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 ...
No.... say the people in the business of growing fruit in today's market. Their margins are very thin.
And while it's all very nice that you were in the business 40 years ago, you need to understand that the market has changed very significantly since then, especially with the introduction of large quantities of imported fruit. Perhaps you need to update your knowledge in order to understand current market conditions.
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!
The prices paid to growers have little relation to what you're paying at the produce aisle. If you really want the details, there's an excellent discussion here. The relevant figure is that the growers receive only about 14-17% of the retail price.
They are available if employers apply for them, and a guest worker program is precisely what it is. That's a major reason we don't really need a new one. Under the circumstances, I'd argue for allowing illegals already here to participate immediately. Since there's neither a citizenship nor a green card path granted by the program, I'd be glad to answer the charge of amnesty. Of course this largely applies only to agricultural employment. Service workers and the building trades are an entirely different matter.
BTW, in those circumstances, amnesty for the worker and the employer.
"It's my understanding there's no limitation on the number of H2 visas at all, so quotas aren't an issue."
Incorrect, according to this piece.
"Then there is the H2-B visa, which was designed for seasonal agricultural workers and service industry employees but also includes minor-leaguers from foreign countries, as they work in America for set sport seasons.
These are the visas that allow American clubs to bring up players from the leagues they sponsor in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, as well as Canadian high schoolers drafted each June.
The system worked well until two years ago, when in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the government lowered the cap on the number of H2-B visas to 66,000 per year, down from more than 120,000 visas in past years."
http://www.coxwashington.com/reporters/content/reporters/stories/BC_IMMIGRATION_BASEBALL03_COX.html
But there is no reason why American teenagers couldn't do this work. After all that is the original reason for their summer vacations!!! I did it! So can they!!!
I'm not an "economic-only" conservative -- far from it. That said, it's really dumb to ignore economics in this issue, since it is THE driving force behind illegal immigration.
The hilarity of threads like this is precisely the lengths to which folks will go to avoid acknowledging the economic factors that drive it -- what causes the illegals to head north, and what drives Americans to pay them.
The result is a focus on the rather ephemeral idea of "illegality." That's a sham position, which ultimately masks either ignorance of the economics, or some different motives. After all, "illegality" can be changed to "legality" in a single day, by appropriate legislation. And then, of course, we'd hear the chorus of howls about "amnesty" -- which simply demonstrates that "legality" was never the issue in the first place.
Sure there is: they can either earn more at McDonald's if they want to work, or they can sponge off mom and dad if they don't.
I was referring to H2A, which applies to seasonal agricultural workers. H2Bs are for temporary non-agricultural work, and they are limited in quanity.
Why fight it??? Mexican migrants have moved into higher paid jobs in America...
American farmers can't pay more since the co-ops won't give them any more...Americans can not compete with farms in South America...
They call this "the chickens coming home to roost"...
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/hp/content/moderndayslavery/reports/h2a1209.html
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_23/b3684204.htm
As other posters have tried to explain to you, not everything comes down to economics. Growing up in California, I saw first hand the extreme negative impact of illegal, and even in many cases, large amounts of legal immigration did to so many formerly middle/working class neighborhoods. I saw the strain it has put on the local infrastructure as well, and it radically changed the polotics of CA.
I know economics is the driving force behind illegal immigration, and that is why those who hire illegals should be punished in the same manner as those who sell illegal drugs. No mercy should be shown what so ever. I am more than willing to have farmers go out of business and have their land resort to arid wasteland than have this mass amount of 3rd world immigration continue.
For lack of a more refined term, "Ouch" that kicked michelle malkin and her followers in the you know where. :^)
Ping for later read...
Funny - when I go to the grocery store I still see plenty of apples and the prices haven't gone up.
Some of the earliest jobs I held were in the fruit industry--picking apples and peaches here in Michigan, back when the minimum wage was $3.35 an hour. I bought my first car from the money I saved up, as did a number of my teenage friends. Those jobs are no longer available to American teenagers, even those willing to be paid under the table for less than the current minimum wage. I also worked as a maid, weekends, my senior year in high school. I tried to get a job as a maid here in Lansing after my first child was born--I needed a job with unconventional hours and hotel/motel work offers a number of such jobs. Even with experience I didn't have a chance. All of those jobs are done by illegals around here. We sold our car to make ends meet. It was either that or daycare for our infant so I could go back to a regular job.
Sure hope you don't mind my dragging an economic reality into the discussion.
IOWs...we need mexican immigrants...
Plenty of people use them. They can be issued "en masse" for multiple workers. It makes sense to hire a law firm, it's the government after all. Just for fun I checked the website of a local law firm. Their link to the Nebraska INS which handles Illinois indicates they're currently processing applications dated 8/10/2006. Obviously there's time involved in preparing the application. In my view growers planning for the 2007 harvest have plenty of time to comply with the law.
There are a couple of other relevant factors which may seem obvious but have not been mentioned. First, the farms are out in the country where there aren't many people, so they are mismatched to many of the sources of casual labor mentioned here. Unlike many businesses, one cannot move a farm to the inner city where jobless people are. Second, these are very seasonal, temporary jobs. The migrants would move from one area to the next to make a living. An apple picking gig, by itself, has limited appeal because it lasts a short time.
Sounds like an opportunity for a service business to me.
Ecomonic conditions are in a constant state of flux. Requireing all American employers to comply with the law is going to raise labor costs in some industries. That's simply a fact. Smart employers will deal with it sooner rather than later.
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