b' resident\'s- - - - L , Articlea 1Immigrant Labor By Kurt Steinkuhler, MRCA President Perhaps youbelieveimmigrantheldaccountableforviolations labor takes jobs away from Ameri committed by th subcontractors. eir cans, depresses wages and encour Itis yourresponsibilityasa ages illegal border crossings andbusiness own make sure that er to associated crime.youremployeesaren ther eiPerhaps you believe immi undocumentedn illegal.Furor grants have proven to harbor athermore,if youutilizesubconhigh work eth and are essentialtractors to perform work onyour ic for filling jobs that many Ameri behalf, youmay be held accountdo. cans seem disinclined toable for their hiring practices. You The essence of these opposingmaywanttoconsiderincluding . . .yon utilizeviews most likely sealed the fate ofcompromise, and democracywordinginyourcontractagreeif. the Senate\'s recent failure to evenExperts say another opportunityments th addressescompliance at subcontractors tobring an immigration reform bill tofor immigration reform won\'t arrivewith immigration laws. perform work on youra vote.Compromiseisdifficultuntil2009.In themeantime,weRemember that one of the many andshwhen liberalconservative polit need to work with what we\'ve got.benefits of MRCAmember ip is behalf, yon may beicalextremistscannotfindanyOur friends at NRCA report theythat youmayreceivelimitedteleand common ground - and even moreother construction industry groupsphonelegal advice fromour legal held accountableso when theissue is so complexwill seek changes through the reg counsel. Just call 888-MRCALAW for their hiringand emotional that traditional liber ulatoryprocess.MRCAdoesnottospeakto legalcounselGary theestions als andconservatives seem tobedirectly lobby, but we\'ll give youAuman if you have qu about practices.divided themselves on thisinformation youneedtokeepupcompliancewith safety,immigrissue.aI\'m prettyconservativemyself,withchangessoyou canknowl tion or oth . er lawsbut as roofing contractors many ofedgeablycommunicatedirectly us depend onimmigrant labor. Iswith your own representatives. therehopethatmoderationwillNomatterwh yourpolitical at somedayprevailingovernment,view regarding immigration reform, anda faircompromisewillbecontractors have aunder the duty reached?law to ensure that their employees Perhaps, if we can justonandsubcontractorsdonothire focus the commongood - andincludeundocumentedworkersorillegal immigrantsinthedefinitionofaliens. We work hard to make sure "common."Whetheryou\'retheall our employees are legal in every great-grandsonEuropean immi way, andshould you. ofso recent grants, or aimmigrant fromRecently,a groupofconstrucLatin America, the best among ustion companies agreedtopay the have long made America better andUnited States asum of compromise better.$300,000tosettlecivilclaims Probably the extremistsbothrelated to al legatithat subcononans end of the debate have some goodtractors employed illegal workers in constructio ofpro locapoints,butmostlikely thebestthenajectted solution will disappoint everyone atinBirmingham,Alabama. Inthis least a IThat\'sessence ofcase,theinvestigationfound that ittle.the subcontractorsemployedi !legal aliens and violated federal statutes requiring the payment of minimum or overtime wages. In this circumstance,a generalcontractorwas'