Q&A with class. Student raises hand and asks why we employ illegal immigrants. Teacher asks how many kids plan to work in the local meat packing plant when they graduate. Not a single hand was raised.

Like most problems, this one has many facets and is not easily solved. Illegal labor is like buying Walmart products. Everybody wants the benefit of low cost while at the same time ignoring the societal impact of our actions. Our good jobs go overseas because the talent pool is less expensive while the jobs we don't want here are filled by illegals.

Blakely

Then maybe there's something wrong with the work ethic here.

Working at a meat packing plant would be perfect as a summer job for a high-schooler.

When I was at the university, I had a roommate who was majoring in Mechanical Engineering. (His influence was partly what inspired me to change major to Engineering as well.) During our junior year, he applied for, and got, a job serving food at the dorm Dining Commons. I asked him, "Why?" His response: "To build character." He told me about a friend he had who had a high-paying (well, relatively high-paying to us college kids back in '96, a $12/hr) job. This friend ended up dropping out of college, thinking he didn't need to work so hard.

No Roach Coach, but that was about it. The local 7-11 and Liquor store are run by Asians. ;-)

Cheers! Rich Whittier, CA

20 years ago, the average meat-packing job paid $19 per hour. Today, it's about $9.

John

Yeah, they were all gonna' be ballerinas and astronauts......

If there are jobs available people will fill them. I get so tired of the "They do jobs no Americans want" bullshit. My grandmother worked as a maid at the Disney Land Hotel for 25 years, so don't tell me that only "illegals" will make the beds and cook the food. It is just a flat out lie.

Well that was the point of the radio program: None of the high school students did want to work there. Sure, it would be good from a character point of view, but we do not seem to insist on that from our children anymore.

Local media reported that the Armour and Hormel packing plants closed for the day since they had so many Hispanics employed there.

Blakely

Hello John,

$19? Wow. I did a back breaking meat-packing job in the mid 70's when in high school. Not to build character but to be able to buy some electronics. It paid around $3.50 which was still a lot more than the $2.50 that lighter duty jobs paid. But all bones hurt after the 8 mile bicyle ride back home. This was in Europe but was it really that much higher in the US? The union thing maybe?

Regards, Joerg

Well, I guess if he felt he needed to...

My experience growing up was that you took the "character building" jobs the later years of high school... by college, people who were interested in, e.g., computers or engineers could find on-campus jobs programming, building & designing electronics, etc. that -- while they didn't pay particularly well -- were both interesting and useful towards their careers.

Both Bill Gates and Michael Dell dropped out of college, and I doubt that either regrets the choice. Both are quite hard-working. (Granted, I wouldn't buy the excuse of some kid telling me, "I shouldn't have to finish college to do well because Michael Dell didn't!" -- that's like the same kid saying they shouldn't have to finish college because plenty of professional athletes with multi-million dollar contracts didn't.)

It is BS; a more honest argument would be that "They do jobs no Americans will do for the wage that's presently offered!" -- And from there you can have an honest debate about what the economic effects of kicking them all out would be, and whether or not we're prepaid to pay that price.

Well, that was the point of the story. No one did want to work there. Life would have to be pretty tough before I would do it. I cack just driving by the place.

Want to do and actually do are two different things. Check out the head count at you local fast food outlet. Here in the tundra, it is 50 % Hispanic or better. Meat and poultry operations are much greater than that. Local media reported that both Armour and Hormel closed their plants in Southern Minnesota Monday.

My father left school after the 9th grade and spent most of his life working hellish jobs. I have a lot of respect for that. I always have the option of working at those types of jobs, but the likelihood that I would is very low. Not unless it was one of the few options available to me. For many illegals, that is one of the few options they do have.

I do think that a guest worker program would address some of those concerns.

Blakely

And much of this is the very intent of management. The local union P9 struck Hormel in a very long and bitter strike. Management locked them out and started over. It is nearly always about the money and so very rarely about the people.

How many people can live on $ 18 K a year? Is that a life that most people want to live?

Blakely