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Immigration Reform Bill Protects All Workers
The AFL-CIO is backing comprehensive immigration reform legislation introduced today, which provides a long overdue and sensible approach to immigration reform and protects the interests of all workers—foreign and U.S.-born.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), the main sponsor and several co-sponsors announced introduction of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP) at a Capitol Hill press conference this afternoon.
In a statement, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said “the current [immigration] system can no longer allow a broken immigration system to strips workers of their rights on the job,”
robbing them of earned pay, the ability to collectively bargain for benefits and often placing their lives in danger, forced to work in unsafe conditions. It also penalizes law-abiding employers by forcing them into unfair competition with those that violate workers’ rights to grow their profit margins and then use the excuse of immigration status to avoid penalty or prosecution.
The bill contains some key elements of the union movement’s joint framework for immigration reform, including:
- An inclusive and effective solution that allows a path for undocumented immigrants to come forward and regularize their status. Trumka says “this is fundamental to our ability to crack down on employers who are using unauthorized workers to drive down wages and other standards.”
- An independent commission to assess and manage future flow of immigrants, based on labor market shortages that are determined on the basis of actual need.
- Reform, not expansion of existing temporary worker programs immediately to stop the exploitation of workers and safeguard standards in impacted industries.
The union movement also is urging reforms that will create oversight and enforcement tools to relevant agencies to regulate foreign labor recruiters, essential to stopping the current and on-going exploitation of these vulnerable workers.
Gutierrez told the Capitol Hill press conference:
The time for waiting is over. This bill will be presented before Congress recesses for the holidays so that there is no excuse for inaction in the new year. It is the product of months of collaboration with civil rights advocates, labor organizations, and members of Congress. It is an answer to too many years of pain—mothers separated from their children, workers exploited and undermined security at the border—all caused at the hands of a broken immigration system. This bill says “enough,” and presents a solution to our broken system that we as a nation of immigrants can be proud of.
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23 Comments
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Would someone please tell me how you can have a meaningful immigration reform before we stop the problem of having a wide open border?How can you offer amnesty and not be able to control the influx of people across our borders?Why should people who undermine our wages and job conditions be given anything?You should all remember these folks didn’t come here to join unions.I doubt very much if this gets printed as my last comments have evidently been removed.
Claim: “Illegal immigrants do the jobs that Americans won’t.”
False: Americans will perform any legal job necessary to support themselves and their families. As an illustration, recently 70 US citizens were dismissed from an Alabama construction site by a foreman who said the dismissal was “because the Mexicans had arrived”. Linda Swopes, who operates Complete Employment Services in Mobile AL said: “I assure you it is not true that Americans don’t want to work. We had been told that 270 jobs might be available, and we could have filled every one of them with men from this area, most of whom lost their jobs because of the hurricane.” The identified Mexican illegal immigrant workers were simply willing to work for less money than were US citizens.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060410-123506-1297r.htm
Claim: “Illegal immigrants help the American economy.”
False: Illegal immigrants to the US cost the country at least $10 billion more than they contribute to the economy. The CIS (Center for Immigration Studies) advises that if amnesty is put into place, these costs to the American economy (and the American taxpayer) will triple. The average illegal immigrant family uses $2,700/year more in services than it pays in taxes. In 2002, this amounted to a $10.4 billion drain on the federal budget. Some of the greatest federal costs included: Medicaid ($2.5 billion); treatment for the uninsured ($2.2 billion); food assistance programs ($1.9 billion); the federal prison and court systems ($1.6 billion); and federal aid to schools ($1.4 billion).
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalrelease.html
Claim: “Illegal immigrants are just hard-working people who want jobs.”
False: The US Justice Department reported that in 2003, alone, 270,000 illegal immigrants had served prison time. The Federation for American Immigration Reform reports: “In March 2000, Congress made public Department of Justice statistics showing that, over the previous five years, the INS had released over 35,000 criminal aliens instead of deporting them. Over 11,000 of those released went on to commit serious crimes, over 1,800 of which were violent ones; including 98 homicides, 142 sexual assaults, and 44 kidnappings. In 2001, thanks to a decision by the Supreme Court, the INS was forced to release into our society over 3,000 criminal aliens who collectively had been convicted of 125 homicides, 387 sex offenses, and 772 assault charges.”
The Federal Bureau of Prisons estimates that fully one-third of current prison populations are comprised of non-citizen illegals.
Islamic terrorists, including Mexicans with terrorist ties, have entered and are continuing to enter the US via our unsecured borders.
The violent MS-13 Salvadoran gangs have illegally immigrated across the US-Mexico border. MS-13 has also vowed to kill local police, Border Patrol agents and US citizen-members of the Minutemen project, within the US.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/27/114208.shtml?s=ic
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid%3A60078
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7244879/site/newsweek/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-05-gang-grows_x.htm
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050328-125306-7868r.htm
Claim: “Illegal aliens help keep cost of goods down”
Misleading and false: Although marketplace agricultural products are estimated to be somewhat lower than they would be if US citizens were performing the jobs illegals carry out, the cost to US taxpayers in free services to illegals vastly outweighs any savings to the US consumer. And illegal immigrants are no longer solely operating in agriculture but, have expanded out into multiple industries. In Los Angeles, 49-year old construction worker Michael Williams (jobless for 3 months) said outside of a Home Depot: “You have a lot of illegal aliens here. It takes food off the table.” The spread of illegals into other industries is increasing geometrically.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2006-04-10-immigrants-economic-impact_x.htm
Claim: “Illegal immigrants are being denied [their] civil rights”
False: Civil rights pertain ONLY to citizens. The Merriam-Webster online Dictionary defines civil-rights as: “The nonpolitical rights of a citizen; especially: the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to U.S. citizens by the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution and by acts of Congress.” If one is not a citizen of the country, civil rights do not apply.
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/civil%20rights
Claim: “Illegal immigrants are law-abiding citizens”
False: First and foremost, by the very nature of illegal immigrants being in the country “illegally”, they are neither following nor abiding by US law. Also, illegal immigrants are increasingly using bogus or stolen Social Security numbers. The crime of Identity Fraud being affected by illegal immigrants has become a growing and sever problem. Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) commented: “If the government bothered to look, it could find abundant evidence of illegal aliens gaming our system and the unscrupulous employers who are aiding and abetting them.”
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/14411281.htm
Claim: “Illegal immigrants only want to become US citizens’
False: Although many illegals are demanding US citizenship, and to be given special consideration ahead of those who have applied legally, a marked number of Hispanics do not want it. But, they do demand the “same rights” as US citizens. Many Hispanic groups, including (but not limited to) MEChA, the Mexica Movement and LULAC, are supporting and working toward the re-conquest (“reconquista”) of the United States. These groups are, also, becoming increasingly militant.
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:zb7zb5AZ1w8J:transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/31/ldt.01.html+Reconquista+movement&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=20&client=firefox-a
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060416-122222-1672r.htm
Claim: “Illegal aliens are honest and contribute little to crime”
Misleading: Many are hard working. However, in Los Angeles, alone, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens. “A confidential California Department of Justice study reported in 1995 that 60 percent of the 20,000-strong 18th Street Gang in southern California is illegal.”
http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_1_the_illegal_alien.html
Claim: “The claim that illegal immigrants drain US services is a myth”
False: From the L.A. Times and Rice University’s Professor Donald Huddle: “Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops but 29% are on welfare.” And as far back as 1997, according to Huddle, the cost of illegal immigration to the American taxpayer was a net (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay) $69 Billion.
http://www.freedomalliance.org/view_article.php?a_id=642
Claim: “Illegals do not drive down US workers’ wages”
False: As already presented, illegal immigrants from Mexico are working for far less money than US citizen workers and on a regular basis. An 18 April 2006 article in WSJ by Professor of Economics and Social Policy at Harvard University George J. Borjas (“For a Few Dollars Less”) quotes Paul Samuelson: “…an increase in supply [of workers] will, other things being equal, tend to depress wage rates.” Although Samuelson’s conclusions were, for years, disputed, recently they have been proving to be accurate.
