labor arbitrage

SCOTUS Rules Arizona Can Punish Businesses Who Hire Illegal Workers

Submitted by on

Score one for Arizona. The Supreme Court gives States the right to close businesses who knowingly hire illegal workers.

Now in spite of the rhetoric one will hear from special interest groups, this is actually a huge win for U.S. labor and workers.

The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a state has the right to revoke the license of a business that knowingly employs illegal immigrants, in a case watched for implications on related judicial battles.

The top US court in a 5-3 decision upheld Arizona's 2007 law, saying the state was within its rights under a 1986 federal immigration reform measure.

Like it or not, flooding the U.S. labor market with illegal workers does undermine wages, and in this economy, does cause U.S. worker displacement.

The law "expressly reserves to the states the authority to impose sanctions on employers hiring unauthorized workers, through licensing and similar laws," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.

"It uses the federal government's own definition of 'unauthorized alien,' it relies solely on the federal government's own determination of who is an unauthorized alien, and it requires Arizona employers to use the federal government's own system for checking employee status."

It was a 5-3 decision, with the left of the court dissenting. Business licenses can be revoked and at last, the Supreme court upheld the use of E-verify, an electronic database to verify social security numbers used by workers are valid and their own.

The New York Times notices labor arbitrage

Submitted by on

Wow. The New York Times, through personal stories notices America is creating the new poor:

Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.

Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.

Yet the social safety net is already showing severe strains. Roughly 2.7 million jobless people will lose their unemployment check before the end of April unless Congress approves the Obama administration’s proposal to extend the payments, according to the Labor Department.

China Eastern Jiangsu Provence raises minimum wage, wow $140 a month!

Submitted by on

While one might think this is better news for U.S. workers, in terms of global labor arbitrage, it's probably only good news for the Chinese. A Chinese province raises minimum wage 13% to a whopping $140 USD a month!

A decision by the province that is China’s second-biggest exporter to raise minimum wage rates has heightened expectations that other provinces and cities will soon follow, just as the central government’s attention is shifting from economic stimulus to rising inflation.

Eastern Jiangsu province, which exports more than Brazil and South Africa combined, raised its monthly minimum wage rate 13 per cent to Rmb960 ($140) last week. It was the first time the rate had been adjusted in two years.

AP Investigation: Bail Out Banks sought foreign workers instead of U.S. workers!

Submitted by on

This is a bombshell. Banks, while receiving billions in TARP bail out money and firing U.S. workers right and left sought foreign workers. The associated press did an investigation on where your taxpayer money is going and this is what they found!

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Major U.S. banks sought government permission to bring thousands of foreign workers into the country for high-paying jobs even as the system was melting down last year and Americans were getting laid off, according to an Associated Press review of visa applications.

Named DOL Secretary Pushed to Labor Arbitrage U.S. Workers - Congress Rep. Hilda Solis

Submitted by on

Ut oh. Obama passed over true middle class advocate, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro for yet another Corporate H-1B Guest worker Visa pusher.

Solis cosponsored the STRIVE act, the most notorious labor arbitrage bill targeting American workers, especially those in the Professional (STEM, S&T) career areas.

Scientist Who Laid Ground Work for Nobel Prize Drives a Bus, Can't get a Job

Submitted by on

He was laid off from his job at NASA, and couldn't find another job as a scientist. In order to support his family, he took a job driving a courtesy van at a Toyota dealership in Huntsville for $10 per hour

From a local story I've heard way too many times, this scientist isolated the gene which caused Jellyfish to glow in the dark.

His grants ran out and he handed over his research to 3 scientists who won the Nobel prize. The prize winners acknowledged they could not have won without his original research.

There are multiple things wrong with this story, the first being that this scientist is driving a bus. The second is why were his grants cut for this raw research and the 3rd is why was he not included in the Nobel Prize winners?

Trucker Shortage?

Submitted by on

I found this one pretty amazing, they are wanting to bring over Indian truck drivers into the United States claiming there is a huge shortage of truck drivers in the US.

Now who here believes that? But that's the mantra for global labor arbitrage, to claim a shortage.

Truckers:

Teamsters say: