Probably inevitable that the Snowmass Sun will fall on the chopping block as Swift Communications continues to decline.
Columns like this one from Johnny will never make it into the Aspen Times.
Not unless the little guys out here keep raising voices.
A very special thank-you goes out to Johnny Boyd for this one today.
Up on the Snowmass Sun.
"...Jim Crown might be a great philanthropist, but his businesses and the way he conducts them are the cause of misery to thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people. Low-ball pay is way down on the list.
WHILE ORDINARY AMERICANS fret mightily over undocumented workers entering the country and taking jobs, using services and all kinds of other happy horse hockey to keep them distracted, men like Klug and Crown and many others are doing everything they can to get the cheap labor they prefer.
It has been that way since time began, but the employees of the past weren't quite as brainwashed into believing that big business had their best interests at heart.
Senator Mark Udall is now reviewing the various visa programs that ski areas have used in order to understand whether the program is harming American workers.
Considering the Skico hasn't raised its wages in 15 years and its lift ticket prices have skyrocketed during that same period it isn't difficult to figure out that the visa program has kept the entire valley down.
Write Mr. Udall and let him know that he doesn't have to look far for a company using the visa program to harm American workers.
Obama's policy of fining employers for hiring undocumented workers is the only viable solution to ending the stream of immigrants entering the United States looking for work.
If any employer is hiring the undocumented, a fine and perhaps some jail time are in order.
Throwing a few wealthy businessmen in prison will send a message that won't soon be forgotten. When employers quit hiring undocumented workers, undocumented workers will stop coming.
To tell the truth, I personally don't mind immigrants coming to town and gaining work.
What I object to is the hypocrisy of the employers exploiting these workers at low pay and not supporting a path to citizenship for them if they want it.
Or worse, paying a pittance and then complaining no Americans will do the job.
When it comes to profit people are shameless..."(Johnny Boyd)
(Learn more? Click title or comment to start discussion)
2 comments:
Actually, when you think about it, these H2 and J1 visas are really the first time there has ever been an expose that so obviously ties the employer. Resort owners like Jim Crown pay to assist in the manipulation of these visas. Johnny is right, you don't have to look far. Just like any other employer if Crown was held liable for all the ramifications to what his manipulations of these programs bring down on these workers, it goes a lot deeper than just illegal immigration. It's human trafficking. Same thing with Klug. Then go dig into why and how a 501C6 like ASCRA can be involved at all with anything to do with illegal immigrants and policy? Law says they can't. They are a non-profit in a position of trust. Sure, that doesn't stop outrages like what happened with all the illegals hired down on the GSCRA Chamber President's build in Aspen Glen or the illegals working for Klug. Or the illegals who work on every construction build the Crown family does. But, it is one sure way to nail these powerful, wealthy business people who think they're above the law.
I was speaking to Derek Johnson, a Skico bigwig and a city councilman on Aspen...
He asked me what I wanted? I said for them to be fair. I asked him what the lowest pay at D&E was... it's $9.25/hour. How do you raise a family on that in Aspen? You can't.
Which is all fine and dandy until you point out the hypocrisy in the Crown's philanthropy... $$$$$ to Tocqueville Society of the United Way.
But the problem is way bigger: Skico, like GD, operates on extraction. All against the bottom line.
We are a community of less than 7000 and Paula and Jim are part of that community. Let's sit down, break bread, and talk.
Post a Comment