ethics in work

From: Chris Near
To: Mark Crane
English 4310
September 12, 2005

A situation that comes up commonly in the workforce is whether or not
to hire illegal immigrants. It is against state laws to do so, but
still many companies do it. This event is very common in construction
because companies can hire the immigrants to work for cheap with few if
any benefits.

State wide enforcement of this law is fairly relaxed at this time. Most
employers, if they want to, can get away with hiring illegal immigrants
with no visible consequences. The dillema then becomes one of rights,
justice, race, and ethics.

Many legal immigrants complain that employers should not higher illegal
immigrants because they are taking the jobs of the legal citizens who
feel that it is their right to have those jobs. Giving jobs to illegal
immigrants also causes racial tensions to rise even more. Look at the
wall of any urinal on a construction job sight and you are bound to see
how the white workers view their dark skinned, illegal immigrant
counterparts.

This issue also deals with the relationship between justice and
economics. Employers can argue that they are not at fault, but that in
fact it is the consumer that demands they higher cheaper labor in order
to keep costs low. If only legal citizens are hired then higher wages
are demanded along with insurance benefits. This caused the employer to
raise his prices which can lead to less work for him.

In the end it has become a tangled web with no clear answer in sight.

Chris Near
email: 10256178@uvlink.uvsc.edu