Working Wounded Blog: Immigrants at Work

May 3, 2006 — -- The traffic jams. The businesses shuttered for the day. Those are just a few of the images from Monday's "Day Without Immigrants."

More than a million reportedly participated in immigration rallies nationwide, and many others were disappointed that employees and co-workers chose to skip work for the day. Regardless of your opinion, it was a day when one of the most divisive issues in America really hit home in the workplace.

But I'd like to raise a few topics that I don't think got discussed nearly enough.

First, the economy has changed quite a bit over the decades.
Here is a question: What was the year that for the first time service workers and white collar workers outnumbered blue collar workers? 2001? 1990? OK, we'll go out on a limb here -- 1985?

Nope. The first time that blue collar workers were outnumbered in the economy was 1956 (from "Revolutionary Wealth" by Alvin and Heidi Toffler). I know that was a really long time ago, because that is the year I was born.

So much of the complaining about the loss of jobs to immigrants overlooks one important fact -- the economy has changed dramatically.

With more than 12 million illegal immigrants assumed to be working in the United States, you would think that there would be a huge backlash against them. Think again. According to The New York Times, only 30 percent of Americans want tougher laws against illegal immigrants.

But we've all got to stop pining over the lost manufacturing jobs and deal with the economy that we have, not the one we wish we had. And immigrants play a huge role in keeping our current economy moving forward.

The second point: you'd be in the streets too.
If you think about it, this issue should be personal to everyone.

Sam, Lena, Joseph and Fay. Those names might not jump off the screen at you, but they have a lot of meaning for me. They're my grandparents.

They were born in Hungry, Russia and Germany before they took that long trip to America. Each one has their own precarious story of their journey out of Europe. And it wasn't necessarily a walk in the park once they got here. Each had to take his or her place at the bottom, mostly figuratively, but sometimes literally -- living in the ghettos, working for the bare minimum and having to fight for a place at the table.