Chelsea Strong said she used to work at Southern Valley but left because she felt mistreated.
A bus full of Southern Valley field workers, most of whom were Latino migrant workers, on their way to the fields.
Posted on 05/07/2013 2:45:56 PM PDT by SkyPilot
VIDALIA, Ga. — For years, labor unions and immigrant rights activists have accused large-scale farmers, like those harvesting sweet Vidalia onions here this month, of exploiting Mexican guest workers. Working for hours on end under a punishing sun, the pickers are said to be crowded into squalid camps, driven without a break and even cheated of wages.
But as Congress weighs immigration legislation expected to expand the guest worker program, another group is increasingly crying foul — Americans, mostly black, who live near the farms and say they want the field work but cannot get it because it is going to Mexicans. They contend that they are illegally discouraged from applying for work and treated shabbily by farmers who prefer the foreigners for their malleability.
“They like the Mexicans because they are scared and will do anything they tell them to,” said Sherry Tomason, who worked for seven years in the fields here, then quit. Last month she and other local residents filed a federal lawsuit against a large grower of onions, Stanley Farms, alleging that it mistreated them and paid them less than it paid the Mexicans.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Chelsea Strong said she used to work at Southern Valley but left because she felt mistreated.
A bus full of Southern Valley field workers, most of whom were Latino migrant workers, on their way to the fields.
My kinfolk worked the very same fields back in the fifties. They’d travel in from our home state, rent a house, and work the season.
People did what they had to do back when it was harder to get on relief. And people had more compunctions about accepting it.
Cut off the inflow of illegals, and the work will still get done. The price may go up a bit, but since most of the cost of your produce is in packaging and shipping and refrigerating and retailing, you could double the cost of the hand labor and your beans won’t go up that much.
As it is, when illegals manage to legalize themselves, some of them continue to work in the fields but many of them move into other kinds of work, oilfields, construction, what-have-you. But since there are always more illegals coming in, the ag wages are insulated from having to compete.
Fine. They can take their diseased criminal a**es back to the 3rd World sh!tholes from whence they came. I hear Juarez is nice this time of year.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
“But since there are always more illegals coming in, the ag wages are insulated from having to compete.”
End the flow of illegals while keeping the current “free trade” and environmental policies in effect and you’ll see US ag wages continue to be depressed. Look at the amount of produce imported from Mexico and South America. Look at the beef imports from South America. Look at the seafood imports from Vietnam and China. I’ve observed more and more Chinese sourced food in the frozen food section of the grocery store.
US agriculture cannot raise wages and compete with third world country labor. Take the illegals away and see high labor production farming run from this country just like the textile business left in the 1990’s. Note also the environmentalists are determined to restrict land development so farming in the US cannot continue to exist. Look at what is happening in California.
...just laying the groundwork for another industry shakedown.
One of the few industries left that can’t flee the country. And unlike the rest of us that pay REAL money for grocerys the EBT card holders aren’t impacted by this latest example a racial grifting.
True...Free Trade...and its failure....will keep the wages down...
The US will end up like Greece, Cyprus, Spain...and other EU countries...whose troubles are all root cause by Free Trade and its failure within the EU
Free Trade apologists are always claiming Free Trade works .....though no evidence exists that it does...and you get Alinskyed if you challenge. And they are the biggest supporters of Illegal Alien Amnesty
My mother (aged 90) picked and packed peaches in California’s Central valley in the summer where average daily temps are 100+.
Her family was dirt poor — but in those days there were no SNAP cards, Section 8 housing, free phones, subsidized cable TV, free lunches.
The house burned down and they were forced to live in a tent for 6 months while neighbors helped my grandfather re-build (NOT THE GOVERNMENT). My mother said many of the boys in her high school class were killed in WW II - wonder how they’d feel now about the country the fought and died for.
Hunger makes people do whatever they have to to feed themselves.
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