From the Mail Room
Here are a couple comments from readers:
On the May 1 Boycott:
I ran across your blog in Typepad’s Recently Updated Section. The following comments are personal, but may be apropos to your readers.
For obvious reasons, I’m not giving my name. My business is in the equestrian industry in California. Two of my employees have appropriate documentation, the others do not. I also hire occasional labor when we go to competitions–I am sure that those men (and they are all men) are undocumented. We also have an arrangement whereby if one of my full-time, permanent employees needs to take some time off–say to travel to be with a family member–he nominates a friend or family member to be a temporary employee. This system has been much more satisfactory for me than finding someone myself.
In my business, the horses need to be cared for every day. I have a rather complicated schedule of days off so that all the work gets done.
On Thursday, the lead men finally approached me about the “day without an immigrant” action. I have spent the last two days spending a great deal of time discussing this with my employees. There’s a tremendous amount of worry and anxiety.
Here are the things I’ve learned in these two days of conversation.
*my employees want to participate in the action for various reasons — individual to each man.
*Some of my employees have wives and children in Mexico, and would very much like to jobshare with a relative — be home in Mexico for six months while Relative is working in the US, and then reverse the procedure. (This is plausible in my industry — it’s semi-skilled labor; if international travel were possible I’d endorse it.)
*my employees do not really wish to take the day off, as that’s a busy day for us. Mondays are the only days in whic I do not provide services for clients, so we use that day to catch up on all the work that is hard to get to when clients are in the establishment. My employees take a great deal of pride in how our establishment appears, and taking that day off would mean that things would not be as ship-shape as they wish them to be.
*my employees are very worried about the impact upon their charges — horses who need to be cared for every day. (That’s an issue that is addressable).
*my employees are worried, if they do not take the day off, their reputation among their friends or family members will suffer.
*The worries of my employees are also the worries of their female relatives. Many of their female relatives have work providing child care or elder care or housekeeping services — personal services — that likewise would have a severe negative impact upon the recipient of the services. The female relatives don’t know how (or if) to broach the subject of a May 1 day off with their employers.
*The language, culture, class, and gender barriers are huge here. I finally summoned a friend who is fully bilingual (I think I am, but I know I am not) and an excellent translator for help, and one of the female relatives who is a nanny brought her charges over to sit in on the discussion. We sent the men away for an hour to talk.
The success of my business is dependent upon the services my employees provide. I’ve decided that I’m going to treat May 1 the same way I treat Christmas day: a paid day off, and I and two trusted clients (paying customers, for whom my employees take care of their horses) will feed, water, and clean the stalls.
If I get flak from others — well, I will simply say that my employees arranged the day off in advance, so that I could prepare.
I don’t know what to say to the women — it is so obviously dependent upon the individual relationships between the employee and employer.
I’m pretty sure I am doing the right thing for my business and my employees. But I am worried the “day without an immigrant” will have a backlash.
On Illegal Immigration:
I am from Massachusetts, a semi reformed lliberal and an Unenrolled voter. I believe that English is our language here and we should not have a divide into a second language like Quebec dues. I do not think that people should not be stopped from applying from comming here legaly, but why should Mexico get a prefered status than africa or Russia. We need to secure our southern border and be tough. We need to evict anyone who is breaking the law by tresspassing by being here illegally. If you were sleeping in my basement ilegally… I would kick you out… whats the difference.
KJ