Borjas writes: “My Harvard colleague Lawrence Katz and I recently examined the impact of the 1980-2000 immigrant influx (and particularly Mexican-origin immigration) for U.S. wages. The results are that, in the short run — holding all other things equal — immigration lowered the wage of native workers, particularly of those workers with the least education. The wage fell by 3% for the average worker and by 8% for high school dropouts.” He further concludes: “These effects imply sizable reductions in annual earnings for low-skill workers. In 2000, the typical high school dropout earned $25,000, so that immigration reduced his earnings by $1,200, even after all capital adjustments take place. Mr. Katz and I also examined how much was due to Mexican immigration. We calculated what the wage effects would have been had there been no Mexican immigration between 1980 and 2000. We found that Mexican immigration, which is predominantly low-skill, accounts for all of the adverse impact of immigration on low-skill natives.” In NRO (National Review Online), Borjas continues with: “In fact, immigration may have depressed the wages of low-skilled workers by 5 to 8 percentage points.”
Note: WSJ article is via “subscription only”.
http://www.nationalreview.com/issue/borgas200604250622.asp
Hey Dr, are you unemployed? If so, I have a job for you picking tomatoes at my farm in Florida. Our workers from Mexico finished their temp visas and have gone back home. I won’t be needing them anymore. How ’bout it, Doc? It’s minimum wage work, but what the hell. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, I have a friend of mine in the hotel business who needs someone at housekeeping at the Hyatt in Boston. Don’t worry. You won’t need to to go to each room to clean; it’s the basement job, which entails gathering all the linens and what not and load them into the washers and dryers. You will need to work 10-12 hours per shift (again…minimum wage). Can you handle it?
Dear Dr.
By reading bogus propaganda that supports your bias you’ll always find “documentation” to further your rants.
Turn the record over! Your song is old and tiresome.
The culprits are the corporatists in Washington, D.C. Some call themselves Republicans and some call themselves Democrats. Both Parties have been selling us out for three decades. They are the ones who are respinsible for deregulation, war, the health care crisis, NAFTA, WTO, and other anti-working class acts of war on those of us who work and sweat.
Undocumented workers did not elect them. We the people did. If you’re looking for a scapegoat, America should do a group pose in front of a mirror. Voila! The sheep will appear!
the bill that was introduced would grant amnesty to all 20 million illegal aliens. currently illegal aliens hold over 8 million non farm jobs, and you would support giving them amnesty by supporting this bill. what part of the fact that there will be no amnesty do you not understand. over 80% of americans and legal immigrants(including 70% for hispanics) do not want amnesty in any form.
It is always the same story: amnesty, amnesty, amnesty.
When will we consider unemployed Americans. There are a lot of people out of work, and they would gladly occupy the jobs that illegal immigrants now occupy.
I question if you are defending US workers, or just a pawn of the cheap labor lobby.
I am very disappointed.
Didn’t we just go through this not long ago? And didn’t we make ourselves perfectly clear at that time? NO AMNESTY, NO WAY! Start the campaign against this BOGUS ‘immigration reform’ legislation NOW! This legislation has nothing to do with ‘reforming’ our immigration laws. This legislation does nothing for those people who come here LEGALLY. The ONLY purpose of this legislation is to give amnesty to twenty million people who are in OUR country ILLEGALLY. They are breaking the law by their very presence here and our government thinks we’re going to sit idly by and watch them be rewarded for their criminal behavior? Yes, I said criminal behavior. If you’re in our country illegally it is a crime, therefore it makes you a criminal. Don’t like it? LEAVE!
Those ELECTED officials in DC were elected to be OUR representatives in government. We did NOT elect them to represent people who think it is their God given right to just move in and tell us to move over! WE’RE NOT MOVING OVER! We have laws in this country for a reason and if you’re breaking those laws we won’t stand by and see you rewarded!
