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In reply to the discussion: My Wife Believes American Workers Being Positioned To Accept Lower Living Standard. [View all]JustAnotherGen
(32,349 posts)Now my husband is still a Resident Alien from Italy.
He has a real problem with one of his businesses - HVAC. He has higher rates because as a "legal" alien the quickest way to get "the boot" married to an American or not - is to break the law. What law is broken if hires day laborers at $5 an hour as some of his competitors do? Yeah - he feels bad but they've only been breaking even for five years - so he's getting out of it.
His metal works/historical restoration and preservation and custom design? That he can compete in and it will continue to grow. He gets the best workers because:
He shuts down WITH pay for two weeks at Christmas and over the 4th of July.
His employees get four weeks vacay in addition to that.
Your sick? Stay home. He needs you healthy to go hang from the ceiling of a church in Belgium.
You need to see a Doctor for that cough? Hearing checked? Vision checked? No problem! Your employer that employs 37 people has a Cadillac insurance plan for that!
You came through the Camden or Philadelphia school district as an apprentice to him? Yeah. Good for you girl! (he has three women that have gone through his program). You are 18 years old and making . . . $18 an hour. So much for YOUR kids hiding in a bathtub in Camden to avoid gun shots.
You want to take art classes? Advanced welding? Get an Associates? Learn a language. Talk to the owner.
^Employers who see their employees as human beings who advance the employers wealth invest in them, treat them with respect, treat them with kindess, and give them the tools to grow their business CAN SUCCEED in America^
He even has folks going for their UNESCO certification - which he needs because . . . In ten years we are "out". He's already starting to focus back on his sculpting (juried artist abroad). Idea? A co-op of owner/workers that we would still have a piece of but as we say . . . How much do we need?
I'm sharing this because there are only two "non Americans" other than him in his metal business. One is from Senagal and one is from Denmark. The other 35 - hard working American workers who come in just as the thr NON Americans do and give it all every single day.
You will find no greater champion of the American worker than the guy off the plane from Italy that is greatful that he doesn't have to shut down every five minutes for a Saint Day. And as a outsider looking in - he'd tell you - if your employees feel the need to unionize its because you are a selfish, greedy piece of shit. Treat a man or woman with respect, pay them a "saving and vacationing wage", make sure they are healthy and you will guarantee wealth for yourself.
There's something really screwed up when that isn't the American Standard. We've got to change. We've got to start moving towards the co-op model. And it has to be small business entrepreneurs who make that change.
Small Note - the Saving and Vacationing Wage is something he made up. He's used it to steal people from competitors. This is a man who is the "holiday" Western European Culture. You have to pay people enough to go to the shore for a few weeks in the summer. It refreshes them.