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Emboldened workers sick of living on tips »
Posted by: zaph22 2 years, 5 months agoTraffic threatened to squash his scooter like a dumpling. He survived an armed robbery. Most weeks, he toiled 70 hours so he could send money to his family in China. And for his effort, he said he was paid a salary of $550 per month ââ;¬" about $1.81 per hour. Live on your tips, his bosses told him.
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Comments: 50
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zaph22
May 25, 2007, 6:41 a.m."He survived an armed robbery. Most weeks, he toiled 70 hours so he could send money to his family in China."
"The complaints cover a wide range of industries and workers, from landscapers and warehouse laborers, to shop clerks and construction contractors, but most share a common trait: They involve immigrants who have become bolder about going to court to demand their proper pay, regardless of their legal status."
"REGARDLESS OF THEIR LEGAL STATUS"?
And I keep hearing how hard it is going to be to find the illegal immigrants? Maybe the courts that these law suits are being filed in might have some idea where to find some of them, do you think? And no one would even have to go looking for them, they'll come into the court themselves.
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KingOfTruth
May 25, 2007, 8:01 a.m.zaph22:
And just how do you sneak into the US from China illegally anyway?
They either do it by going to Canada first and Mexico of course....
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SlapALib
May 25, 2007, 8:20 a.m.We should crack down on business owners who take advantage of their fellow citizens by hiring illegals and circumventing wage laws.
And to top it off, when will probably catch a lot of illegals by default, so we can just ship them home.
How do you deport 12 million illegals? One at a time.
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eddie107
May 25, 2007, 8:44 a.m.What a mess, I have no idea where this is going to take us, but it doesnt seem like it will end up in a very good place.
I am a small business owner, I dont pay the best wages in the world, but I do pay as much as I can. (More than minimum wage) But business owners have the corporate world to compete with, big business is crushing everything in America, and what business there is, is being shipped to China because of cheap labor.
How is America supposed to earn a living when all of the jobs have been taken by someone so desperate for work that they will live below poverty to survive?
Many businesses in America make fortunes off of the imagrants unfairley, and certainly should be changed. But a huge amount of businesses are just trying to find a way to stay alive. How can you compete with China, and Corporate America? What happens when the small businesses go belly up, and there is no place for those business owners to work? 2 Bad weeks and I could be homeless.
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EsaEngr
May 25, 2007, 10:10 a.m.Just so there is no misunderstanding... I am very Pro Legal Immigration and 100% against any type of Illeagal Immigration. I firmly believe that they all SHOULD be deported, and that the "Anchor baby" laws should be changed. I know that requires a constitutional amendment. Fine... get it ameneded!
Perhaps, this new wave of lawsuits may actually be a good thing. If the Illeagals win enough big $$$ cases, and that causes enough of the companies that hire them to go bankrupt, then the next guy to start up his business, replacing the ones that are now defunct, will actually hire LEGAL workers. Yes, your egg-roll will cost a few cents more, but I would gladly pay that knowing the workers are all LEGAL and that not 1 single ILLEAGAL Alian is gaining from my purchase.
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EsaEngr
May 25, 2007, 10:16 a.m.I also do not buy the argument that "these are jobs no American will do"! If the Illeagals were gone, more LEGAL immigrants could come here. They would take those jobs, as it would be a beginning to their "American Dream", then in time, they would find better jobs and begin their move forward, only to be replaced by another new Legal Immigrant, so that argument does not work with me.
This is nothing new... was your first job your "Dream job"? Are you still employed by the very first place you ever worked for? Or was it a beginning to your work history? McDonalds is a perfect first job for any teenager or LEGAL Immigrant!
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zaph22
May 25, 2007, 11:26 a.m.I've long said going after the businesses that employ illegals is the way to solve the problem. Fine any business caught employing an illegal immigrant at least 250,000 per each illegal employee, the first time they are caught with illegals working for them, second time 500,000. It won't be long until the jobs for illegals dry up, no jobs, no reason to come here illegally... and those already here won't have any reason to not want to go through the process to become legal, which should involve going back "home" wherever that is, and starting over, waiting like the others waiting to come legally have been.
