LILLIANA TERRAZAS MRS.

HOLMAN 10-7-2011 FINAL PAPER

ASSIGNMENT

10/7/2011 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS STRUGGLE WITH LOW

WAGE JOBS

JUS105|

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Illegal immigrants are hired to work in many parts of the country for labor jobs, construction and landscaping. Most of illegal workers as well as legal workers are being taken advantage of at work. They are being taken advantage of in the way that they are not getting paid sufficient for their jobs. They are also not getting any benefits out of their jobs. For the most part many of the workers are not being paid equally and often are skipped when they are supposed to be paid in weeks. These workers jobs are being racially justified in the fact that some do not have papers to work in the United States. In the New York Times I found an Article called Low Wage Workers Are often cheated. This Article makes a very important point in which it is an issue of racial Justice towards immigrant workers. It talks about how immigrant workers should get a raise on their pay an how most immigrant moms are the ones that are mostly cheated when it comes to getting paid. Many immigrant workers are being taken advantage of and are not being paid enough to support themselves and their family. The type of justice that this issue represents towards illegal immigrants and the low wage income is Distributive property. I believe it represents the distributive property because it is directed to the proper direction of their rights and money wages. I believe it also relates to the theory of fairness and equality. Not only legals but as well as illegals should be paid the same amount as others it does not make a difference if legal or illegal they are still working people that want to earn their money. What I found most compelling about this article was the fact that it talks a lot about the different types of ways illegal and legal workers are being cheated by at work.

Terrazas2 For example the article talks about how some people have to pay for their injuries at work even after getting paid a minimum wage. Also how immigrant workers should be getting paid equally as legal workers since they are doing the same jobs. I chose this article because it relates to the articles discussed in the class. One of the articles is Addressing the Justice Gaphttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/opinion/addressingthe-justice-gap.html as it talked about the low wage incomes of American and illegal workers. My article also relates to Rhodes article about wages. I also chose this article because according to the New York Times this is being the center of attention at the moment. There are many affected countries in the United States that have low wage paying jobs. Some of the countries are New York which pays $7.15, Illinois which pays$7.50 and California which pays a minimum wage of $8.00. (Greenhouse, 2009, P.2). The most affected people with the low wage jobs are Americans and especially illegal immigrants in the United States. Illegal immigrants are most affected because they are being taken advantage of the fact that they do not have papers to work legally in the U.S. Americans are also being affected because rich companies are hiring many of them with only paying them a minimum wage to do the job. A study made by the University of Chicago, found that women were far more likely to suffer minimum wage violations than men, with the highest prevalence among women who were illegal immigrants. Among American-born workers, African-Americans had a violation rate nearly triple that for whites. These practices are not just morally reprehensible, but theyre bad for the economy, said Annette, an author of the study and policy co-director of the National Employment Law Project. When unscrupulous

Terrazas3 employers break the law, theyre robbing families of money to put food on the table, theyre robbing communities of spending power and theyre robbing governments of vital tax revenues. (Green House, 2009, P2). There are many factors being involved in this Justice Issue some of the factors are racial, cultural and political as well as economic. Racial factors are being involved with immigrants getting paid a low wage by not giving them the opportunity to work for a higher paying job just because they are illegal workers. Most illegal workers are Mexicans who feel discriminated by their race and not given the opportunity to get a better pay. There is also a cultural factor within this issue many other cultures are being discriminated and not given the opportunity to being paid a little more it all mostly revolves in the race of the worker. The ones who gain more out of the low wage problem are the companies hiring the people because they do not care about the workers they care about making profit in their companies. The workers in the other hand are the ones that are losing because they get paid a low wage and barely have enough for themselves or to pay their bills. There are many economic forces being at play. The people are the ones making the companies or jobs make the money and the companies keep growing while the workers keep making less and less money. People are being economically robbed and are not being paid enough money as they supposed to be getting paid. The report found that 57 percent of workers sampled had not received mandatory pay documents the previous week, which are intended to help make sure pay is legal and accurate. Of workers who receive tips, 12 percent said their employer had stolen some of the tips.(Greenhouse , 2009 ,P3).