Call, write, fax and/or email your senators and congressmen/women today! Then do the same tomorrow and the next day and the next day, etc. etc. etc. Tell them if they don’t listen now they’ll wish they had come (re)election time! We hold their futures in our hands. Make sure they know it. Give illegals amnesty today, join the unemployment lines tomorrow! And even though you may not be one of his constituents don’t forget to BOMBARD Gutierrez’s office with phone calls expressing your opinion on his legislation. And do the same with those who have signed on in support of this AMNESTY.
And don’t listen to those who say it’s impossible to deport twenty million people. There’s a very easy way of ‘depleting’ the illegal population. And it doesn’t even involve deportation. It’s called E-Verify. Tell your elected officials to make it permanent, retroactive and MANDATORY for ALL employers in the US. No jobs, no illegals. We have fifteen million AMERICANS unemployed. Employers will just have to start paying AMERICAN workers ‘living’ wages once again! If our unions concentrated more on representing AMERICAN workers rather than illegals our wages might not be in the toilet now!
Missing throughout the discussion so far, but perhaps mentioned somewhat by Rich A., is to first dig deeply into the root causes of this question:
What is the root cause that has caused such massive immigration from Mexico (and Central America) into the United States?
We know that the massive migration from Mexico is being caused by poverty caused by lack of “living wage” jobs, no health care, no free public education, etc. Further impacting upon impoverished working people in Mexico has been massive government corruption, bloody drug wars, etc. The majority of Mexicans (and most Central American countries) are living in the most abject conditions. (The conditions of working people in the U.S. are now sliding down to this massive impoverishment level. And for the very same reasons! Read on:)
What has caused these abject conditions of vast social inequality?
The basic root cause of poverty in Mexico, and resulting mass migration to the U.S. is this:
U.S. based multi-national corporate capitalism, in control of both Democratic and Republican Parties, has completely controlled the foreign policy of the U.S. to maximize corporate profit. This is done by maximizing the exploitation and even destruction of peoples overseas in every manner possible.
These includes the use of overt war (today in Iraq, Afghanistan, next Pakistan) , over-throwing democratically governments (Guatemala, Chile, Iran, and now Honduras?), embargoes (Cuba), etc.
Through control of organizations such as the WTO, IMF, etc. and the imposition of trade agreements such as NAFTA, CAFTA, etc. vast destruction is done more covertly, to the living conditions of working people. NAFTA forces the privatization of public utilities and to end the public ownership of water, oil, gas and natural resources. Multi-national corporations seek the vast profits generated by these natural resources and works forever to end the profit from these resources from going to help the people.
Capitalist globalization, with the loss of millions of U.S. jobs, is another aspect of this of course, with the the abysmal conditions of “wage slavery” making the multi-nationals vast profits. The U.S. working class is today being methodically reduced to the status of a third world economy, AS FAR AS WORKING PEOPLE ARE CONCERNED.
Final points:
Don’t blame the immigrants for their desperate condition. Their condition is not “their fault”. Their choice was to “go North” or die after a miserably short life caused by unending poverty inflicted by the local ruling elite working in full co-operating with multi-national corporations out to make a financial and literal “killing”.
Don’t blame the increasing impoverishment of working people in this country on the immigrant population. Both Republican and Democratic Parties and Obama have well rewarded for their part in promoting the looting of the economy for corporate profit.
The immigrant is here because of the workings of U.S. and global run-amok gangster capitalism.
Without out any understanding or opposition to this utter destruction of the standard of living of U.S. working people. the organized labor movement continues on the same path of subservience it has taken for the last 30 years.
Without the AFL-CIO and organized working towards the formation of a new political party to fight for the economic survival needs of working people, the country will continue to race towards a form of fascism called corporatism.
“Fascism should be called corporatism, when there is the merger of State Power with Corporate Power.” paraphrased quote alleged to Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist dictator who coined the word “fascism”.
Try to read daily alternative socialist perspectives on current U.S. and global affairs. The World Socialist Web Site at http://www.wsws.org
Have a nice day.
