Any thoughts on why the local teenagers aren’t used more? The laws? The kids don’t want/need to work, etc. Not that many kids in the rural areas?
I was doing some consulting for a guy on his small winery in Eastern Washington and he said he had a small group of good workers (mainly Hispanic) that knew what they were doing when it came time for harvest. He said they like working with grapes ‘cuz it is all at eye-level (no stooping, etc.). But even then, in order to keep them he was paying a couple bucks above minimum wage.
IMO, minimum wage is for kids out of high school who have never held a job. If these men wanted to make money all they have to do is switch over to a quantity wage, ie. 50 cents a bushel or whatever the going rate is.
Don't use any under 18 because of the labor laws that Lowery placed several governors ago. It is too difficult to deal with the scheduling.
But the big thing is the liability if they get hurt. It is bad enough dealing with L&I when an of-age worker falls off a ladder or gets clothing caught in machinery. As a matter of fact, we have had two female workers in the past, walk out of the normal walk-way after their shift was over, in the winter, slip and fall on ice.
Now they are on permanent L&I disability. Go figure.