[ April 19, 2024 ]
A whistleblower who works in the construction industry in southern California said illegals have “taken over every trade” in his business, and wages are suffering.
The whistleblower made the claim while speaking with Progressives for Immigration Reform.
He said he’s been working in the industry since the 1980s, and has seen the transformation up close and personal.
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Breitbart has more:
A whistleblower in the southern California construction industry says illegal alien workers have “taken over every trade” in the business while driving down wages by an estimated 40 percent.
In an interview with the group Progressives for Immigration Reform, a whistleblower who was an independent contractor throughout the 1980s and 1990s explains how the California construction industry transformed into one in which American men could make a middle-class living off blue-collar work to a business where wages have plummeted and illegal aliens dominate the field.
Blaine Taylor, the whistleblower, said the construction industry in California once offered a starting wage of about $45 an hour in the late 1980s. Fast-forward to 2018 — nearly two decades into when illegal aliens began flooding the industry — he now says that wages have fallen by more than half, standing at just $11 an hour.
TAYLOR: If I hired a framer to do a small addition [in 1988], his wage would have been $45 an hour. That was the minimum for a framing contractor, a good carpenter. [Emphasis added]
For a helper, it was about $25 an hour, for a master who could run a complete job, it was about $45 an hour.
That was the going wage for plumbers as well. His helpers typically got $25 an hour.
…
TAYLOR: The reality is that a person that was hired as a laborer in 1988, I paid $15 an hour and within a month if I could leave him on the job alone, he got $20 an hour. If I hired somebody that already knew how to do certain types of labor or certain types of operations, they would get $20 an hour.
Now, the average wage in Los Angeles for construction workers is less than $11 an hour. They can’t go lower than the minimum wage. And much of that, if they’re not being paid by the hour at less than $11 an hour, they’re being paid per piece — per piece of plywood that’s installed, per piece of drywall that’s installed. Now, the subcontractor can circumvent paying them as an hourly wage and are now being paid by 1099, which means that no taxes are being taken out. [Emphasis added]
Taylor says that the flood of illegal alien workers contributed to wages in the California construction industry plummetting between the 1980s to today.
Between 2008 and 2016, construction wages were actually lower than in 1998, representing a roughly 40 percent drop in pay. At the same time, construction materials, Taylor said, increased by about 50 percent.
INTERVIEWER: It’s really strange because as a young man, of course, just entering your working life, you’re making a living wage, and then as you got middle-aged, the wage dropped, which is like… you know most people don’t expect in their careers that they’re going to start out at the top and they’re actually going to fall below where they are when they start.
TAYLOR: Well, part of it was due to the market, but then there’s the other part that really pulled it down and that was the influx of just a flood of undocumented workers. [Emphasis added]
Meanwhile, Taylor says that illegal aliens are dominating the blue-collar trades in the California construction industry, with an illegal alien population that potentially exceeds more than three million.
TAYLOR: Unfortunately, what I have found, is that [the construction in California is] overwhelmingly being built by illegal immigrants that have basically taken over every trade. [Emphasis added]
Just to go back for a second, in the 80’s and early 90’s when I was a contractor, it wasn’t unusual to see undocumented workers doing landscaping, demolition, then it became roofing, and concrete work. So the heavier, more difficult, and dirtier sort of trades where you actually got in the ditches were the first trades to be taken over [by illegal aliens], then the rest of them began to fall.
The drywall was next, painting, framing was the last, and now electrical and plumbing has been taken over. All the trades finally went to the illegal immigrants. [Emphasis added]
In a 2017 report by the Los Angeles Times, the left-leaning paper admitted that at the time illegal aliens began flooding the California construction industry, wages drastically dropped.
“You can’t live on a wage of $11 an hour for a construction worker,” Taylor said. “There’s no hope for people. Young people, as a young man growing up in Detroit, you looked forward to hopefully working in the construction industry.”
“That was an attractive career to go into as a young person,” Taylor said.
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52 Comments
6 years ago
Make california pay its own bills, no federal money at all. They want to be independent, they can start by being financially independent.
6 years ago
Reply to
Mahou Shoujo
There are more immigrants from JP in Caliphornia than any other state in the union. I can only guess the Caliphornia state government must have a full-time propaganda outlet in JP.
6 years ago
Reply to
IzlamDownpressesHumanity
Good place to do business, lots of trendy suckers who can have a guilt trip laid on them.
6 years ago
Reply to
Mahou Shoujo
And since they actually work for a living they can be taxed to death to support the welfare state that is Caliphornia.
6 years ago
Reply to
IzlamDownpressesHumanity
Many of the illegal immigrants working on construction sites in Philadelphia PA don’t even pay taxes. Yet they are still subsidized for their housing, health benefits and food stamps, all paid for by the American citizens who work for a few dollars more but get less net pay – and no benefits! Same rotten thing in New Jersey.
6 years ago
Reply to
Mahou Shoujo
The Case For Public Scrutiny—Making Leadership Credible Again
https://archive.org/download/scrutiny4life/WANTMATH%20webv5.pdf
6 years ago
Dems/Left/Liberal/socialist/feminazis have only destroyed countries which they ruled/misruled.
