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Vanity: Shortage of Farm Workers?...
Bay news 9

Posted on 04/14/2013 1:34:09 PM PDT by kas7351

I just watched the local news here in Tampa. They had a segment stating that we have a shortage of workers to work the farms. They interviewed the owner of a strawberry farm and he mentioned that due to the shortage of immigrants being allowed to enter this country, he doesn't have enough workers.

Guess the people on unemployment or that have dropped out of the workforce are too good to pick strawberries? Guess they would rather get the handouts!


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Florida; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: chat; farms; farmworkers; illegals; unemployment; vanity
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To: ICCtheWay

“Good American blue collar and farm workers cannot compete because they want a lifestyle similar to all the rest of us.”

Yeah, well, the flip side is this: I have relatives (Americans) in the skilled building trades who think they’re entitled to make a hundred grand a year. It’s ridiculous. Because the market rules, not what you think you “should” make, and there are immigrants (many of them legal) who will do it for less.

One roofing company sent out a blond guy to give us a bid on a new roof. Perfect English. Ex-high school football player, patriot, blah blah blah. The bid? $40,000 for a three-bedroom one-story house. We burst out laughing and he got sore.

We hired the bonded and licensed company with the Spanish-speaking crew and paid $12,000. Good job, good roof, 30 year warranty.

Which company would you have hired?


61 posted on 04/14/2013 3:13:22 PM PDT by Blue Ink
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To: kas7351

I guess we’ll need to import another 20 million turd-worlders after amnesty gets rammed through. Sure as hell won’t raise the pay to attract honest labor.


62 posted on 04/14/2013 3:14:02 PM PDT by Trod Upon (Every penny given to film and TV media companies goes right into enemy coffers. Starve them out!)
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To: kas7351

The dirty little secret about crimmigration is that they’re not coming here to take our low wage menial jobs.


63 posted on 04/14/2013 3:16:59 PM PDT by Kevmo ("A person's a person, no matter how small" ~Horton Hears a Who)
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To: Blue Ink

I rent from a woman who came here illegally. Her company is bonded and licensed. But of course, she wants “a lifestyle similar to all the rest of us.” She’s here illegally, the blonde dude in your scenario is legal. Which company do you hire?


64 posted on 04/14/2013 3:19:43 PM PDT by Kevmo ("A person's a person, no matter how small" ~Horton Hears a Who)
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To: Sherman Logan

If you are in business, and these strawberries didn’t pop up
overnight by the way,
You are the person in charge of profit and loss. He knew the wage needed when pollination occured. If he can’t get them picked why sould we import 1 million more that will be on the Dole the next planting season!
Farmers were the ones that started the hiring practice of the Migrant Farm worker because they decided to pay low wages!
I hope his Strawberries rot in the field!
Offer a better wage and try to come out of it! Or get busy Pickin em your self! And stop whining!
Market sets price. Labor constitutes Profit! Labor is what the owner can bear to achieve the profit he wants.
Sink or Swim!


65 posted on 04/14/2013 3:19:57 PM PDT by Conserev1 ("Still Clinging to my Bible and my Weapon")
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To: bboop
I don’t think I’d hire urban welfare folks to work my orchards.

Back in the '90s I talked with a small manufacturer in Macon, GA. He swore he'd never take in those people "again". I asked him what happened and he said that the state offered a subsidy to any company who would hire welfare types. He took the bait and lost his shirt. It seems they were so pist off that they had to work, they took every opportunity to jam or break his equipment.

66 posted on 04/14/2013 3:21:09 PM PDT by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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To: Oatka

That is ashame!


67 posted on 04/14/2013 3:23:41 PM PDT by kas7351
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To: kas7351

Like you I don’t let grass grow under my feet but, not everyone is a type A.

It is possible to wake up one day and learn you haven’t got a job and loads of bills.

We have a social net to help them bridge that gap. I’m all for helping others temporarily and sometimes a person needs to catch their breath as they wonder what they will do next.

In Silicon Valley you could be doing something complex one day and then find yourself as a waiter of a restaurant or full time at some job that doesn’t pay anywhere near your previous employment.

Try finding another high paying job while employed by a company that requires you on site 8 hours a day.

