Post by Freehold Resident on Oct 24, 2006 16:28:33 GMT -5
Here's an older one from Mr. Levine. It really tells the story.
F R
APP
December 24, 2003
Section: A
Page: 11
Viewpoint
MARC LeVINE
Readers
Muster zone flouts immigration codes, hurts legal workers
The Dec. 18 Asbury Park Press featured a lead story announcing that the Monmouth County freeholders were asking the Freehold Borough Council to delay the Jan. 1 closure of the town's muster zone closure while alternate sites were found for undocumented workers soliciting untaxed jobs.
Freeholder Edward Stominski said it was logical for Freehold Borough to consider setting up a hiring hall, within its borders, because many day laborers already live in the town. What Stominski failed to mention was that many of these people live in our town illegally.
It is unfortunate that a county elected official would call for the establishment of a hiring hall in any town, let alone Freehold Borough, to benefit illegal aliens and nontaxpaying employers. A hiring hall is also unfair to all communities, when they are created to address the needs of a particular group, rather than those of the entire community. Will such hiring halls recruit and place any laid-off Monmouth County white-collar and industrial workers, high school and college students, displaced homemakers and disadvantaged minorities who live here legally? I think not.
In the past two years, Freehold Borough has had two privately operated light industrial staffing companies fail within its borders - Labor Ready and Brickforce Staffing. I was the general manager of Brickforce, which failed twice in the borough to recruit a light industrial workforce, primarily from the town's current day labor pool - especially those frequenting the muster zone.
Though Brickforce has been highly successful in hiring large numbers of work-authorized Latino immigrants in many other New Jersey towns like Perth Amboy, New Brunswick, Elizabeth and Passaic (4,000 per day), our Spanish-speaking recruiters were faced with a majority of undocumented workers loudly mocking the $6- and $7-per-hour industrial jobs we were offering out of the Freehold office.
Our most successful North Jersey recruiters were brought in to blitz this population, but were quickly dispatched by most Freehold Borough day laborers, who told them they were waiting for untaxed $10- and $12-per-hour landscaping and contracting jobs. A former Labor Ready executive, who was later hired by Brickforce Staffing, reported the same reasons for having to close her Labor Ready office in Broad Street Plaza.
We do not need any hiring halls in Freehold Borough or anywhere else in Monmouth County. What we do need is immigration reform. Until we get it, though, we must obey the current laws. We cannot pick and choose which laws we prefer to follow or ignore. We cannot give aid or special attention to people who broke the law to come to our country. Not after 9/11, not any time. They must return home and apply to return to the United States with the proper visas and work authorizations. When they return they will be welcome, but they must compete for jobs and housing with the rest of us. It's not easy, it's not cheap and it's a struggle for all of us. No one is exempt.
The best way for the freeholders to help the people of Monmouth County, the state and the nation is to reintroduce legal hiring and taxpaying into the area's labor market - and demand it. That's right: good old I-9s, W-4s and W-2s! Anyone who thinks that most shady employers and opportunistic illegal aliens will walk into a hiring hall, register their businesses, provide names and addresses, and arrange to pay taxes is being more than a little naive. These folks prefer the way things are right now. So, the underground economy continues to thrive at the expense of the rest of us, who live according to the law.
The Monmouth County freeholders must protect the majority of their constituents who have charged them with upholding the law, including the current immigration and labor laws - laws that demand immigration by legal means only, and jobs for those who are legally authorized to work in the United States and pay taxes. If they want to help their residents and assist illegal aliens, the freeholders need to convince Trenton and Washington to take a position on the immigration issue. Hiring halls are not the answer.
Marc LeVine, a former Freehold Borough councilman, is chairman of PEOPLE (Pressing Elected Officials to Protect our Living Environment).
F R
APP
December 24, 2003
Section: A
Page: 11
Viewpoint
MARC LeVINE
Readers
Muster zone flouts immigration codes, hurts legal workers
The Dec. 18 Asbury Park Press featured a lead story announcing that the Monmouth County freeholders were asking the Freehold Borough Council to delay the Jan. 1 closure of the town's muster zone closure while alternate sites were found for undocumented workers soliciting untaxed jobs.
Freeholder Edward Stominski said it was logical for Freehold Borough to consider setting up a hiring hall, within its borders, because many day laborers already live in the town. What Stominski failed to mention was that many of these people live in our town illegally.
It is unfortunate that a county elected official would call for the establishment of a hiring hall in any town, let alone Freehold Borough, to benefit illegal aliens and nontaxpaying employers. A hiring hall is also unfair to all communities, when they are created to address the needs of a particular group, rather than those of the entire community. Will such hiring halls recruit and place any laid-off Monmouth County white-collar and industrial workers, high school and college students, displaced homemakers and disadvantaged minorities who live here legally? I think not.
In the past two years, Freehold Borough has had two privately operated light industrial staffing companies fail within its borders - Labor Ready and Brickforce Staffing. I was the general manager of Brickforce, which failed twice in the borough to recruit a light industrial workforce, primarily from the town's current day labor pool - especially those frequenting the muster zone.
Though Brickforce has been highly successful in hiring large numbers of work-authorized Latino immigrants in many other New Jersey towns like Perth Amboy, New Brunswick, Elizabeth and Passaic (4,000 per day), our Spanish-speaking recruiters were faced with a majority of undocumented workers loudly mocking the $6- and $7-per-hour industrial jobs we were offering out of the Freehold office.
Our most successful North Jersey recruiters were brought in to blitz this population, but were quickly dispatched by most Freehold Borough day laborers, who told them they were waiting for untaxed $10- and $12-per-hour landscaping and contracting jobs. A former Labor Ready executive, who was later hired by Brickforce Staffing, reported the same reasons for having to close her Labor Ready office in Broad Street Plaza.
We do not need any hiring halls in Freehold Borough or anywhere else in Monmouth County. What we do need is immigration reform. Until we get it, though, we must obey the current laws. We cannot pick and choose which laws we prefer to follow or ignore. We cannot give aid or special attention to people who broke the law to come to our country. Not after 9/11, not any time. They must return home and apply to return to the United States with the proper visas and work authorizations. When they return they will be welcome, but they must compete for jobs and housing with the rest of us. It's not easy, it's not cheap and it's a struggle for all of us. No one is exempt.
The best way for the freeholders to help the people of Monmouth County, the state and the nation is to reintroduce legal hiring and taxpaying into the area's labor market - and demand it. That's right: good old I-9s, W-4s and W-2s! Anyone who thinks that most shady employers and opportunistic illegal aliens will walk into a hiring hall, register their businesses, provide names and addresses, and arrange to pay taxes is being more than a little naive. These folks prefer the way things are right now. So, the underground economy continues to thrive at the expense of the rest of us, who live according to the law.
The Monmouth County freeholders must protect the majority of their constituents who have charged them with upholding the law, including the current immigration and labor laws - laws that demand immigration by legal means only, and jobs for those who are legally authorized to work in the United States and pay taxes. If they want to help their residents and assist illegal aliens, the freeholders need to convince Trenton and Washington to take a position on the immigration issue. Hiring halls are not the answer.
Marc LeVine, a former Freehold Borough councilman, is chairman of PEOPLE (Pressing Elected Officials to Protect our Living Environment).