Posted on 11/09/2011 8:12:31 AM PST by bkopto
Apple growers say they could have had one of their best years ever if a shortage of workers hadn't forced them to leave some fruit on trees.
Growers in Washington state, which produces about half of the nation's apples, say the labor shortage was made worse by a late start to their harvest. The growing season got off to a slow start because of a cold, wet spring, and some migrant workers didn't stick around to wait for it.
But farmers say an immigration crackdown by the federal government and states such as Arizona and Alabama scared off many more workers. They have tried to replace them with domestic workers with little success and inmates at a much greater cost. Many growers have resorted to posting "pickers wanted" signs outside their orchards and asking neighbors to send prospective workers their way.
SNIP
About 15 billion apples are picked in Washington each year, all by hand. Orchards line the hillsides and valleys east of the Cascade Range from the Canadian border in the north to the Columbia River in the south.
Growers have struggled for years with labor shortages, but they say this harvest season is one of the toughest yet. Typically, about 70 percent of the state's farmworkers are in the country illegally. But many Mexican and other migrant workers stayed away this year after some states passed tougher immigration laws and the federal government cracked down.
"We've been dealing with this for a number of years now, and until something changes at the federal level, growers are going to struggle having enough workers," said Mike Gempler, a farm labor contractor for Washington growers.
(Excerpt) Read more at columbian.com ...
Offer free bus or van transportation out to the orchards and cut them off if they refuse to do an honest days labor
Why? The tax payers are already supporting these people. Charging tax payers - twice - for their labor is a scam!
For one thing, the money stays in this country.
The problem is the Mexicans aren’t coming anymore so the growers need to find a way to lure other workers.
No, but that's the result of that dirty little secret shared by many businesses and government: what make these businesses untenable is the increased costs incurred by complying with government regulation.
The Washington state minimum wage is $8.67, and will be $9.04 come the New year.
"Ain't agonna work." Years back I talked with a small manufacturer who signed up to get some subsidized "people on welfare" to work in his shop. To a man, they were resentful that they had to work and sabotaged his equipment every chance they could. Cost him thousands to repair his gear.
They should try "money."
Well, my friend, a fortune awaits you.
Of course, picking fruit is not like picking cotton. Harvesting fruit at its proper ripeness--especially apples, where you have to be careful not to pick the next year's apple--can be a challenge for people, let alone machines.
That’s ridiculous. Might take some training and orientation but you can get welfare people out there picking crops. What do you think their ancestors were doing? It was agricultural work. Matter of fact their brains are suited for simple work and not much better.
Get them free transportation out to the bean fields and orchards and tell them get busy or your bennies get cut off
The biggest tort reform would make the plaintiff AND plaintiff's attorney responsible for legal fees if they file a frivolous case.
No, I'm just not socialized. I believe everyone should earn their own keep, and every person responsible for running their own business. If these farmers have to use illegals (a crime) to run their business, they're no better than the illegals they hire.
If they want good work, they have to pay what the workers will accept. If they're not willing to do that, then they'll have to settle for less - like welfare recipients, for example.
If they can't handle it, maybe they shouldn't be in the apple business.
I pay the market price. It isn't my fault that the government has interfered with the market and set wages above that which the market will bear.
Only if you can figure out a way to remove their right to vote!
I guaran-damn-tee you there's more of them than of those willing to cut them off; particularly when those not willing to cut them off are insulated from the burden of paying for such largesse!
Then whose is it?
So realistically, who will pay to move and set them up out there? What will happen to those that say they got hurt on the job or those that just don’t work? It would a highly visible task and I just can’t see any state govt sanctioning something that could end up leaving them with a bunch of people from out of state, homeless and hungry.
The $22/hr covers security and transport - extra costs to the state. I forget what the prisoners get.
They can, but then if this becomes know, they lose a lot of their whine ability. 14 different federal programs for these type of workers, but then this would require these corporate farms to work and pay on the record.
I don’t think those members of mankind that were homeless and hungry throughout history, really got along fine, do you?
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