Just Like this Bernie/Dems socialist utopia has collapsed https://tinyurl.com/yavxfl4m
6 years ago
amen. i’m an engineer who has worked in the construction world for 40 years. all over the country, except where unions are strong, i have watched the roofing, framing, concrete, masonry, excavating, painting, window cleaning, and just general construction trades be transformed from a world where white men could make a good living working a 40-hour week and support a family to a world where everyone is mexican (most illegal), works 80 hours a week at less than half of the normal wages under terrible conditions, and sends all their money home to mexico. i’m sometimes the only english speaker on a construction site. it’s typical of what’s killing america…the wealthier people (developers, landlords, home buyers) turn a blind eye because they can buy a building cheaper while blue collar america loses millions of good jobs and has to work 2 or 3 jobs at half-wages to try to maintain a standard of living that their parents had with one parent working one job. illegal immigration is killing this country….been to LA lately? you want to live in that?
6 years ago
Illegals by their sheer numbers have plurality control over every aspect of California politics and economics.
California has been annexed by Mexico and it is being run like a state of the socialist cesspool of Mexico.
Unlike four years ago — when the Republican gubernatorial candidate, “Neel Kashcarry,” was decidedly more hostile to the Second Amendment than was the Democrat, Brown — this year we have two actual conservative American candidates for governor, Travis Allen and John Cox, who need and deserve our support.
6 years ago
Reply to
Chris Wolf
Parts of Caliphornia, Anaheim and Irvine are beginning to look like muslum sh!ttystans.
6 years ago
Reply to
Chris Wolf
From Texas, I sent a small campaign contribution to Devin Nunes when he was in the news a few days ago.
D
6 years ago
This has been obvious for a long time, if you look at it from the street level. Take long walks, you see it all over.
6 years ago
If you want to save some time watching this video start at 25:00 and watch at least a few minutes. You will need a loved one nearby to pick your jaw up off the floor.
6 years ago
This has been true for decades. In India, IT workers go for $15/hour and thanks to “the cloud” it’s easier than ever to outsource your IT work.
6 years ago
Illegals are everywhere in Southern California, staffing every store and enterprise everywhere, and after risking life and limb to run the gauntlet of Border Patrol and cross the International Border to find work, now they’re all looking around at each other and asking why are we letting these fat, weak, stupid white people keep us all working here like slaves?!!!
6 years ago
Wages for the construction trade have gone down, while home prices in so Cal in that same period, have tripled. So…….wheres all the money going
6 years ago
Reply to
santashandler
this is happening here in Oz! their money comes from drugs and prostitutes. I don’t care what you say I saw it and I heard it! plus these scums hire their own kind and play fiddley winks with poor newbie in the office
6 years ago
Should have included that workers have more expenses and also more down time between jobs and suffer more injuries,etc.,so that’s why Unions have fought for better pay for its members. Illegals undermine all those benefits.
6 years ago
F-ing do something!
ICE has a contact page you can use to report this kind of S-.
Earlier today I reported 33 y.o., illegal alien, Lizbeth Mateo to ICE. California gave her a position with the state. She openly said she came to the US when she was only 14, she’s been illegal for 19 years. The state of CA put her in charge of (funding) educating illegal aliens in CA. Supposedly this done in defiance of Trump and Sessions end to fund sanctuary cities.
I WANT to see ICE drag her illegal A- away.
6 years ago
“Diversity, multiculturalism, political correctness, and illegal immigration is the death of American heritage. The biggest lie ever sold to its citizens. All of these people will transfer your wealth when they out number you. This you can count on!”
6 years ago
The leftist have lied for years knowing the illeagles will destroy America and that is what they want.
6 years ago
He’s a 100% correct – I’ve worked in construction in Southern California and its the same thing here..They may not have taken over my trade which is electrical but they are a portion of it and other trades they are definately a majority.The last Co. i was employed with was owned by a Colombian who had no qualms about hiring illegals,We had people in the crew who could’nt speak an entire sentence in English..
6 years ago
Liberals are anti American rotting whores.
6 years ago
it’s called an invasion
6 years ago
we are destroyed. by suicide.
6 years ago
Absolutely! I was a housecleaner/ chef/ gardener with a waiting list.
My business dropped off severely once the
“ virtue signaling “ of having illegals work , plus undercutting what I charged.
All my friends in the ( Hillary hated blue collar world, remember, she calls us uneducated and racist) We have been replaced by work visa illegals or illegals who DO NOT PAY TAXES, and get many things for free.
Those in the Agra business get free housing, medical, whilst the legal person gets 11.25 an hour, with all the bills and taxes to pay.
The Democrats say no body but illegals will do that job. It’s BS.
This is killing lower income people.
The Democrats clearly do not care about us Blue Collar Group , as they pretend to do.
They only care about Voter Blocks.
6 years ago
Now there is an illegal in the serving in the California Government
6 years ago
Unless we desire to have California/ West Coast to become Venezuela.
We conservative had better get more vocal and Vote.