Jerry Wells and Rich A show me that any of this research is false and I may have a change of heart.All you can do is question my loyalty to the union I belong to.My union is suppose to work for me not against me and for my wishes and my wishes are no Amnesty and no illegals taking my job.If you want to give them yours go ahead but I’m going to fight for mine.
W3 i am not unemployed but i have been because of Mexican scabs here doing my job.I’m retired now but I started out with farm work when i was young then i moved up to being a janitor.The farm worked paid 50cents an hour.The janitors job $1.25,I even had a couple of retail jobs that were commission only, do you honestly think I haven’t paid my dues like nearly everyone else in the country?What about our own young people that need a place to start just like me and millions of others that have already followed that path?Oh by the way I guess you fall into the catagory of an illegal employer you evidently know some if not all of your emploees are illegal and your the one that isn’t paying them a living wage if you truly own a farm in Florida.
Are they illegal just because they are Mexican? What do you have against Mexicans? They show up for work on time, do their job diligently and get it done. I guess in your view, they are illegal if they cross the border or enter by boat, but if they fly into an airport and are processed at customs, they are legal.
Employees from other countries HAVE to be legal to be granted temporary work visas. That is the law.
What Would Jesus Do?
I like how you use such web sites from Freedom Alliance, Newsmax, and the Washington Times…all right-wing, Republican-allied sites that spew conservative BS. Your past blog entries and this current one show what a true Republican you really are. It makes me wonder why you are even a union member…your comments belie what the labor movement’s position on immigration reform actually is.
I’m sure you have paid your dues. Everyone has to pay their dues and the last thing they need is to be slapped with a demeaning label by the likes of you.
Tell me, Dr, what becomes of the children that are born in this country from immigrants that are here “illegally”? Is it the American way to seperate families by forcibly returning illegals to their native countries and leaving their US-born children behind? Don’t those children need a place to start, just like you and me and the millions of others?
BTW, most US workers do not work in the fields picking fruit and vegetables and most do not work in the housekeeping business because they choose not to.
The short answer W3 is NO.Let them go home with the illegal immigrant that came here for the sole purpose of having the child.When they become adults let them enter the country as citizens.I don’t have anything against Mexicans as legal immigrants or any other nationality.I do have a problem with people that think they have the right to force themselves on us.to carry the flag of another nation above the stars and stripes to fly the stars and stripes upsidedown,march in the streets carrying banners in the Spanish language and demand equal rights under the law which they have purposly broken.They are not the kind of prople this country needs and those that support them are little more than traitors.I an Independent but I have no strong political agenda because aLL politicians are liars no matter what party they call their own.You may call me a bigot if you wish but my family is such a mixture of cultures you wouldn’t believe it.I just believe that we would be a lot better off to do some screening on the people that come here before we decide that they are just good folks that can do us no harm.They have already done much harm.Also no one as yet has tried to prove any of the articles in my comment incorrect.All they can do is judge where they came from it doesn’t make them false.I’ll bet out of 12 million immigrants you can’t find 100,000 legal visa’s.
Dr, just because a few bad apples have desecrated our flag and flown their native flags doesn’t mean they represent the entire Hispanic population in this country. Immigrants do not come to this country solely to just procreate or to purposely break the law. Most come here mainly to escape the widepsread poverty and/or political persecution that occurs in parts of Latin America. Some never make it: They either run out of money they pay to smugglers who make a killing in human trafficking in Mexico, or they perish en route. The last thing on their mind is wanting to willfully break US law. They just want a better life here that they can’t get back home. To improve the standard of living in Latin America will require lots of resources, investments, and money(mostly from us, since we are the richest nation in the Western Hemisphere) if the US wants to truly reduce the influx of immigrants crossing the American-Mexican border. Repatriating immigrants back to their home countries will not solve the problem; they will keep coming back and we will have a never-ending “revolving door” policy with regards to immigration.
I can’t see how the US would deport their own citizens whose parents are illegal immigrants. There is somthing wrong with that.
