Looking to workers to rebuild
We Americans tend to see Labor Day as the end-of-the-summer finale and forget its origins. But this year, Hurricane Harvey has punctuated Labor Day and made it dramatically different from others.
Labor Day originated in the union movement and became a federal holiday in 1894 to pay respect to working people, who have struggled throughout our history, and continue to struggle, to make our democracy vibrant and strong.
It is a day to recognize the labor movement’s impact on our society. Among other things, unions (not companies) brought us the five-day week, overtime pay, minimum wage, workplace safeguards, paid vacations, sick leave, employer-provided health insurance and other protections written into law.
Nor do most Americans realize how hard, long and even bloody the struggle was — how many people went to jail, lost their jobs, and some even died. The justice of the movement’s goals attracted support from many of the nation’s religious communities.
There are still millions of workers, however, especially in the construction, agriculture and the service industries, who still suffer daily exploitation and are among the lowest paid and least protected.
Because of Hurricane Harvey and the devastation it has caused, we are looking to the workers who will rebuild Houston and the stunningly long swath of cities and towns devastated by an unprecedented calamity — a gargantuan task that will take years if not a decade and more.
Where will all the laborers come from? They will not be, and cannot be, the people who have to get their lives and homes together and return to the jobs they had before Harvey in order to resurrect the economy.
Immigrants will share significantly in the hard work of rebuilding Houston and the coastlands, many of whom, of course, without legal documents. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will do a “wink-wink” and dare not deport anyone during this time because doing so will undermine the colossal reconstruction underway.
There’s precedent for this. It is how New Orleans rebuilt itself after Katrina, relying on the sweat and toil of undocumented workers. Of course, the precedent is even longer in American history. Immigrant workers helped build America’s infrastructure and its powerful industrial economy for more than a century and a half.
Harvey’s gut-wrenching devastation is so deep and broad that we cannot rebuild without immigrant workers. It is impossible. Few people question that immigrants are hard workers, especially in construction; and we will rely on them.
Harvey has become a reality check on the immigration debate, underlying our dependence on immigrant laborers. These people are refugees from brutal drug cartel violence in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala or economic refugees from Mexico. Houston also has significant immigrant communities from other areas of the word, escaping violence or economic oppression.
Instead of waging their self-serving “war” on immigrants, our political leaders need to accept the reality that Harvey has underscored. Immigrants and non-immigrants depend on each other, now more than ever. The time has come to accept the reality, and regularize the status of people who help build our economy and knit together our community.
There is also another danger here, presented by the hurricane — exploitation. The current antiimmigrant politics have driven people underground, making it even easier to exploit them with underpaid or unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions, and so on. Let’s not let that happen.
A battle rages in America between two competing views of society. One view is that society exists for the individual (“What can I get out of it?”). The other is that democracy functions best when we all contribute appropriately to make it better for everyone. We know from history that our society flourishes best when we emphasize community, not only in the present time but for our grandchildren and the generations that follow.
Harvey brought out the best of our communities, and we should recognize that immigrant workers are part of our society and help make it as strong as it is.
Because of Hurricane Harvey and the devastation it has caused, we are looking to the workers who will rebuild Houston and the stunningly long swath of cities and towns devastated by an unprecedented calamity.