Posted on 08/30/2006 11:14:35 AM PDT by SJackson
WAPATO, Yakima County Heinz Humann was late this year. Later than he's ever been.
His workers finished thinning out apple and pear trees to prepare for the harvest in mid-August. But they should have been finished a month earlier. The past few months, it's been tough for Humann to find enough workers for what he can afford to pay. He's had plenty of work, he says. But it seems there's no one willing to do it.
Add to that the other issues that hurt his bottom line, such as taxes and environmental regulations, and "I can see the writing on the wall," he says.
"We're doomed."
Like Humann, apple growers all over Washington this summer are complaining that a heated immigration debate in the U.S. has combined with a late cherry harvest to create a shortage of agricultural workers, perhaps the worst they've seen.
Evidence in the fields of Eastern Washington is so far anecdotal. But some guess that migrant workers may be attracted away by higher-paying jobs. Others surmise that high gas prices have discouraged some workers from driving north after finishing harvests in California.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Thank you.
susie
Have you ever seen someone PICK fruit? Tough to modernize.
An old friend used to pick fruit in Chelan for beer money in the summer. even 1/2 drunkin the late 70's he made $6-7 an hr.
I'm looking forward to the day that the California/Napa Valley liberals start to issue the same complaint as this apple grower. They're so "high and mighty" now, but just wait until they start having to pay a buck or more per bottle of wine.
I'm just tired of employers knowingly employing illegal workers.
I recall posting a few articles about legal migrant workers a few months ago. Several had worked here illegally in the past. As I recall they were being paid in the $9 to $12 range, which they described as being about double their wages as illegals. Transportation was employer paid, rather than worker paid to a coyote. As was housing. As I noted earlier, I'd like to see medical and liability insurance required. And the workers come back to the same job year after year. Obviously hiring an illegals is much cheaper.
"It's not the growers ... they're getting hammered by low-priced imported fruit."
say you...
I was in the produce business 40 years ago.
I LIVE in CA where these crops are grown...behind my house!
and we shop!
farmer's markets, chains & mom & pop groceries!
nobody is gonna tell me that growers are getting "hammered" not when we are paying the prices we're paying almost three dollars a pound for tomatoes and like I said a buck and half a pound for apples & peaches...
if they're only paying ten bucks an hour for pickers then the only people who are getting "hammered" is the public!
That's one of the myths in this debate. There aren't a fraction of the visas and quotas available to permit an average Mexican peasant to come here legally to do farm work. It's nearly impossible to do.
I never said we should. I was simply pointing out the economic constraints under which the growers operate. The real issue is the cost of legal workers, which is too high for some of these growers to bear.
It's not a phenomenon isolated to agriculture: those "Made in China" labels at Wal-Mart are part of the same issue.
The H2 visa program provides for legal migrant workers. Yes, at greater cost.
Sure. But he guy in this article is saying that "at greater cost" is simply more than he can bear. The prices he gets for his fruit aren't high enough to support the additional cost .... so he'll probably go out of business.
As I said before, farmers/businessmen such as the one mentioned in the article do not deserve to be in business if they need ILLEGAL labor.
It's my understanding there's no limitation on the number of H2 visas at all, so quotas aren't an issue.
Travel for the Mexican peasant, not a problem for since transportation is provided by the employer. Might be a financial problem for the employer.
Yes, it involves planning. But agriculture pursuits require long range planning. That's not a particular impediment.
Other impedimants, imo important ones, are payment of prevailing US wage rates and certification that sufficient American workers are unavailable at the prevailing rate.
And if illegal workers were not amply available, the growers would be demanding a change in that. In addition, if there really was no fruit/veggies to be had or if it costs more than the public was willing to pay, the public would demand it be changed. Of course, both things presuppose we shut of the spigot of illegal aliens.
susie
12 to 20 million illegals and none to pick the fruit?
jobs even illegals wont do.
It's a broken system which needs to be fixed. Won't happen overnight, so growers, and restaurants and builders, will have some time to adjust, but could some go out of business, sure. Operating outside the law isn't a legitimate alternative though. Trade/tarriffs is a different issue, but plenty of business' and workers have suffered financial loss as a result of "Made in China" labels.
I'm sure there's lots of Americans who want those jobs. They obviously aren't looking in the right places.
Are laws against ILLEGAL DRUGS also barriers? Why bother getting morphine from a Doctor and phramacy when an "independent" retailer can sell you heroin for 1/4 the price no questions asked?
The economic only "conservatives" who see nothing more than dollar signs have turned me off the GOP.
Making enough visas available is the same thing as a guest worker program. Make them available to people already in the U.S. and you'll be attacked for giving "amnesty."
Robert Mugabe is looking for farmers in Zimbabwe
What about the lost taxes not paid by the illegals and farmers on payroll
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