Some Ala. farmers cut back crops, citing crackdown - Page 3

saltwn · #21 (**permalink**) 05-20-2012, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamesrage

It makes sense.Farm work is seasonal, back breaking, in the hot sun and out of the way. These factors make the job extremely undesirable. That means that farmers can not pay legal workers the same wages they can illegals.And due to the job being extremely undesirable you can't pay them the same wages as someone working at a Wal-Mart or McDonalds. Transporting workers to a out of the way job and offering good pay for a job like would make it an extremely attractive job.

If they were smart, big commercial farms would do like the Pennsylvania steel mills did and go to where the poor people are (at that time it was Polish or Irish immigrants) and recruit.
Also to break a strike the meat packers recruited recently emancipated jobless blacks in the south.
I bet half the state of Arkansas and part of Mississippi would empty out and we'd have enough workers in the fields.
Farmers in Texas build houses and furnish them for their Mexican foremen, why not for citizens...

40yearfan · #22 (**permalink**) 05-20-2012, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamesrage

It makes sense.Farm work is seasonal, back breaking, in the hot sun and out of the way. These factors make the job extremely undesirable. That means that farmers can not pay legal workers the same wages they can illegals.And due to the job being extremely undesirable you can't pay them the same wages as someone working at a Wal-Mart or McDonalds. Transporting workers to a out of the way job and offering good pay for a job like would make it an extremely attractive job.

James, I believe the farmers CAN pay more for their laborers and they should. I wouldn't mind paying a few cents more for groceries if it meant they were from the US and collected by US citizens. I'm sure a lot of Americans feel the same way.

jamesrage · #23 (**permalink**) 05-20-2012, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 40yearfan

James, I believe the farmers CAN pay more for their laborers and they should.

I agree.

Quote:

I wouldn't mind paying a few cents more for groceries if it meant they were from the US and collected by US citizens. I'm sure a lot of Americans feel the same way.

It would be just a few cents more for groceries.Pro-illegal like to make the fear mongering claim that farmers hiring Americans at adequate wages(enough money to entice Americans to work on farms) would cause tomatoes or any other produce to rise to 9 dollars a pound. This is simply false.

Local News | Low-paid illegal work force has little impact on prices | Seattle Times Newspaper

40yearfan · #24 (**permalink**) 05-20-2012, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamesrage

I agree.

It would be just a few cents more for groceries.Pro-illegal like to make the fear mongering claim that farmers hiring Americans at adequate wages(enough money to entice Americans to work on farms) would cause tomatoes or any other produce to rise to 9 dollars a pound. This is simply false.

Local News | Low-paid illegal work force has little impact on prices | Seattle Times Newspaper

Agree 100%.

saltwn · #25 (**permalink**) 05-20-2012, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 40yearfan

Agree 100%.

So it goes without saying...why isn't this being done?

1069 · #26 (**permalink**) 05-21-2012, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GottaGo

Shades of the old chain gangs.

Only problem is, an unfortuante fact, most welfare receipients aren't what I'd call 'in top physical condition'. Hell, I'm not in top physical condition, don't know how long I'd last.

Just one health issue in the field, and it would be done in.

I don't feel this type of labor can be 'forced'. Offered maybe, but not forced.

Not to mention that most of the poor are housed in the inner cities, which is exactly where society wants them.
Logistically, transporting them to farms and then housing them and their families there would be a problem.

crazyflamingos · #27 (**permalink**) 05-21-2012, 08:34 AM

Something that no one here seems to be aware of is that it is not all about the "wages." The welfare recipients and unemployed office workers or high school grads do not have the skill-set needed to do the work.

First of all, farmers do not pay by the hour or day for many jobs. Workers are paid by how much work they turn out.

A recent article in an Alabama newspaper pointed out that a skilled harvest worker can take home $200 for one day's work. Unskilled workers will take home more like $25.

Migrant workers who grew up working beside their parents in the fields, are, of course, going to be the ones who are able to make a decent wage doing this work. The guy who hauls his butt out there because he has been on unemployment too long is just going to come away, hot, sore, frustrated and even broker than he was when drawing an unemployment check.

It is going to be a very difficult adjustment if farmers are forced to pay many times the actual worth of the labor in order to entice American workers to the fields. And food prices are likely going to skyrocket.

saltwn · #28 (**permalink**) 05-21-2012, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1069

Not to mention that most of the poor are housed in the inner cities, which is exactly where society wants them.
Logistically, transporting them to farms and then housing them and their families there would be a problem.

Why? It's not a problem now busing them from Guatemala and housing them.

saltwn · #29 (**permalink**) 05-21-2012, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyflamingos

Something that no one here seems to be aware of is that it is not all about the "wages." The welfare recipients and unemployed office workers or high school grads do not have the skill-set needed to do the work.
Neither did the Mexican when our farmers started recruiting them whole hog around the mid 70s.
First of all, farmers do not pay by the hour or day for many jobs. Workers are paid by how much work they turn out.

A recent article in an Alabama newspaper pointed out that a skilled harvest worker can take home $200 for one day's work. Unskilled workers will take home more like $25.
That is the way life is. I remember people working for production only.

Migrant workers who grew up working beside their parents in the fields, are, of course, going to be the ones who are able to make a decent wage doing this work. The guy who hauls his butt out there because he has been on unemployment too long is just going to come away, hot, sore, frustrated and even broker than he was when drawing an unemployment check.
Whites and Blacks used to grow up learning these skills. The Mexicans had to be shown. By Guess who? Well here's what the farmer can do. He can get some skeleton crew of Mexican and other migrants to teach and bring along the new people who in turn help the new comers. Some will excel; others will not.
It is going to be a very difficult adjustment if farmers are forced to pay many times the actual worth of the labor in order to entice American workers to the fields. And food prices are likely going to skyrocket.

I don't see that they need to pay more than piece work price and the government could even kick in day care so everyone will not be screaming child abuse.

crazyflamingos · #30 (**permalink**) 05-21-2012, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

I don't see that they need to pay more than piece work price and the government could even kick in day care so everyone will not be screaming child abuse.

Yeah, that is going to happen in Alabama.

I suspect that government and the farmers working together could solve this problem. But I also suspect that is never going to happen.

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