Re: Immigration laws and multiple labor markets (was: Re: SocialImperialism [O' Lincoln]

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

David Schanoes wrote:
> It is the permeability of the system, despite its manifest attempts to
> control immigration that is critical.  Lou Paulsen states that if
> Mexican labor was free to cross the border, US wages would fall.  Well,
> this is exactly what has taken place over the past 30 years.  And with
> the enforcement of some sanctions, and the growth of the maquilladoras,
> US wages still fell.  The Reagan era was not just a lost decade in Latin
> America, but in the US as well.

But Mexican labor has not been "free" to cross the border. When it
arrives here, it is subject to all sorts of extra-economic coercion that
goes along with being undocumented. PBS has had a so-so series on race
in the USA that began with an examination of poultry workers in North
Carolina. It showed how Tyson went down to this one Mexican town to
recruit workers. Once in North Carolina, they were inhibited from asking
for a raise since this was basically a one-company town. This is not a
market-driven wage. It is just one step above convict leasing.



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