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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 2016)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2016 OUR VIEW Workplaces change, but labor makes world go ’round M any Americans still do work on assembly lines, in ofices and in ields. But many do not. The ofice is an ever-evolving concept. When Labor Day was born in 1883, the holiday was a big deal for workers. And that was an America rife with large factories and their assembly lines. In ways we can hardly imagine, industrialists including Henry Ford and Thomas Edison introduced innova- tions and new techniques that transformed an essentially agrarian society into an urban one. Compare old photographs of workers from a century ago with people today and it becomes apparent that Americans ourselves have changed in amazing ways, growing both upward and in circumference. Today, even the poorest among us are better fed and far more advantaged than average citizens were at the start of modern labor movement. Positive changes don’t occur sponta- neously. Individual men and women, work- ing with intelligence and tenacity, deserve our gratitude for incrementally making the USA a nation which, for all its laws, is still the wonder of our age. While all manner of things have changed, the idea of honoring labor remains an honor- able aspect of this nation. Ultimately, those toiling in anonymity are far more worthy of our thanks than the famous captains of industry. Our families exist because of the labor of our parents and grandparents. ere on the Lower Columbia River, the Columbia River Fishermen’s Protec- tive Union was perhaps the most visible of several active organizations that struggled to level the scales of economic and politi- cal power on behalf of laborers. It wasn’t unusual for multiple men to die each sea- son in the small, open ishing boats of that era. Meanwhile, ishermen vied with salmon packers over a penny or two per pound for the big Chinook that were the foundation of our economy. The power of local companies and work- ers ebbed and lowed over the years. In bad times like the 1930s, many companies failed and the jobs they provided disappeared. Firms that survived were often the ones with the best long-term partnerships with isher- men and canning workers. These companies looked after employees and their employees returned the favor. This collaboration between labor and cap- ital in bringing about success is still robust in places like the communities of the Lower Columbia. The owners of companies on the scale that prosper here understand that good workers are absolutely indispensable. And workers here are close enough to the front lines of capitalism to seldom take their jobs for granted. These partnerships between employ- ers and employees are at risk in the giant corporations that wield so much power in the nation beyond our cherished coast. The thought of companies transferring their real or symbolic headquarters to foreign nations in order to deprive the U.S. of tax revenue should revolt us all. Citizenship — whether by individuals or corporations — is a two- way street. Those who prosper thanks to the advantages created by our great nation must H Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian Tyler Neale, assembly mechanic at Lektro Inc., works to assemble an airplane tug. Aviation Survival Technician Darren Hicks prepares his rescue swimmer equipment before being lowered into the ocean. Coast Guard Aviation Maintenance Technician Chelsea Stark hoists rope back into the helicopter while completing training exercises off the coast of Tillamook. During the training flight, the four-person helicopter crew practiced rescue training exercises. in turn be willing to help pay for it. Corpo- rations that enjoy the protections of Amer- ican laws, such as the patent on EpiPens, shouldn’t wiggle out of tax obligations by moving their symbolic legal residence to another nation. ur economy has been transformed in recent decades. Economic recovery has been uneven, delivering far more wealth to a few, while most Americans work within the context of a globalized labor market that tends to keep wages down. This is creating feel- ings of anger and insecurity that are relected O in this year’s presidential politics. Whoever is elected must take steps to address these con- cerns. Even so, working conditions and job fairness are a quantum leap better than they were in our grandparents’ time. All Americans living today still beneit from the transforma- tions in labor laws and attitudes that came to permeate 20th-century society. Although you don’t have to look far to uncover derogatory attitudes toward unions, the fair-employment initiatives that were led by organized labor groups are key to every- thing from minimum wages, bars on child labor, safe working conditions, employer-pro- vided health insurance and a host of other things we take for granted. In good times, some Americans consider labor rights and organizations to be sort of expensive extravagances. But even as the overall economy continues to improve, it still behooves Americans and our leaders to empower labor in ways that ensure future eco- nomic health, and a balance of power between corporations and everyday citizens. Families struggle to pay for the edu- cation children require for the technologi- cally demanding jobs of the future. Health