Why is immigration an important subject to the decorative concrete contractor? Why should we in the construction industry worry about it? How would any changes affect us? For starters, Immigration defines the very way of life in America, on one side you may argue that our country was founded on immigration, that because of it has grown to be a major world power, that the continuous in-flow of people helps sustain our way of life and that we simply need a continuous influx of immigrants to maintain our growth. On the other hand you hear that illegal immigration is taking jobs away from our workers and it is downgrading our buying power. As individuals have to compete for jobs with undocumented workers they find themselves competing for less because this overflow of people generates lower wages and employers cut benefits. Both arguments are valid and we know we are in dire need of Immigration reform, the solution is not easy and I will not even attempt to dissect it or try to find a solution, simply; we do need to be aware of what’s going on and how changes will affect the contractor and the construction industry in general. I have spoken to many of our customers and friends that have contracting businesses regarding this issue, I have gotten mixed answers that are a little confusing and downright contradicting at times, on one side this friend of mine told me that the US does not do enough to enforce immigration laws and much more stringent enforcement is needed to control the flow of illegal immigrants through our borders, then he tells me that if it wasn't for all the illegal immigrants that work for him he wouldn't be in business. I asked him to expand on that and he said: "Most of the guys that work for me came from Mexico and are illegally here, they work hard, they do good work for me and they help me stay in business, I would happily hire legal workers to do what these guys do, but the fact is I can’t get any American workers to come to work for me, and it is not a money thing anymore, I pay as much as $ 20.00/hr. to some of these guys, illegal immigrants and all, they do command a pretty penny for their work, a lot of them are very good and frankly I couldn't do without. He then adds, I don’t think I would vote for a law that will allow millions of illegal immigrants to become legal because that goes against my way of thinking, but I do wish there was some way to secure our borders and ensure that we can hire appropriate personnel to run our crews. I don’t like to circumvent laws but I do need to stay in business and I have a family to feed". I heard different versions of this and it echoes the feelings of most contractors I spoke with. Labor is their biggest problem, can't find qualified workers and would love to see some positive changes. I agree with them that there is a great problem and a great need for reforms, but how do we fix it? If we round up all the illegal aliens and ship them out, hundreds, if not thousands or business will close due to lack of workers, there would be many construction companies not able to operate, let alone farms and factories, us as manufacturers wouldn't sell a lot of products and also, how would it be enforced? Homeland Security lacks the funding necessary to conduct such a major undertake, it does not have the personnel nor the training and resources to accomplish it, and frankly, it doesn't make any sense to do such a thing and would never happen, but, not doing anything is not the solution and we can’t just say OK, let’s take another 10 million immigrants, make them legal and that will solve the problem. The answer lies in bi-partisan legislation that makes sense, sounds easy but it will take a monumental group effort to work through this extremely complex piece of legislation. I wanted to bring to everyone’s attention that congress is looking at reform and we all should learn and pay attention to what is happening so when it comes time to vote, we can make an educated choice for our own benefit. The McCain-Kennedy bill is on the table and proposes some major changes that will affect us all, good or bad? learn about it! The Senate is set to consider a few bills seeking to address immigration reform as soon as next week. I would love to see more contractors debating on this subject, and try to find some common ground towards a solution or something we can all live with, especially those that have a large number of workers that may be affected by these changes. We already had some discussion on this subject on the Decorative Concrete Forums, feel free to post your opinion or comments there. Art Pinto Decosup Inc. Copyright© 2006 Decorative Concrete Forums Inc All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be reproduced without the express consent or permission from Decorative Concrete Forums Inc.
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