Down Under in the U.S.A. - How to Put Americans Back to Work

Asian Guest Workers Would Become 'Second-Class Citizens' While U.S. MBA Mows Lawns

Down Under in the U.S.A. – Amidst fears that Asian guest workers would be exploited under “slave-like conditions”, a new report explains how Australian unions have vowed to oppose a proposal to bring in Asian guest workers to the Pilbara on two year contracts to ostensibly help meet labor demand. This is a good thing both for Australian workers' jobs protections and for human rights protections of unnecessary guest workers.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union of Australia has said that it was “very concerned about the “potential creation of a fly-in fly-out workforce from Asian countries.” (In the U.S., do guest workers ever really 'fly out'? Is the U.S. guest worker program really a stealth pathway to both U.S. jobs and permanent residence?) In addition, the Australian union's national secretary said the proposal “had parallels with the guest worker schemes in the Middle East where Asian workers were flown into Dubai.” The union secretary expressed the following concerns over the potential of the guest worker program perpetuating slave-like conditions:

"Those workers go to the Middle East under fixed contracts to satisfy the building boom over there. They end up living in almost what you would term slave-like conditions and they get treated abysmally."It's a two-tier workforce. You have got the palatial lifestyle of the first class citizens and then you have got the slave camps hidden out of view. I don't think too many Australians like that kind of model. If we move towards this sort of guest workforce en masse that Barnett is floating, it would not take long before these workers became an enclave of second class citizens."

Speaking of enclaves of second class citizens...have you heard the one about the American citizen with an MBA who got “downsized” and now mows grass to make ends meet? The guy is trying to support a wife, kids and a home while the Obama administration has just imposed a cost-prohibitive, mandatory health bill that ought to sap up any “discretionary” income they might have to take a vacation and support themselves, but hey, this is America, ain't it, where educated Americans have been turned into the national neo-frat boy piggybank, or like the Dubai exploited workers, second-class citizens. Who's looking out for U.S. workers' jobs protections? Where are OUR government leaders and labor representatives to reform the bleeding of U.S. jobs for educated Americans to cheap imported labor?

The Coalition for the American Worker answers a few of these questions and proposes a few solutions. From their site:

15 Million Americans Are Out Of Work. So Why Is President Obama Reducing Worksite Enforcement of Immigration Laws When Americans Need Those Jobs?

1. Worksite Enforcement: An estimated 8 million illegal workers hold jobs today. Stepped up enforcement of existing worksite laws and programs such as E-Verify will open up jobs for American workers immediately.
2. Time Out For Temporary Worker Visas: More than 900,000 visas were issued last year alone to foreign temporary workers. And we're still doing it today. Stop giving visas to non-agricultural workers and open those jobs to American Workers.
3. Time Out On Most Permanent Foreign Workers: Of the 1.1 million immigrants admitted to the U.S. last year, 3 of 4 were potential job seekers, while Americans were losing jobs. Reduce the flow of immigration and jobs will open for Americans.

Spread the Word!

Most Americans don't realize their own government is giving their jobs away or that by taking some simple steps, we could open up millions of jobs for U.S. workers. So, if you want to help, start talking to your friends about it. Talk to the media about it. Send emails. Spread the word. Tell everyone you know. And get fired up about it because putting the interests of foreign workers ahead of American workers just isn't right. Email the newspaper ad above and TV spots below to your friends. Then, go to the "How You Can Help" section below and take action. It's up to all of us to stand up for the American worker now. Who knows, the job you save could be your own!

Party on, plebes!

-2Truthy