Red Eye

No immigrant problem for bosses

NYT, 9/23 — In a time of widespread joblessness, Mexicans in New York have proved unusually adept at finding and keeping work….And as they have filled the city’s restaurant kitchens and building sites, they have acquired a reputation for an extraordinary work ethic.

“They put their heads down and work…”

One reason Mexicans have found work in such numbers, experts say, is that many are “illegal” immigrants, and less likely to report workplace abuses to the authorities for fear of deportation….

“Employers are quite interested in employing people who are willing to work and to overlook some labor laws.”….

 “They can call me and say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to come in tomorrow and work….There’s nothing I can do. I have to go work.’....

Many Mexican men in New York left their wives and children behind when they came in search of jobs. Some…say the absence of families makes it easier to endure the hardships…and to focus on work....

“Americans expect accommodations to be made in their personal lives. But these guys have no personal lives.”

….While there was nothing intrinsic to their culture or character that made Mexicans better workers than others, a certain pride came with the toil…

Agustin, 45.... found a job this year at a supermarket in Bensonhurst….He now works 12 hours a day, seven days a week, he said, and is paid $4 an hour, more than $3 below the minimum wage. He sends whatever he can back to Mexico….“if I don’t work,” he said, “they don’t eat.” 

S. Africa: System robs workers

GW, 9/24 — The ANC critics claim that it has fallen into the trap of business patronage, corruption and bureaucratic indifference towards millions of poor South Africans….

The ANC conference this week, kick[ed] off with a gala dinner at which a seat at president Zuma’s table cost $73,000. During the week, breakfasts with ministers were to provide business people with direct contact with decision-makers.

“We have an absolute entré into any ministry.”… Others are more harsh on the ANC…”What the ANC, with the endorsement of the Communist party and Cosatu unionists, have developed is a truly amazing system. It allows them to make sweeping promises during elections then stage a fake battle between alliance partners.

“The contending forces manufacture discourses that suggest that what is at stake is something noble and for the benefit of the oppressed and excluded. The…battles crowd out the real questioning of how they run the country. No one takes responsibility, and the spoils are shared [among the insiders].” 

No recession, just a fall in jobs!

NYT, 9/21 — The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The downturn officially ended, and the recovery officially began, in June 2009, according to an announcement Monday by the official arbiter of economic turning points. Since that point, total output… has increased.... But nonfarm payrolls are still down 329,000 from their level at the recession’s official end 15 months ago, and.…the unemployed still have a long slog ahead…The recovery thus far has been so anemic that the job picture seems likely to stagnate, and perhaps even get worse, in the near future.

Black pols help rulers stay on top

NYT, 9/21 — It’s no secret that the president is in trouble politically, and that Democrats in Congress are fighting desperately to hold on to their majorities. But much less attention has been given to the level of disenchantment among black voters, who have been hammered disproportionately by the recession and largely taken for granted by the Democratic Party….

Race is still a very big deal in the United States.... Black leaders like.... Obama try so hard to behave as though they are governing in some sort of pristine civic environment in which the very idea of race has been erased....

The president has consistently seemed more concerned about the needs and interests of those who are already well off, who are hostile to policies that would help working people and ethnic minorities....