[World] Columnist "just knew" they were Hispanic

A column about how illegal immigrants get the the kinds of jobs that "we" don't want made reference to the wind blown scaffold incident in Denver.

From the San Diego Union Tribune, written by Ruben Navarrette, Jr.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/navarrette/20051211-9999-lz1e11navaret.html

 

Navarrette says when he first heard the news about the incident in Denver, he had a hunch they would need a Spanish speaking interpreter to interview the workers involved. That's not a bad guess. Many window cleaners are immigrants, and for what it's worth, over half of the safety certified window cleaners in the IWCCI have Hispanic sounding names. As it turns out, Navarrette was right - the workers who got bounced around on that scaffold were not fluent in English.

 

Navarrette says, "Something must be done about the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants who are already here, and about the employers who thumb their noses at the law."

 

Fair enough, but then he says "It's still not clear whether Bob Popp Building Services....is one of those employers and whether the workers it hired are here illegally."

 

That stinks.

 

Navarrette said "it's still not clear", even after pointing out that in new reports, he "couldn't find any mention of whether these two men are in the country legally."

 

What he should have said was that he didn't find any evidence they were here illegally - but instead, he carelessly suggested that the authorities were still investigating his hunch.

(Apparently both of the workers are still here, and one news report says they went right to work for another company in Denver.)

 

Navarrette is a columnist, not a reporter - maybe that's why he got away with the innuendo - but I think his editors should have caught it.

 

And by the way, most people I know who've met Bob Popp say they would be surprised if it turns out his company did much - if anything - that was improper. The company has a full time safety director and an extensive safety program that genuinely impressed all the Board members who visited his place last fall after the BOD meeting in Denver. Weekly safety meetings safety incentives and record keeping - the whole deal. There's an illustrated binder with a thorough plan of service for every building they clean.

 

Except for the careless comments in the Navarrette column - which was about the plight of illegal immigrants, not window cleaning - the news coverage seems to have been very fair. Coverage has touched on every aspect of the story, even showing the installation on the roof and mentioning that the wild ride began after the suspension system failed. And even though they missed a key point - that permanent installations usually are owned by the building, not the contractor - the news media didn't compound the error by blaming the contractor.

 

I guess you just have to watch what you read, and realize you're only getting news - not the whole story.

 

Thanks,

Gary Mauer
Since 1996  - the Window Cleaning Network
Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, USA
www.window-cleaning.net