Recently, a group of immigrant factory workers protested outside of two local factories and a supermarket in Maspeth accused of paying “slave wages”. The protesters, accompanied by the activist group Make the Roads By Walking and several unions, hoped to raise awareness of their poor working conditions and hold businesses accountable for paying wages far below the minimum. Jose Vaquero, a former employee of one of the alleged underpaying factories, said that his friend was “only making about $280 a week, but they were working somewhere between 60 or 70 hours a week”. That calculates to about $4.30 per hour for back-breaking work. The employers refused to give sick days, overtime pay (even after 12 hour shifts), and docked what little money they actually paid out if the workers were a few minutes late.
Immigrants work at jobs that no “respectable” American Citizen would take on and are consistently underpaid and put through hell for their “off the books” salaries. They subject themselves through these abuses because-without papers- they cannot get “respectable” jobs that pay “respectable” salaries. Why should anyone work 70 hours in a week without proper compensation? (who the hell wants to work that much anyways?) It’s difficult for many of these workers to come forward in a country whose government has deportation and a Great Wall of Mexico on the agenda….The exploitation of immigrant workers needs to end; put that on your agenda BUSH.
Here’s an interesting OP-Ed article about a day laborer living in long island that was in today’s paper…
Inside the Immigration Maze, With No Answers
I have mixed feelings on this issue. I sympathize with the immigrants, not only because my family migrated from another country, but because the United States is supposed to be the land of opportunity. Individuals come here because to them, this country means a better life. They understand that hard work is needed so they work hard, even if it is for unfair wages.
I also feel like they have to understand that their status in this country is illegal. How can they expect to get the same treatment when they don’t pay taxes and contribute to the government like everyone else.