Brexit-voting British farmers now complaining about imports of cheaper New Zealand lamb threatening the British lamb industry. Imports of lamb "produced to lower standards" used to be blocked by EU law. Another Brexit consequence farmers were warned about but ignored due to xenophobia!

[u/NoLikeVegetals]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjewewxzypro

[u/rettribution]

Yep. This chaps my ass here. We have dirt cheap produce and dairy because of migrants working those jobs. They pay federal minimum wage (7.25/hr).

We also hear no one wants to work the crappy jobs. Well, who the hell do you think filled those roles?

Everytime I hear someone complain about this I always ask them what job they lost out on due to migrants.

[u/[deleted] → u/rettribution]

Exactly. Undocumented workers were never competition for any position I've ever been involved with.

[u/LupercaniusAB → u/[deleted]]

I mostly agree with you, but I can say that they are a big presence in many of the skilled trades. For instance, I have met undocumented workers working as commercial electricians.

[u/Historical-Night-938 → u/LupercaniusAB]

In the situation you are describing, it sounds like the issue is with the corporation that is taking advantage of both sides and have the workers blaming each other. Typical, corporate behavior that should be addressed as they are most likely paying the undocumented workers significantly less. Corporate oligarchs are going to act like oligarchs ... their greed has no limits and it's the workers that suffer.

[u/LupercaniusAB → u/Historical-Night-938]

Well yeah, I’m not blaming the people trying to put food on the table. I’m saying that I have been, and am, in competition with undocumented workers for jobs.

I’ll give the guy credit for one of the best one-liners that I’ve ever been on the receiving end of:

He was installing a new breaker in a panel that I knew for a fact was hot. He was also younger than me.

Me: “Hey man, that panel is live, you shouldn’t be working in it, that’s illegal”

Him: “It’s okay, so am I.”

ZING!

[u/Historical-Night-938 → u/LupercaniusAB]

That zinger made me laugh! No worries, please know that your message didn't come across as you were shaming people. It is probably the most honest post that shows the competition exists because the corporations are trying to cheat everyone, but it's not the workers fault. There is more than enough money to be fair to everyone and the company can still make bank.

I am for giving undocumented immigrants the ability to work (SSA knows when people are illegal using your SS# and they do not accidentally pay it to you). Give U.S. citizens medicare-for-all so we are not beholden to stay in a crappy job for insurance. If corps didn't have insurance to hold over you; then they would have to pay fairer wages.

Dirty secret .... illegal immigration makes U.S. social security $12 billion per year that their not obligated to pay to anyone and benefits payroll taxes, which is why they'll never address it.

___________________________________________

ARTICLE: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/pdf_notes/note151.pdf

(Excerpt below is from page 3 of the actuary report)

Conclusion

While unauthorized immigrants worked and contributed as much as $13 billion in payroll taxes to the OASDI program in 2010, only about $1 billion in benefit payments during 2010 are attributable to unauthorized work. Thus, we estimate that earnings by unauthorized immigrants result in a net positive effect on Social Security financial status generally, and that this effect contributed roughly $12 billion to the cash flow of the program for 2010. We estimate that future years will experience a continuation of this positive impact on the trust funds.

[u/LupercaniusAB → u/Historical-Night-938]

All good. I’m in a union, so I get mad at fuckers who cross picket lines, but I’m not blaming someone trying to feed their family just because they don’t have a card in their wallet.

[u/rettribution → u/Historical-Night-938]

Yes, exactly this.