How come critics say illegals do jobs Americans want do ,is Courthouse construction jobs Americans want do?
February 25, 2010 by
Filed under new construction jobs
More than a quarter of the workers at the new Duval County Courthouse construction site provided false identification documents to the city, authorities said.
Federal officials discovered about 100 fake documents after looking at the paperwork the city started collecting three weeks ago to crack down on arrests of undocumented workers.
The city was informed of the federal checks Monday , the same day four more undocumented workers were arrested near the construction site, according to immigration officials.
Nineteen illegal workers have been arrested in three incidents since September.
A top aide to Mayor John Peyton asked city attorneys Monday to determine whether the continued problems could be considered a breach of contract by Turner Construction, the contractor on the $350 million project, or any of the firms hired by Turner.
Last month, the city made all of the 350 people listed as employees reapply for badges to work on the site. Employees had to fill out an additional form, that the city keeps on file. If the worker is not a U.S. citizen, the city also keeps a copy of the documents the workers provide.
All paperwork is available for inspection by federal authorities, Peyton spokeswoman Misty Skipper said.
Skipper said the city expects to get the list of 100 illegal workers today and will give it to Turner. Turner must revoke all badges for those workers and permanently ban them from the project, or the city will find Turner in breach of contract, according to a letter sent to the company Monday.
“Please know the City of Jacksonville takes this issue very seriously and will not tolerate the hiring of undocumented or unqualified workers for any construction project in our community,” Chief Administrative Officer Alan Mosley wrote.
The city also told Turner it must meet with every subcontractor to ensure every worker has proper documentation.
Turner Vice President David Reaves told the Times-Union on Monday evening he would call back after a meeting. Reaves did not, and he did not return further messages left at his office and on his cell phone.
The city’s contract with Turner prohibits knowingly hiring undocumented workers and Turner’s agreements with subcontractors contain the same language.
John Parker, president of the North Florida Building and Construction Trades Council, said what the city does from here on will show how committed it is to having legal workers on the project. And while Parker said the news about the false documents confirms what he already knew, even he was surprised there were 100.
A Border Patrol agent was en route to a standard patrol at the downtown bus station when several Hispanic men scattered after seeing the federal vehicle. The agent arrested four men, said Danny Conway, patrol agent in charge for Border Patrol in Jacksonville.
Neither city officials nor Conway could say who the four men worked for.
The first 15 people arrested all worked for United Forming, the subcontractor pouring concrete on the project.
Construction on the courthouse began in May and is scheduled to be completed in summer 2012.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-11-09/story/feds_100_workers_at_duval_courthouse_site_provide_fake_id_documents
No. They were talking about jobs like picking produce and housekeeping.
They often do work locals don’t want to do for the depressed wages they accept. They are usually excess labor from grossly overpopulating cultures. That’s who historically has undermined wages. Often they have been recruited from the overpopulating countries expressly for the purpose of reducing wages. I think some of my ancestors were to reduce weavers wages.
Illegal immigrants do not do jobs Americans will not do. The fact is that they do the jobs at a cheaper rate than Americans do and since they are illegal they can do those jobs at a lesser pay than minimum wage.
Add in the fact that you don’t have to pay taxes, insurance, benefits etc. on these workers and the US worker can not compete legally!
What is really a slap in the face is the fact that the US worker has to pay for hospitalization, food stamps, welfare, etc. for these workers which of course drives up the wages needed!
Talk about your government sticking it to you!
I still have not seen any produce needing to be picked at Home Depot
First of all, you need to have a little bit of knowledge on the subject of construction. I, in fact, own my own construction company and understand the concept. I find it EXTREMELY hard to find decent, non-drug addict, qualified and diligent workers to hire. Of course, we verify status by law, and drug test.. which is what usually gets rid of the only qualified workers. You give me a list of qualified, legal and legit men and women who want to fulfill what it means to be committed to a job site, and NOT to be lazy and waste time, and I will gladly accept it.
To the person above me who claims to own their own construction business, I will bet that you do not have a contractors license, and that you cant hire LEGAL workers because you do not want to pay WORKERS COMP!!!
I find it amazing that while you post a lie about how you cant find proper LEGAL labor, the union does just fine in finding efficient and LEGAL labor, and union jobs pay very well.
Nice anti American attitude you have, where you get the biggest piece of the pie and leave everyone else to fight over scraps.