Terrazas4 Some issues of rights that are being played in this article are not being given the opportunity to petition for a better pay. When they do ask for a petition they are denied. There is a New York article discussion that we read in class it is called, Could Farms Survive Without Illegal Workers? This article talks about the discussion a farmer in Maine, gives towards their farm and their workers. He says the following, If the cost of food reflected the cost of production that would change everything. Instead, American produce is underpriced, in part because farmers and growers rely on illegal immigrant workers, who are paid little and often have poor working conditions. Here the farmer is practically stating that illegal immigrants are being paid a little amount of money due to their poor working conditions. Most low wage paying people suffer the consequences outside in the real world. It is not only illegal immigrants that pay the cost but also Americans. In the Video the Plea, There is a lady named, Emma Faye Stewart who talks about her low wage income and how she is being discriminated for not having enough money to pay for a lawyer. Emma said the following in the film, In he was, like pushing me to plead guilty and take probation. He was not on my side at all , Says Stewart , who tells FRONTLINE that after spending 25 nights in a crowded jail cell , she decided to follow her attorneys advice. Even though I was not guilty, I was willing to plead guilty because I had to go home to my kids and my son who was sick. The video is practically stating that those with low income money do not have the same benefits as those with high wage income money. People with low wage income money end up losing and people that have more of a higher raise end up winning.

Terrazas5 Another film that addresses the low wage income is Is Wal-Mart Good for America? This film addresses the low wage income that Wal- Mart gives to its employees and how much profit the store makes. The film goes around asking people about what they think about Wal-Mart two important things said are by the economist Brink Lindsey of the Cato Institute, I think Wal-Mart is good for America , He says. Wal-Mart is doing what the American economy is all about, which is producing things consumers, want to buy offering consumers a wide range of goods at rock bottom prices. It is meeting the market test. His is little consideration to the unemployed workers back in Circleville, Ohio. Steve Ratcliff, a long time worker at the Thomson plant puts it simply. If you want these low prices, then you go buy your products from Wal-Mart .But what does that actually do for this country? Its putting people out of work . It is also lowering our standard of living. Thats the bottom line. In my opinion I believe that the situation of low wage pay to, illegal immigrants and Americans in the United States has not yet been solved. The United States has not really done anything at all to solve the problem. All they did was raise 60cents to the minimum wage pay and that really does not do anything. People do not have enough money to pay bills or rent. The companies are growing and are making a lot of profit and money while the workers are not gaining or getting paid enough money at their jobs. We can take a lot from our in class knowledge. The videos presented give a clear analysis of the situation. The problem here is a racial matter. Most companies and owners only care about making money not giving or paying the money. Most do not know how a company runs in order for them to succeed they must have workers to help them get the job done. I believe that to better understand and solve the low wage

Terrazas6 income issue the government needs to start listening to the people and raising the pay. Illegal immigrants are taking jobs Americans do not want to do and are yet still getting paid a minimum wage. They have to live of some type of living how else will they survive. The same goes for Americans how will they survive with that much of a low age income. There needs to be a change, there has to be a change in order for people to survive and live a proper life. There is a lot of discrimination towards the workers and there is a lot of taken advantage from the companies. The government needs to listen and view the situation as it is. If nothing changes right know and the low wage income stays the same it might never go up. People need to speak up and argue about the situation. This issue has not yet been taken care of. If the situation has not been solved by politics and lawyers then who else to solve the issue but the people who are arguing about low wage incomes. The main point here is that many people are being taken advantage. Illegal immigrants are one of the main people who are taken advantage. To top that off they are being criticized for their poor working conditions. How else are these people supposed to survive if they do not have papers and are willing to do any job available to stay alive? Americans in the other hand are picky and do not really speak up about the low wage income situation there has to be a way to solve this issue. I found that the most compelling thing about this whole discussion is that there are many problems all based on one. In order to solve the issue the people need to speak up and complain about the low pay. You cannot always stay quiet and accept what you get sometimes you need to speak up and complain about what you really want a higher raise from those companies who are staying with a more percentage of profit then the workers.

Terrazas7 References (Work cited) Provine, D. M, Chapple, R. Gray, K. Sefia, O, & Walker, M.F. (Eds.) (2011). Perspectives on Justice (2nd ed.). Dubuque, IO: Kendall Hunt. Smith, Hendrick , I s W a l - M a r t g o o d f o r A m e r i c a ? " [ W e b ] . ( 2 0 0 4 ) . http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/etc/credits.html Bikel, Ofra. (2004). "The plea" [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/plea/etc/credits.html "Addressing the Justice Gap" an editorial in the New York Times (Aug 24, 2011): http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/opinion/addressing-the-justice-gap.html?_r=1&emc=eta1 Could Farms Survive Without Illegal Labor?an editorial in the New York Times Opinion Page(Aug 17 , 2011).
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/08/17/could-farms-survive-without-illegal-labor