Posted on 10/09/2011 1:24:37 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Alabama farmers frantically looking for workers to replace those that have fled the state in the wake of its tough new immigration law should just stop by their local prison, according to the head of Alabama’s agriculture department.
John McMillan, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, told the Montgomery Advertiser on Thursday that inmate labor through the state’s work-release program offers a short-term solution to the sudden labor shortage that has hit Alabama since enforcement of its illegal immigration law kicked in.
Some farmers have said the state’s new law has driven away Hispanic migrant farm workers — and without another potential labor source, they say produce may have to be left to rot in the fields.
“We are optimistic that by Monday, we will have some help for farmers,” McMillan said.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Thanks, eyedigress! Makes sense to me... it is work and you can get out early or be lazy and do the full time. I personally don’t have any problem with using the prison/jail population to clean roads, parks, etc... IMHO, it is “paying” society back for the wrongdoing and “earning” your keep (for the prison medical system, food, etc).
Maybe you should ask farmers before you go telling them that they must use criminals for their workers.
lol, Illegals are criminals!!
I'd prefer to hire AMERICAN criminals rather than criminals from another country. Support America!! (and only non-violent criminals)
***Some things never change, Alabama plantations can’t seem to work without slave labor.****
And Arkansas’ Prison farms are doing just fine.
You obviously don’t know what you are talking about.
Says the one who doesn't live in a farming community to the one who does! lol
I'm almost ready to spill the beans and tell what I do for a living. It doesn't require any illegal activity like those who hire people from another country who are not legal to work in the US.
That woman guard was killed, because a co-worker got stupid. That co-worker was withing 50 feet of a inmate with a gun. (Which is against the rules.) The inmate got the gun and shot the female guard.
While there are probably some, I am constantly, but shouldn't be, amazed at the ingenuity of the human mind.
I lived in Stockton, Calif, in the late '60s when farm labor went out on strike at the height of the season. In one area, the desperate farmers were welding blades to their tractors to cut/harvest asparagus. Problem was, the blades cut immature as well as ripe stalks. Enter the geniuses at UC Davis. In THREE WEEKS they came up with a cutting device that used feelers to cut only plants at a certain height.
In the '70s I met an inventor who had over a dozen patents in food processing (he invented the machine to de-segment those canned Mandarin orange slices). He showed me a machine he had just patented that would DE-STEM strawberries without injuring them. Couldn't sell the machine to anybody as Mexican labor was cheaper (they'd tell the mothers if they wanted a job, they had to bring in their children and relatives to work for free).
Cheap labor stifles innovation. Unleash that American genius for innovation and a lot of this "labor shortage" will evaporate.
the article you sight also points out that using the work release prisoners is a temporary solution for crops that are ready now. It sounds to me like groups of people working on solutions during this transitional time.
Don't you ever get tired of posting that crap?
I’ve worked in enough embassies overseas (specifically latin America) to know about the legal programs.
I merely suggest an innovative way of solving the labor issue, and the public safety problems. It wouldn’t be that difficult to put together a program such as I described.
Blessings.
Remember when the left went nuts because of Sheriff Joe’s female chain-gangs..................They were getting 2 for 1 and it was all voluntary. The left is a bunch of idiots.
Nazi reference ? Seriously ? Ever since Perry went into freefall, you bots have completely flipped your wigs.
Don’t you get tired of shilling for that crap candidate ?
Interesting, but true. There are many reasons, some of which I don't know either. But, what I do know is that parents don't encourage teenagers to work anymore. It is beneath them. The parents will buy them a car and put gas in it and provide them with anything else they want -- it is not a matter of need.
Another factor here in the south is the weather. It is oppressively hot and humid for 8 or 9 months a year. Personally, I enjoy being outside regardless of the weather, but I am unusual in that regard. There is just too much comfort in air conditioning these days.
Another reason is welfare and disability payments. Why work an honest day of labor when you can sit at home or on a stool in front of a slot machine at the truck stop? In our area, this is a BIG cause of labor shortages. Too Many folks willing to live a substandard life just so that they won't have to work.
We will pay people up to $12/hour cash money for farm labor, depending on what you know and what you can do. We never pay less than $8/hour. We will provide you with transportation to and from work at our expense and feed you a good lunch if you have no way to get fed on your own.
In NE Louisiana, these are good wages that will support a modest lifestyle, and a good lifestyle if there is more than one income.
There are few takers.
Would you rather that they be inside lifting weights and watching cable, or working to grow their own food or grow food that will be sold to help pay the prison expenses?
Yes, it is in plain sight because there isn't a damn thing wrong with it. Perhaps another thug will see the work detail and decide that it is not for him.
I hope your son saw it for the good it was.
Amen.
In Georgia, there are factories and other shops inside the prisons. One makes eyeglasses for inmates statewide and another makes the mattresses that all prisons use. There is also a furniture making shop, but I forget where that is used.
“Taking it off here, Boss.”
Why not offer college tuition credits for farm labor?
As a factory foreman, 95% of my painters were convicts working out of a halfway house.
I knew they would be at work every day on time and I always knew they would take as much overtime as I could dump on them. I never had any problem with any of them except for one who was a petty con man who was always looking for a new scam.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.