I got a friend in the Bureau of Workers Compensation in Ohio, and this might be anecdotal, but they’ve mentioned several times how businesses in Springfield that couldn’t find good work absolutely welcomed and embraced the Haitian population and how it has turned around several smaller businesses that he works with.
One business owner specifically talked about how he couldn’t keep anyone, and how he had to fire a few people that would come in fucked up on pain killers or drunk because it became too much of a problem and fucked with his insurance rates after a particular incident. My BWC friend mentioned how the Haitian population came in to the area and hiring some of them might work out well, so he did it. He says it’s been fantastic. They didn’t have any of that baggage, worked hard and showed up on time every day. He has to have an interpreter but he said it was absolutely worth it just to not have to deal with the turnover and no-shows.
In some ways migrant successes and not failures are bigger fuel for nativist paranoia. Decline of living standards for locals, malaise, substance abuse, opiod crisis etc. are all policy failures, and nativists are terrified that instead of fixing those issues so they can live well in their own nation, the government is happy to let foreigners with more drive and less baggage move in - after all, deindustrialized Ohio is infinitely better than Haiti currently is.
Of course the racial superiority and bigotry play a huge role (in my view the primary role) and economic precarity is a very poor excuse for the insane racism they’ve subjected these migrants to. They aren’t responsible for the policies.
I got a friend in the Bureau of Workers Compensation in Ohio, and this might be anecdotal, but they’ve mentioned several times how businesses in Springfield that couldn’t find good work absolutely welcomed and embraced the Haitian population and how it has turned around several smaller businesses that he works with.
One business owner specifically talked about how he couldn’t keep anyone, and how he had to fire a few people that would come in fucked up on pain killers or drunk because it became too much of a problem and fucked with his insurance rates after a particular incident. My BWC friend mentioned how the Haitian population came in to the area and hiring some of them might work out well, so he did it. He says it’s been fantastic. They didn’t have any of that baggage, worked hard and showed up on time every day. He has to have an interpreter but he said it was absolutely worth it just to not have to deal with the turnover and no-shows.
In some ways migrant successes and not failures are bigger fuel for nativist paranoia. Decline of living standards for locals, malaise, substance abuse, opiod crisis etc. are all policy failures, and nativists are terrified that instead of fixing those issues so they can live well in their own nation, the government is happy to let foreigners with more drive and less baggage move in - after all, deindustrialized Ohio is infinitely better than Haiti currently is.
Of course the racial superiority and bigotry play a huge role (in my view the primary role) and economic precarity is a very poor excuse for the insane racism they’ve subjected these migrants to. They aren’t responsible for the policies.
Off topic, maybe don’t call him your BWC friend
Or, do, if the label fits. No sense denying a man his pride.
I read it as shorthand for “Bureau of Workers Compensation friend” that he mentioned earlier in the post.