And maybe a little jail time for THE person at the business that hired the employee, along with the owner, and top manager of the business wouldn't hurt either. That might help slow down the flow of illegals into the US. This new amnesty bill that will get forced through sure isn't going to help.
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texangelwings
May 25, 2007, 12:18 p.m.A few years ago, while eating lunch with my father at a cafeteria, a woman came in and was stopped by a patron, the patron asked her, why she was not working there, the woman said, she was tired of the low pay without raises and that she had gotten a new job at the airport making more money. This was just before the big raids at airport across the USA. (even the illegals won't stay at lower waged jobs for very long.)
The ag-farmers are complaining about lack of workers, because the illegals have moved on to other better paying jobs in construction, meat packing, and many other jobs that Americans WILL DO! Now these farmers want more people.
When people come here they expect to be able to climb the ladder to the American dream.
Until other governments are forced to take care of their own people and until our government starts enforcing our current laws, new laws are a total waste of time & money.
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ramblingwreck
May 25, 2007, 12:45 p.m.Somehow, I can't find any sympathy for these workers. If they don't like the pay, go somewhere else (either here or in their home country). As far as working for only tips, when did that become a bad thing? I worked at a military base commissary (sp?) and averaged $35-$50/day and more than $100 on a good day and that was in 1968. The job is what the job is; if you (legal or otherwise) don't like it, go get another job.
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EPIDEMIC
May 25, 2007, 1:43 p.m.I dont really know what to say abou this subject. My family has been here for many generations (im of mexican decent) and im 50/50 about what should happen. Half of me says deport the illegals that are breaking our laws we as Americans have to obey and the other half says let them stay. We should be more strict against business owners but when the I.R.S gives these people paperwork that states " You will need to get a false social security number for a year before we give a Documented number" (Ive seen this with my own eyes), this does bug me. Alot of people complain about illegals but its our own government doing this. By the way, I meant to say that if these people are breaking our laws (drug dealers, theft, etc.) they should be deported and the ones that are working and are not in trouble, let them say.
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MacR
May 25, 2007, 3:10 p.m.You know there plenty of Americans who are working for tips. Not everywhere it is this way. But resturants and most other places that have someone who waits on the customer. You know the type of a job that Food is delivered to your table.
Well, in Texas the minium wage for that wait person is $2.83. Yes you read that right. Everything else is your tips. And not only are you taxed on the amount of food you serve everyday. But when you get your taxes taken out. When you get that paycheck. YOU can see that there will be little of anykind of money in that check. Yet it was ok for this Congress to raise mimiun wage but felt that these very same wait people did not deserve an increase.
Wow an illegal working delivering things and gets paid tips. Wow just like an American. But yet I see workers that are Americans who are getting paid the same wage as this Chinese Illegal.
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ibstilyn
May 25, 2007, 4:26 p.m.Yeah..and who was it that made tip income taxable? That's right folks..that good old reverse robin hood Ronald Reagan.
Who was it that made interest on passbook savings taxable? Again..Ronnie..! And who wiped out the tax deduction for credit card interest..? naaah..I don't need to tell you..
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Ruggaboo
May 26, 2007, 12:53 a.m.I find it ironic that everyone is sneaking in to the country and then bitching when they don't make the Fortune 500.
Let the Mexicans try it back in Mexico city, or let the chinese try in in Bejing...see how fast they end up with a tank tread across their backs.
If the job don't pay, or your boss tries to cheat you; who would stay for years and why? Anybody with half a drug free brain-pan would find a new gig.
"Common sense is good, but evidently good sense ain't common."
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foksipayne
June 6, 2007, 1:07 a.m.American born, white waitresses in my town make $2.15-$3.75/hr. and their tips are to cover the rest. And I live in a moderately small town of low-middle class citizens. And low-class can't afford tips most the time, and middle class usually only pocket change.
Good story, but it's old news to me.
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