Do you really think wages would go up if foreign workers weren’t hired? Why would they? What reason would companies have? If everyone pays shit, employees don’t really have the choice of finding a better job regardless of who is being hired.
It seems to me that if you’re worried about people not getting paid enough, then you should be fighting for higher wages, not less immigration.
But immigrants sure are a convenient scapegoat for those corporations, aren’t they?
Supply and demand.
If there’s less supply of workforce, workers are in a better position to demand better conditions or wages. Oversupply of workforce gives employers more power in turn.
More immigrants - or anything that balloons the workforce - helps the side of employers, even without considering the fact that most immigrants are satisfied with worse conditions and/or lower pay than western workers.
Like I said- convenient scapegoat you’re making of immigrants on behalf of those corporations.
Not really, it’s something I’ve lived through already before.
When the USSR collapsed, most of our industry imploded virtually overnight. Demand for work disappeared, and so did wages and worker rights; you are in no position to bargain when there’s a line of people to replace anyone at the drop of a hat.
Then we joined the EU and the problem slowly fixed itself by… emigration! A LOT of people left to work in Germany and the UK, making the workforce scarce (=reducing supply). And let me tell you, it’s a lot easier to negotiate with employers when people are hard to replace.
But go on, explain to me how bringing in a cheap workforce will improve the locals bargaining position on the job market.