care, once one of the near-certainties of mid- dle-class employment, remains a source of worry even after implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Personal wealth still is far from recovered to what it was before the Great Recession. For all these reasons and more, it’s important we always pay atten- tion to the details of working life. The victo- ries of the past can leak away when we’re not watching. The only immigration solution: enforcement, legalization By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER Washington Post Writers Group ASHINGTON — The one great service of Donald Trump’s extended peregri- nations on immigration policy is to have demonstrated how, in the end, there’s only one place to go. You can rail for a year about the squishy soft, weak-kneed and stupid politicians who have opened our bor- ders to the wretched refuse of Mexico. You can promise to round them up — the refuse, that is, not the politicians (they’re next) — and deport them. And that may win you a plurality of Republican pri- mary votes. But eventually you have to let it go. For all his incendiary lan- guage and clanging contradictions, Trump did exactly that in Phoenix on Wednesday. His “deportation task force” will be hunting ... criminal aliens. Isn’t that the enforcement pri- W ority of President Obama, heretofore excoriated as the ultimate immigra- tion patsy? And what happens to the non- criminal illegal immigrants? On that, Trump punted. Their “appropri- ate disposition” will be considered “in several years when we have … ended illegal immigration for good.” Everyone knows what that means: One way or another, they will be allowed to stay. The solution Trump’s retreat points the way to the only serious solution: enforce- ment plus legalization. The required enforcement measures are well known — from a national E-Ver- ify system that makes it just about impossible to work if you are here illegally, to intensiied border patrol and high-tech tracking. The one provision that, thanks to Trump, gets the most attention is a border wall. It’s hard to understand the opposition. It’s the most vener- able and reliable way to keep peo- ple out. The triple fence outside San Diego led to a 90 percent reduction in iniltration. Israel’s border fence with the West Bank has produced a similar decline in terror attacks into Israel. The main objection is symbolic. Walls, we are told, denote prisons. But only if they are built to keep people in, not if they are for keep- ing outsiders out. City walls, going back to Jericho, are there for protec- tion. Even holier-than-thou Euro- peans have conceded the point as one country after another — Hun- gary, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Austria, Greece, Spain, why even Norway — has started building border fences to stem the tide of Middle Eastern refugees. Legalization The other part of the immigration bargain is legalization. What do you do with the 11 million already here? In theory, you could do nothing. The problem ultimately solves itself as the generation of the desert — those who crossed the border originally — is eventually replaced by its Ameri- can-born children who are automati- cally legal and landed. But formal legalization is a political necessity. It gets buy-in from Democrats who for whatever reason — self-styled humanitarian- ism or bare-knuckled partisanship — have no interest in real border enforcement. Legalization is the quid pro quo. If they want to bring the immigrants “out of the shad- ows,” they must endorse serious enforcement. Such a grand bargain could and would command a vast national con- sensus. The American public will accept today’s illegal immigrants if it is convinced that this will be the last such cohort. This was the premise of the 1986 Reagan amnesty. It legalized almost 3 million immigrants. Because it never enforced the border, however, three has become 11. And that’s why the Gang of Eight failed. They too got the sequencing wrong. The left insisted on legaliza- tion irst. The Gang’s Republicans ultimately acquiesced because they igured, correctly, this was the best deal they could get in an era of Dem- ocratic control. The problem is that legalization is essentially irreversible and would have gone into effect on Day One. Enforcement was a mere promise. Hence the emerging Republican consensus, now that Trump has aban- doned mass deportation: a heavy and detailed concentration on enforce- ment, leaving the question of what happens to those already here either unspoken (Trump on Wednesday) or to be treated “case by case” (Trump last week). The Trump detour into — and retreat from — deportation has proved salutary. Even the bluster- ing tough guy had to dismiss it with “we’re not looking to hurt people.” The ultimate national consensus, however, lies one step further down the road. Why leave legalization for some future discussion? Get it done. Once the river of illegal immigration has been demonstrably and securely reduced to a trickle, the country will readily exercise its natural magna- nimity and legalize. So why not agree now? Say it and sign it. To get, you have to give. That’s the art of the deal, is it not? DAVID F. PERO, Editor & Publisher • LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager • CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager • DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Founded in 1873