I never said you were a bigot. I’m just saying that it isn’t helpful for discourse to have you label them as “scabs”.
W3 I found it for you. In 2005, the last year for which data are available, the United States issued about 89,000 H-2B visas and about 32,000 H-2A visas. The countries sending the most workers to the United States under these programs were Mexico, Jamaica and Guatemala; about three-fourths are Mexican.
Dr, you mentioned that one of the false claims was that illegals do not drive down US workers’ wages and then referenced an article from The National Review, a right-wing web site. The problem isn’t tied to illegals; it is more due to wage theft. According to the following article from the Associated Press, 68 percent of low-income workers in the USA reported wage theft last year, regardless of citizenship status. Read the rest of the article, if you doubt my word: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091217/ap_on_bi_ge/us_immigrants_wage_theft;_ylt=Aq4E5BCFAJjDZra8lATvXzxn.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTNkbWVwbnBvBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMjE3L3VzX2ltbWlncmFudHNfd2FnZV90aGVmdARjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzcEcG9zAzcEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNhc3dhZ2V0aGVmdHI-
It is wage theft that is hurting US workers, not illegals.
What happen to the Meatpacking plants? Look it up it started in the 80′s illegal immigrants caused wages to go down and United States Citizens lose their jobs and the Union AFL-CIO Did NOT do a thing to HELP the UNITED STATES CITIZENS.
Where can I look this up?
Ya just gotta love what LaRaza had to say about the new ‘amnesty’ bill. I’ll quote from their press release of Dec. 11, 2009: “The bill, scheduled to be introduced in the House of Representatives on Tuesday is the latest effort since 2007 to achieve comprehensive immigration reform that would restore the rule of law by bringing the 12 million undocumented people in our country out of the shadows; allow them to obtain legal status and assume the rights and responsibilities of citizenship; crack down on unscrupulous employers whose actions jeopardize all workers; and enact proactive measures to fully integrate new immigrants into our communitites.”
I’ve already fired off an email to TheRace to let them know ‘We the People’ will once again make our voices heard. As we did in 2007. I also advised them how ironic it was that they would invoke a phrase such as ‘the rule of law’ when talking about people have have totally ignored the law by coming into our country illegally. I ‘educated’ them on the fact that had these ‘undocumented people’ followed ‘the rule of law’ in the first place they wouldn’t need to be ‘brought out of the shadows’ now!
Let’s all start the campaign now. Email, call, fax and/or write your elected officials everyday if you can. We must begin to apply the pressure immediately! AMNESTY – JUST SAY NO!
The AFL-CIO cannot support American workers while simutaneoulsy supporting those who are illegally taking their jobs.
definition / hypocrite: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
definition / labor union: an organization of workers formed for the purpose of advancing ITS MEMBERS interests in respect to wages, benefits, and working conditions
The AFL-CIO wants others to adhere to labor laws yet they (the AFL-CIO) advocates breaking our immigration laws — to the detriment of the very people the AFL-CIO is supposed to be protecting.
definition / hypocrite: the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO Seems NOT to be LISTENING to the Membership. Illegal immigrantion is Destroying United States. AFL-CIO needs to do what the Majority of my Union Brothers and Sisters want, and that is Enforcement of the immigrantion Laws and Deportation of illegal immigrants. AFL-CIO WAKE-UP the MEMBERS are AGAINST illegal immigrants and your Management Skills are sending us DOWN the WRONG ROAD.
This immigration reform bill, presented by Democratic Representative Solomon P. Ortiz of Texas, is a good step in the right direction in solving the “illegal” issue.
http://ortiz.house.gov/images/cir%20asap%20summary%2012%2015%2009.pdf
Are you kidding that is a La Raza (the race) type Bill. I gave the Web-Sites to you on reply, But I see AFL-CIO didn’t allow the posting. Google; Meat packing illegal immigrants 1980′s. Wages drop in half and United States Citizens Lost their Jobs.
E-Verify is the way to go.