Department of Labor – Memphis Flyer

Everyone loves tacos, but most of us don’t think too much about how they’re made, or who, in fact, makes them. That all changed here in Memphis, thanks to a recent story in the Commercial Appeal by veteran reporter Daniel Connolly, an expert on the local and national Hispanic community.

The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically shifted the labor market locally and nationally; employees asked for protection during the deadly phase of the infection, and many have since declined to return to unfulfilling — sometimes dangerous — minimum-wage jobs. As a result, ubiquitous “We’re Hiring” signs hang in windows across Memphis and the country.

Currently, with about 11 million unfilled jobs in the United States and an estimated 4 million workers “displaced” from the labor market due to Covid and the continued effects of “long-Covid,” employers are scrambling for employees who now don’t want to work under pre-Covid terms. Laborers are not returning to degrading low pay that doesn’t translate to a “living wage” — or at least compensation and benefits that fully acknowledge their contributions to the business.

Americans aren’t lazy — they’re just fed up. As American corporate profits soar, a South African megalomaniac (“the richest man in the world”) buys Twitter for $44 billion, and a Portuguese soccer player grabs $167 million per year in pay and endorsements, it’s understandable why there’s little motivation to return to a $7.25 an hour job here in the U.S. Congress refuses to move on a federal minimum wage, and the Tennessee General Assembly is content with its citizens earning a pittance. Each relies on the same old tired arguments: Raising the minimum wage, they tell us with neither conviction nor data, will lead to unemployment. Reminding our friends in Congress of the 11 million jobs that are unfilled, presently, doesn’t seem to register.

Hence, the long gaze south. Connolly’s report focuses on a local restaurateur/taco operation who, like most restaurant owners in our city, has struggled in the nearly impossible labor market outlined above. Why not open our southern border to allow for labor flow from Mexico? The minimum wage there is currently the equivalent of $8 per day — or $160 per month. Given that grim reality, $7.25 per hour sounds pretty damn good.

No workable legal pathway exists to bring “low-skilled” people from Mexico here. So people cross the border illegally. Many of these people are “pulled” here by unscrupulous business owners in the United States who need a stable labor force to stay in business and by offering, via Facebook, Twitter, or some other electronic medium that penetrates borders, “a 100-percent safe trip, but without a visa.”

Working without proper documentation (a visa) in the United States is not legal, and soliciting workers with offers of a visa-less “safe trip” sounds remarkably close to trafficking. It will certainly attract the attention of the United States Department of Labor in Washington, especially when the pay advertised clearly violates federal overtime laws.

In the end, taco truck immigration diplomacy is not going to cut it. We need leadership from Washington right now because only the federal government can set, change, and update immigration policy. If we want to avoid more potential employer trafficking, reduce the flow of unauthorized border crossings, and make a dent in the 11 million unfilled jobs in the U.S., Biden will need to lead on immigration reform.

The “other side” in Congress has focused on pure nonsense for the past two years: defending a lunatic who once was president of the U.S., spewing conspiracy theories about a stolen election, and working to take rights away from women. There’s no hope they will join in for a real solution, so before losing control of the House, Biden should push for passage of the Dream Act (filibuster be damned!), which would regularize the status of millions while permanently welcoming them into the labor force.

Biden should also work to modernize our 1960s-style (i.e. outdated) visa system to attack the long backlogs of pending applications.

Both moves would require federal action. The benefits: Our contemporary labor/immigration crisis could be managed out of Washington via responsible legislation rather than from the back of a taco truck parked on Summer Avenue.

Bryce W. Ashby is an attorney at Donati Law, PLLC. Michael J. LaRosa is an associate professor of history at Rhodes College.

When Rudy Carrillo didn’t receive his paycheck from Phoenix Recycling last December, his family in Mexico went hungry.

“My family depends on my paycheck, so they can pay their bills and buy groceries,” Carrillo said.

Carrillo is one of 17 Hispanic and African-American workers who claim that the North Memphis plastic recycling plant stopped paying them shortly after Christmas. Collectively, the workers claim Phoenix Recycling owes them $20,000 in back pay.

The Memphis Workers’ Center, a nonprofit group that defends workplace rights for both immigrant and American-born workers, has been pressuring Phoenix owner Leonard Alexander to distribute the unpaid wages. The group will hold a prayer vigil outside the plant on Thursday, April 17th, at 4 p.m.

“They were getting paid in the beginning when they started working for Phoenix. But then, all of a sudden, the owner said production wasn’t good enough, and he wasn’t getting paid for the material he was shipping out. So he didn’t have the money to pay them,” said Alfredo Pena, a volunteer with the Memphis Workers’ Center.

Alexander admits that he owes the workers money but disputes the amount.

“Altogether, I think I owe them between $2,500 and $3,000,” Alexander said. “The hours they’re claiming are totally different from what we’re showing.”

Times are tough at the Phoenix plant, and Alexander blames his financial troubles on worker error. He claims workers erroneously mixed different types of plastic, such as soda bottles and milk crates.

“They contaminate the stuff that goes out. Then the buyer rejects the whole load,” Alexander said. “I lose $10,000 to $15,000 out of my pocket.”

Carrillo and several other workers say they lost their apartments when they could not pay the rent and a few say their phones were disconnected.

Volunteers at the Memphis Workers’ Center hope to devise a payment plan with Alexander, but if he does not comply, they say they’ll take the complaints to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“I want to pay them their money if I can stay in business,” Alexander said. “If I can’t stay in business, I don’t have any options. But I think we can work something out and get this resolved.”