Monday, September 27, 2010

Stephen Colbert on Immigration

Last friday, Stephen Colbert testified before the House Judiciary subcommittee on  Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Security on the subject of immigrant labour.  Because he's a comedian, some people questioned how relevant his comments were.

Sitting next to Stephen was Arturo Rodriguez, President of the United Farmworkers of America, a union for agricultural workers started by Cesar Chavez in the 1960's.  I was involved with this effort from 1968 to 1972, both in Toronto with a boycott of table grapes and at the Union headquarters at Keene, California.  I never met Arturo, but I knew his wife, Linda Chavez, who died in 2000.

Farmworkers, many of whom are immigrants, have some of the most demanding and low-paying jobs in America.  The U. S. (and Canada as well, which brings in 175,000 guest workers a year, many of whom do agricultural labour) has a long history of exploitation of farm labour.  They are excluded from the National Labour Relations Act, which gives other workers the right to have unions. They are housed in labour camps; kept from their families; isolated from local communities; exposed to pesticides; and without health care. Pay is generally minimum wage (or less).  

Even though the U. S. unemployment rate is 9.6%, few non-Hispanic Americans want agricultural jobs.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/07/news/economy/farm_worker_jobs/index.htm

Because of the need for agricultural workers, the low pay, the physically demanding work, Americans have looked the other way for years, while undocumented immigrants have harvested their crops.  This makes the recent attacks on immigrants in Arizona and other states particularly loathsome.  To suggest that they are drug dealers or terrorists is pathetic.

I'm glad that Stephen Colbert is on the right side of this issue.  More Americans and Canadians should be, too.

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