A winery in Charlottesville, Virginia which belongs to U.S. president-elect, Donald Trump, and is run by his son, Eric, is looking for six workers to work as manual laborers in the vineyard. This is according to the U.S. Department of Labor records. The workers are needed to work 6 days a week and will be paid $10.72 per hour. The jobs are temporary and are expected to run for the 6 months from 31stJanuary 2017to 30th June 2017. Neither the winery nor the president-elect’s transition team responded when asked to comment on the winery’s use of foreign laborers.
According to the U S. Labor Department Filings, Mr. Trump’s businesses have hired more than 1,200 foreign workers between 2001 and 2016. Even after starting his presidential campaign, during which he vowed to hound out immigrants to create more job opportunities for Americans, his businesses have sought to import workers on several occasions.
The Mar-a-Lago Club alone, one of Donald Trump’s many businesses, has hired more than 800 foreign workers to work as cooks, housekeepers and servers among other positions over the past decade. Records held by the Department of Labor show that the club did not do much to try and attract U.S. workers. They only met the minimum advertising requirements set out by U.S. labor laws. It is possible that Mr. Trump’s businesses actively seek to hire foreign workers who can accept lower wages and poorer working conditions compared to U.S. citizens who know their rights and will demand for better working conditions.
The fact that Donald Trump’s businesses rely on foreign workers for quite a lot of their processes makes people wonder why he is so against immigrants coming to work in the U.S. It is ironical that he is going against his very own words. The question of why many of his companies hired foreign laborers was raised during his campaign.
In his defense, Trump said that he only sought foreign laborers when he could not find suitable Americans to work for him. This is in line with the U.S. Department of Labor’s requirements. He said that the club usually needs workers between October and March and it is very hard to get U.S. citizens who are willing to do this kind of work in that period. Besides, most U.S. citizens are looking for permanent fulltime employment.