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 ...
So this is conservatives saying what we really need to solve this problem is better laws, more regulation and more taxation :~) LOL
One way to fix the problem,have prisoners do the job,or high school kids,people on welfare to receive a check would have to work for it.I am sure their are many other idea`s out their.
I'm not sure any of that is required. Legal workers are available. Simply enforce the laws on the books. What's un-conservative about that?
Oh sorry, the Mexican's are NOT stealing American jobs.
I was a clam digger in my teenage years I sold them by the pail or peck,or bushel basket the more I dug the more I made was making a little more than my father was on a good week. Times I wish I could go back to them times.
Sure, all a farmer needs is to be trying to manage prisoners and welfare recipients who have no interest in working quickly or hard, only just hard enough to get a check.
The system works best left alone. That's the fact.
The people who have come in to try to 'fix' the problem have only screwed it up. Workers who only used to stay in town as long as the harvest lasted now have a host of programs they can sign up for to keep them alive but poor during the off season.
There's a severe lawyer shortage in this country. I can only afford to pay a lawyer $20 per hour, and I can't find a single one. What's the deal with this labor shortage?
How did they know to start showing up if they had not already been there?
susie
It's abusive to the American taxpayer who funds the illegals medical bills, their children's educational bills, and whatever else. This is a great deal for the grower who can pocket more $$ thanks to the generous American taxpayer.
susie
Oh, they'll go out of business eventually. Of course, ultimately it's probably worse for all of us when they do. Unless you think it's a good plan to rely increasingly on imported food.....
I find it unbelievable that some posters think it is fine to break the law if it means profit for certain businesses.
I'm not saying it's "fine." I'm simply describing the economic realities of the situation.
Situation ethics at it's best, and definitely not conservative.
Ah, yes. The old "you must not be a conservative" ploy. Rather amusing, actually. But if you really want to play that game ... the transactions between illegals and growers are as close to free market as you're likely to get. Willing employees accepting an agreed-upon wage, and no government interference. Seems to me that conservatives are supposed to be in favor of that sort of thing....
The fact that it's "illegal" to hire these people is really nothing more than an artificial barrier to the free-market transaction. There are good reasons to control immigration, but let's be honest about what it does in this instance.
The thing is, this whole debate over legal/illegal workers misses the point. The presence of illegals is a symptom, not the real problem. The real problem has to do with how much it costs to hire Americans, as compared to hiring non-Americans. This is the same dynamic that has sent a lot of manufacturing overseas.
In the case of agriculture, it's a matter of "insourcing" labor to work a domestic industry. The alternative is outsourcing the production of these agricultural products to places like Chile.
The taxpayers are paying a high price for those services, but I don't think it's the farmers who caused that. It's American liberals who think these workers really need their help, even if they have to spend half their money trying to recruit them into the program and convince them to take it.
Take that up with your elected representatives. They're the ones who authorize that money to be spent.
Fabulously put.
I have long been of the opinion that serious welfare reform would reduce the 'need' for illegal aliens.
Word of mouth, I guess. Folks hear things -- "there's work up north." They weren't there before.
No, it's not the free market when we have the welfare system we have, including medical coverage, thrown into the mix.
susie
It's alot of people's faults, however, facts are facts. One farmer's cheap labor is another taxpayers burden. I can choose not to eat apples if they are too expensive. I cannot opt out of taxes.
susie
That's most likely true. As I've noted here and elsewhere, the shift in my hometown from American migrant workers to Mexicans (legal and otherwise) took place precisely when the Great Society programs began making welfare accessible.
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