Wal-Mart Does It Again:

Workers of Wal-Mart subcontractors arrested
More than 100 suspected illegal workers arrested in Pennsylvania

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Federal immigration agents arrested more than 100 workers at a construction site for a new Wal-Mart distribution center, authorities said.

The workers were detained Thursday on suspected immigration violations and were being taken to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers for processing, Department of Homeland Security spokesman Marc Raimondi said.

Wal-Mart spokesman Marty Heires said the detained workers were not employed by Wal-Mart, but by subcontractors, and the company would cooperate fully with federal authorities.

“We have written contracts with these subcontractors requiring that they follow all applicable local, state and federal employment laws,” he said in a statement.

At least 120 illegal immigrants, most of them from Mexico, were detained, Schuylkill County Sheriff Frank McAndrew said. He said he began investigating the site and contacted federal officials after getting complaints from local tradespeople.

“You’ve got a situation here where illegal immigrants are coming into Schuylkill County and taking (local union workers’) jobs for eight bucks an hour. They are working for poverty wages, and creating unemployment because our skilled tradesmen are out of work,” McAndrew said.

In 2003, a raid of 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states led to the arrests of 245 illegal workers. An affidavit claimed that a pair of senior Wal-Mart executives knew cleaning contractors were hiring illegal immigrants. The retailer agreed to pay $11 million in March to settle the case but denied senior executives knew of the hirings.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10089328/

OK, we'll start right out - these are not people that were employed directly by WAL-MART.

However, WAL-MART, by encouraging subcontractors to pay the lowest wages possible (just like they do) mmake this kind of illegal hiring necessary to secure a contract with them. This is the point of outsourcing - having someone else do your dirty work.

It is a shame in this society that anyone would employ a full time worker for $8/hour or under.

$8/hour = $16,640 per year.

How do we expect anyone to raise a family, much less feed themselves, on that?

It is time America across the board calls for fair wages for all. It is time WAL-MART, as the largest company in America, take the lead on this.

I am, however, not holding my breath.