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Let’s be honest with one another

Posted on March 1, 2012March 8, 2012 by Staff

Judith Blau

The meals you enjoy at restaurants are no doubt made by Latinos. Your home was largely constructed by Latino workers. Most landscaping around town was done by Latino workers. We know the reason why we do not celebrate their contributions: They are caught in the jaws of a broken immigration system, for which many are to blame.

The federal government is to blame for not providing pathways to citizenship. Employers are to blame for recruiting and enticing workers from Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Honduras and El Salvador. During boom times in America, the government – from the very top to the very local – just winked. To be frank, Americans themselves do not want to engage in the strenuous, hard work done by Latinos. (“Our grandparents did that; why should we?”)

Few Americans, with the exception of many blacks and Native Americans, are as badly affected by the recent economic recession as undocumented Latinos are. According to a recent national survey by the Pew Hispanic Center, undocumented Latinos – compared with both resident Latinos and Latinos who are citizens – are the most dispirited. The Pew surveyors did not ask why, but our experiences at the corner of Jones Ferry and Davie roads – where many day laborers gather to find work – over the last several years helps us to understand that it is joblessness and wage theft that are responsible. (Interestingly, it is this group in the Pew Survey for whom having access to jobs is ranked as most important.)

What is “wage theft?” It is when employers willingly do not pay workers, and the focus here is on day laborers. Our conservative estimate is that one in every seven day laborers experiences wage theft during any two-week period.

This must stop. It must stop because it is inconsistent with prevailing values in our community; it is exploitative; and, importantly, it is degrading to people who have skills and experience and are eager to work. In most cases they have family responsibilities.

Let’s be honest with one another, and that includes being honest with the men who stand at the corner.

Judith Blau is the director of the Human Rights Center of Chapel Hill & Carrboro and a sociology professor at UNC.

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