I think allowing people who want to come here to work in restaurants or wherever can be structured in ways that are not automatically exploitive. Making them legal via work permits could prevent that - they would be subject to the same minimum wage and worker protection laws as anyone else. My grandfather came over from Sicily. He was po…
I think allowing people who want to come here to work in restaurants or wherever can be structured in ways that are not automatically exploitive. Making them legal via work permits could prevent that - they would be subject to the same minimum wage and worker protection laws as anyone else. My grandfather came over from Sicily. He was poor. He drove a truck delivering bananas to grocery stores. My grandmother took in washing. One of their great grandchildren is a now a law school prof, their great great children are attending Boston Univ and the Univ of Chicago. Yes, I know there is a different economic situation today, but there are still ways to offer migrants a chance for better lives here.
Australia and New Zealand are able to staff restaurants without waves of unskilled immigration, by paying decent wages and charging prices that support them. We make massive use of underpaid labor to subsidize cheap food across the agricultural spectrum; it's important not to let a nostalgic view of a different time that required a different immigration policy blind us to that. We are entitled to have an immigration system that supports our own economic development and needs, and we should be willing to pay for it: we seem to be the only country in the world with an influential segment of its population that objects to that seemingly self-evident fact.
As far as the food industry is concerned, if we can't grow certain crops for a price that makes economic sense, then we should be importing them from countries that can, not importing people to do stoop labor and underpaying them. The same goes for restaurant work. And some of the things that we can do because of our broken immigration system, like growing strawberries, almonds, and lettuce in the desert, we shouldn't be doing at all, and won't be able to do much longer for lack of water, even if we continue to refuse to make hard decisions.
That said, we DO need more immigration to support non-food service industries. I honestly don't know how to square that circle in a way that doesn't exploit other people's desperation; I just know that a way has to be found.
“We should pay for it”. I agree with everything you’re saying, but just wait until you hear the reaction from “the average person” if we actually paid restaurant workers the right wage, and agricultural workers too. Prices would skyrocket because owners would have an easy out to increase prices to keep profits at their level. I don’t think it’s sustainable and again- agree with your take on this. I guess my point is that’s an astronomical cultural change in the USA.
You're right, and I certainly would never argue against "astronomical cultural change": we need it, because our current practices are unsustainable, in so many ways. If we could just talk to each other and agree on some of the things that need to change!
I think allowing people who want to come here to work in restaurants or wherever can be structured in ways that are not automatically exploitive. Making them legal via work permits could prevent that - they would be subject to the same minimum wage and worker protection laws as anyone else. My grandfather came over from Sicily. He was poor. He drove a truck delivering bananas to grocery stores. My grandmother took in washing. One of their great grandchildren is a now a law school prof, their great great children are attending Boston Univ and the Univ of Chicago. Yes, I know there is a different economic situation today, but there are still ways to offer migrants a chance for better lives here.
Australia and New Zealand are able to staff restaurants without waves of unskilled immigration, by paying decent wages and charging prices that support them. We make massive use of underpaid labor to subsidize cheap food across the agricultural spectrum; it's important not to let a nostalgic view of a different time that required a different immigration policy blind us to that. We are entitled to have an immigration system that supports our own economic development and needs, and we should be willing to pay for it: we seem to be the only country in the world with an influential segment of its population that objects to that seemingly self-evident fact.
As far as the food industry is concerned, if we can't grow certain crops for a price that makes economic sense, then we should be importing them from countries that can, not importing people to do stoop labor and underpaying them. The same goes for restaurant work. And some of the things that we can do because of our broken immigration system, like growing strawberries, almonds, and lettuce in the desert, we shouldn't be doing at all, and won't be able to do much longer for lack of water, even if we continue to refuse to make hard decisions.
That said, we DO need more immigration to support non-food service industries. I honestly don't know how to square that circle in a way that doesn't exploit other people's desperation; I just know that a way has to be found.
“We should pay for it”. I agree with everything you’re saying, but just wait until you hear the reaction from “the average person” if we actually paid restaurant workers the right wage, and agricultural workers too. Prices would skyrocket because owners would have an easy out to increase prices to keep profits at their level. I don’t think it’s sustainable and again- agree with your take on this. I guess my point is that’s an astronomical cultural change in the USA.
You're right, and I certainly would never argue against "astronomical cultural change": we need it, because our current practices are unsustainable, in so many ways. If we could just talk to each other and agree on some of the things that need to change!