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I've worked before in some buildings as they were going up. I would say in Houston about 3/4 of the people you see on a construction site are Hispanic. Of that 3/4 about half won't speak English very well. The percentage isn't as high in skill positions like electrician, but in craftsman type jobs like painter, they seem to dominate. The fact is, even if you don't speak English, if you paint enough buildings or install enough windows or ceiling tiles or carpet you're going to get good at it. I understand it from the contractors point of view because a crew of immigrants may be willing to do it at half the price and they will probably do a good job. Meanwhile the American born guy that used to do it is out of a job.
Premont, I first started seeing this in Chicago in the late 80's....I did some contract work, and saw that all the roofers were non-union Hispanic, the roofers union being the weakest to break. The others held, and mostly continue to hold their own, but, as you mentioned, in southern states, esp. Florida and Texas, all trades are being replaced by low wage workers, high and low-skilled. In that case, they truly do not benefit the local population or economy. The money is largely remitted out-of-country, and no ripple effects to the larger local economy are seen. The slow-down in new contruction is ironically not much of an issue to local workers, as they weren't building them anyway. I see all of these out-of-state license plates in Austin, and you just know that so many of them couldn't find anything viable in their home state, and are wandering out here with the same hopes and dreams as the folks who flocked to Houston from the rust belt in the early 80's, just as the steel mills closed down, or the Okie's from Oklahoma, as they packed up their "grapes of wrath" jalopy full of possessions on the road to Bakersfield and Southern California. Hope always survives.........
Read what Jack Forbes (pioneer in academic Indian Studies programs) has to say about what "Mexican" really means and the "Mexican Approach to American History"! Mind benders indeed!
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned all the construction firms up north being run by Tony Soprano types. Better or worse than having illegals? And why is nobody in Florida complaining about the same thing? They are in the exact same situation. As for the comments that Texas is turning into Mexico nothing could be further from the truth. It is true, however, that many Mexicans are turning into Americans in Texas. Last time I checked, that's what this country is all about.
Read what Jack Forbes (pioneer in academic Indian Studies programs) has to say about what "Mexican" really means and the "Mexican Approach to American History"! Mind benders indeed!
I am not that concerned with 'Aztlan' these days-------with Mexico's birthrate barely above replacement levels------Mx itself is having a problem with illegal immigrants from Guatamala, etc.
Maybe they could use the Mexican illegals being run off from the USA to secure their southern border
Cleveland and Youngstown Ohio steel mills were raped by the compay and the unions for many years. They were like dinosaurs old out dated and equipment wore out. All the money went out in wages, benefits, and white collar rasies. Management could not get the unions to see the end was near and they closed. I have worked union and non union and prefer non union because I don't have to carry the bum who says I'm in the union I don't have to work, the guy who steals everything not nailed down and no one says anything because you will be fired for turning a so called union brother in. I would ratrher work on my own merit than pay someone to pressure the comapny to hire people who don't want to work.
Ronald Reagan detested the unions. If anyone can remember the air traffic control situation when he was President, he actually fired the controllers and risked the lives of many innocent people all in the name of busting the union.
The public relations unit of the republican party has again been brilliant in convincing people that unions are a bad thing. The ironic part is that the workers are also convinced these politicians are right! Its scary to think of the U.S. economic future now. Where are we going? Does anybody know?
Well, Unions are going open ballot, so if you're in the union and you want to vote on some representative or agreement or other union business, everyone will know how you voted. Supported by your friends in the Dhimmicratic party.
Well Texas basically is Mexico considering it was part of Mexico. Hence the large Hispanic population.
Ummm. No. Only 8% of Mexicans in the United States today are descended from Mexicans caught on the good side of the border after the Mexican-American War.
The rest are simply new immigrants that benefit from lax border security.
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Jack D. Forbes - essays from early 1960s
