[Marxism] immigration issues

[Andrew Pollack <acpollack2@xxxxxxxxx>]

Naturally Joaquin missed the point of my posting, because by
not reading it carefully, he gets once again to prove how
benighted the rest of us are. The point was that EVEN Borjas,
whom even some progressives like Steinberg quote (supposedly
in defending Black workers), admits that the bosses use immigration
for their own benefit. That's it. Period. The point is that this
quote can be used by us to expose the bosses.
Joaquin's point on the transfer of revenue between countries
is a valid one, and fits with David Bacon's Children of NAFTA
a must read.
However Sartesian makes one crucial point:
"2. In the 1973-1993 period, the attack on wages, and employment
levels (which becomes the same thing)  in specific industries
precedes the employment of immigrant labor in those areas."
I made a similar point in explaining to a comrade how union-
busting in meatpacking preceded the large-scale employment
of immigrant workers. In other industries and other times
immigrants (and Blacks) have been used DURING unionbusting
(and often later became the most militant fighters for unions).
The point is that the bosses have many tricks up their sleeves,
and use many different ways to divide the class in many
different sequences.
And yes, many unions have many Latino organizers; certainly
that's the case in New York, and in general -- at the moment
-- they're mostly fitting comfortably in with the bureaucracy.
But the composition of their membership, and the dynamic of
existing struggles, both contractual and around immigration,
makes those unions key points of intervention (which is why,
for instance, even though the unions here are taking
horrible positions on the May 1st strike, the genuinely
broad immigration coalition they lead is the only legitimate
arena of activity, as opposed to WWP/PLS' sectarian front.




                        
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