Posted on 09/26/2013 8:42:54 AM PDT by reaganaut1
FRESNO, Calif. — With the harvest in full swing on the West Coast, farmers in California and other states say they can't find enough people to pick high value crops such as grapes, peppers, apples and pears.
In some cases, workers have walked off fields in the middle of harvest, lured by offers of better pay or easier work elsewhere.
The shortage and competition for workers means labor expenses have climbed, harvests are getting delayed and less fruit and vegetable products are being picked, prompting some growers to say their income is suffering.
But farmworkers, whose incomes are some of the lowest in the nation, have benefited, their wages jumping in California to $2 to $3 over the $8 hourly minimum wage and even more for those working piece rate.
The shortage — driven by a struggling U.S. economy, more jobs in Mexico, and bigger hurdles to illegal border crossings — has led some farmers to offer unusual incentives: they're buying meals for their workers, paying for transportation to and from fields, even giving bonuses to those who stay for the whole season.
And a few have stationed foremen near their crews to prevent other farmers from wooing away their workers.
"In the past, we were overrun with farmworkers. But not anymore," said labor contractor Jesus Mateo, whose crews saw a 20 percent pay increase. "Employers have to do something to attract them. The fastest workers can now earn more than $1,000 per week."
A California Farm Bureau Federation member survey being conducted this year thus far has found about half of farmers are experiencing shortages, said bureau manager Rayne Pegg. Many of the growers say their workforce has decreased by up to one-third.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Back in the mid 80s i was making $5 to $7 per hour working in the fields.
No - but the GOP-e is in the pocket of big business which is why they are on the D’s side for “immigration reform”.
In America, we even pay the illegals not to work.
Per Hour! When I worked in the fields fifty years ago we were paid by the pound! A penny a pound!
After a rain we made good money, Later, after a dry spell we picked the same amount and as the beans were light we got paid less.
But then, this area was in an economic stranglehold by the agricultural industry. You worked for their starvation wages or you didn’t work.
Then Sam Walton bought some bankrupt Ben Franklin stores, and the stranglehold began to be broken.
Solution:
Bus recipients of welfare payments to fields to earn their keep at no expense to the farmer.
Those who refuse to get on the bus will have their unemployment welfare checks stopped.
No problem finding people to collect welfare though.
As good as the state takes care of them, who would be foolish enough to take a job in the fields?
If it were up to me I would allow the $11 per hour go as under the table untaxed pay.
It makes bookkeeping easier and cheaper for the farmer and the pay more attractive to the picker. The pickers will spend and generate revenue that way.
They run these scare stories at the start of every harvest and they never come true.
Then they don’t report that the harvest comes in at a reasonable cost and everything worked out fine.
Remember all the stories they ran when Georgia had a crackdown on illegals?
The food was going to cost a fortune to harvest!
But then it came in fine and they never said a word about it.
The shortage — driven by a struggling U.S. economy,
That makes no sense. A bad economy would drive down wages. The other two points of a good Mexican economy and "bigger hurdles to illegal border crossings" (if true) would drive up wages.
40 years ago I was picking ‘cots at .25 a bucket.
Not a big change since then. My son works the fields in the summer and he was making $8.00 an hour.
Or will Jose come in to replace his identical twin brother Juan at lunchtime?
Of course, it’s from the AP.
If it’s the homo and obama loving AP, it’s another BS story.
Exactly. $11 is peanuts for seasonal, hard, physical labor in a remote location.
There’s a reason why the garbage man collecting garbage on a city street may be making more than the sales clerk in a dress shop. (Or, if it’s a high-end dress shop with a good saleswoman at work, maybe not again.)
Eleven dollars per hour seems about fair market for some of the more difficult fruit picking jobs if the picker is productive.
How much do these morons think they should be paid.
Sadly too true!
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