Irvine begins by focusing on the harsh labor conditions of a tortilla factory on Chicago's South Side, then goes on to report the wider findings of the Center for Impact Research. As a result of this report and ensuing publicity, the U.S. Department of Labor announced its intention to work with ethnic community groups in order to uncover abusive employers. Often, the abuse is real. Sometimes, it is hideous. Unscrupulous employers are always blamed - and with cause.
Government is always the proposed solution, with disastrous results.
Employees who are not authorized by government to work have little or no protection against employers who break contracts and coerce their labor through threats. Usually they threaten to turn employees or their undocumented family members in to the INS for deportation. Immediately, undocumented workers became vulnerable to abuse. The relationship between undocumented workers and the big labor unions is more complicated. In 1986, the AFL-CIO vigorously backed IRCA, largely because it gives American workers an extreme advantage in the labor market.