Oregon and Washington is a Liberal Cesspool Of Feel Good about themselves, clueless about reality do-gooders too.
Out of touch with the economic disaster the illegal flood is.
Soros is flooding EU / UK with Invaders, he’s also funding this disaster here in the USA.
PC is Sharia Law.
This Agenda that is spreading with Misnomers and flat out lies that they call PC must be eradicated.
Now.
6 years ago
Reply to
Jjule
I’m in California and Oregon.
Merkley is supposedly looking at 2020 run.
He used taxpayer money to go to Burma.
Reported that the perpetrators for over 125 yrs, the Radical Islamist were the victims.
Total BS Radicals have been slaughtering Buddhist and Hindus.
They are literally fighting for their existence.
Merkley sides with the Voter Block.
His sycophants thank him for his love and care.
He is constantly lying about Trump, as is Kate Brown.
I swear The Browns are the evil twins of Socialist Hell.
Sam Carpenter seems like a great guy who is running for Governor in Oregon.
Travis Allen in California.
If we don’t vote these Socialist out, we are quite literally doomed .
6 years ago
Reply to
Jjule
his narcissistic personality self righteousness is horrifying.
Running for 2020!
God help us.
He is such a liar.
He reminds me of Gavin Nuisance, Same Self congratulatory arrogance.
California and Oregon must vote these Democrats out.
Period
6 years ago
Reply to
Jjule
All you decent people need to abandon California, Oregon and Washington state. Just pack up and get the hell away from “granola land!” (aka) The land of Fruits, Nuts and Flakes.
6 years ago
Reply to
marlene
https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/25707-the-unbalanced-budget-amendment
How a Balanced Budget Amendment Would Give the Federal Government Lawful Power Over Whatever They Want « Publius-Huldah’s Blog
https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/
https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/20176-the-solution-is-the-constitution-
6 years ago
Reply to
marlene
Socialists and Soros Fight for Article V Convention 17402 joe wolverton ii jd thenewamerican
https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/article-v-convention
Good Advice Against a Con Con
6 years ago
Reply to
marlene
Why the Article V Convention Must Be Opposed | Oath Keepers
https://www.oathkeepers.org/
Coming to Mason, Ohio: Should we have an Article V Convention? « Publius-Huldah’s Blog publiushuldah.wordpress.com/2016/11/09/
Virginia event on the deadly dangers of an Art. V Convention « Publius-Huldah’s Blog
https://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/206/10/20/
6 years ago
Reply to
marlene
An Article V Convention Cannot Stop Federal Tyranny – But Here’s the Real Solution » Sons of Liberty Media
Publius Huldah — Why the “Balanced Budget Amendment” is a Hoax and a Deadly Trap
Judi Caler – Nine Myths from the Convention of States Project
6 years ago
A whistleblower who works in the construction industry in southern California said illegals have “taken over every trade” in his business, and wages are suffering.
=====
Miami, too?
6 years ago
I live in Georgia, just outside of Atlanta and it’s the same thing. No Americans, white or black, on any of the job sites. I drive around a lot for work, and see it all the time. I’m sorry that they hate their countries, but why did we let them ruin ours?
6 years ago
when my house is CA was built in 1990 it was all mexican workers. what a shame
6 years ago
Same thing in Pennsylvania, A couple of buildings constructed by illegal aliens collapsed. Even the Philadelphia utilities use illegal immigrants for construction and the work is shoddy and dangerous. New Jersey is also doing the same rotten thing!
6 years ago
Reply to
marlene
That passenger bridge in Miami, that collapsed. Built by illegal alien labor and inspected by illegal aliens, with substandard materials approved by illegals! And not one AR-15 shot was fired, but 6 people died! Where are the “STUDENT PROTESTORS?”
6 years ago
To combat this problem, vote the Liberal Lesbians and Queer Democrats out of office and the results would be no sanctuary cities, no entitlements. The parasites would have to find another “host’ to feed off of!
6 years ago
How many unskilled, possibly illegals worked on the Miami bridge that just collapsed?
6 years ago
I know of one little village in Mexico that has a population of 475 written on a rock at the village entrance. The last time I visited there the only people there besides the couple i went there with were older women, old men and young kids.
About a year later while working in Mammoth Lakes California, as an equipment operator for an underground contractor, I heard someone shouting my name. I was my Mexican friend with 10 other men from his village working for a building contractor. The contractor rented a house and had 25 men staying in that house that worked for him as carpenters, roofers, and masons.
The contractors don’t have to look for illegal workers. When one gets a job they will recruit others from their own town. Most of the illegal aliens Working In Mammoth Lakes in the building trades, in restaurants, and house keepers at resorts come from just two or three villages in Mexico.
6 years ago
I don’t know any construction worker worth $45.00 an hour.
D
6 years ago
Remember “Taxpaying citizens are call “Racists” and “Nazis” but the illegal aliens are called “Dreamers”. I don’t take credit for that quote, but can’t remember who said it.
6 years ago
Hey Guys–Blame the owners who want cheap labor!! This is exactly why we NEED E-verify to pass and put a stop to these American traitors!!