The fear people have is not being able to interview at the right company and replace their former income.

They aren’t mochers. They’re parents, care givers to a parent or trying to keep ahead of the medical bills for an ill or handicapped child.

I know people in those scenarios and no one would call them a slacker or a mooch.

I tell em take the checks and get back on your feet. You worked all these years and part of your wages went to unemployment, social security and disability. Hell, if you are disabled, due to a work injury, go get fixed and take the check while you heal.

For many workers50+ years old they have accumulated more than $200k of temporary disability in a bucket most people don’t realize they’ve paid into.

It’s there to help you through this period while you heal and it’s 100% your money, that you banked and is used before you take nibble at state/fed monies.

The obnoxious part is that money being yours is unfortunately not available as a right of heir. You can’t pass it on.

So take it, if you are injured.

Anyway, these, on unemployment, were formerly working full time and they aren’t lazy. Just looking for their next job to break their asses and take the crap invective they took from their last boss.

I don’t think they need to be insulted for a perception of being lazy. The fact they eligible for unemployment, demonstrates they do in fact work and probably hard like the rest of us.


68 posted on 04/14/2013 3:41:03 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: Oatka

Being the employer of 20 to 25 people for 35 years I understand what your saying. Been there and have the T-shirt!
One would not believe what some do to get out of working when on the clock.
I had hires through a similar program. Most lasted 3 weeks before being axed. At that point if contested when Un-employment was denied by my company. I would then have to attend an arbitration hearing on why I terminated this poor soul! Anything from theft of material down to vandalism.
Unemployment is not paid completly by the feds! I paid 6% of every empolyee’s weekly salary to the State. When a claim comes in and you have to pay the claim your Percentage raises per claim. I finally downsized to 3 trusted employees and canned the rest. went from 900,000 Gross for the year to about 300,000, but the company did better without property loss and stolen wages. My personal salary took a dive as well. But my mental state was better off as well!


69 posted on 04/14/2013 3:42:18 PM PDT by Conserev1 ("Still Clinging to my Bible and my Weapon")
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To: Conserev1

The Employee pays no part of unemployment!


70 posted on 04/14/2013 3:44:10 PM PDT by Conserev1 ("Still Clinging to my Bible and my Weapon")
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To: Psycho_Bunny

Was just discussing this with another friend. He’s in great shape but, he’s over 50 and he feels like he could probably do the job for a few days before being put in bed, with ibuprofen and an ice pack, when his back pointed out “You ain’t 20 anymore, dummy”.


71 posted on 04/14/2013 3:44:15 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: Kevmo

My choice wasn’t American versus Illegal Immigrant. My choice was bid from an American who wanted to overcharge me versus another reasonably priced American company that certainly hired immigrants — but they weren’t necessarily illegal. Ever been to California? Everybody speaks some Spanish.

My point was Americans in the construction trades overcharge. Immigrants do good work for less money. Are you saying you would have gone with the forty grand bid to get your roof done?


72 posted on 04/14/2013 3:45:07 PM PDT by Blue Ink
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To: Conserev1

Yep and Ike shipped the Brazeros home, with no SS monies for the work they had done.


73 posted on 04/14/2013 3:46:53 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: kas7351

“Guess the people on unemployment or that have dropped out of the workforce are too good to pick strawberries? Guess they would rather get the handouts!”

Hey, jackass, why don’t you find out where they moved to farms to. Oh, that’s right, next to the Mexican border so they can use illegal aliens and too far for most Americans to make the trip. Screw you. Learn a little history before mouthing off.


74 posted on 04/14/2013 3:47:14 PM PDT by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off.)
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To: Conserev1

Not in the strictest sense but, unemployment is built into the business model and like the 8% matching monies on SS, it is uncompensated earnings.

It is done this way for the purpose of shielding the employer from frivilous lawsuits, as is workers comp.


75 posted on 04/14/2013 3:51:10 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: Vendome

Workers Comp is paid by the Employer!


76 posted on 04/14/2013 3:54:28 PM PDT by Conserev1 ("Still Clinging to my Bible and my Weapon")
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To: Vendome

I totally understand with what you are saying. I am not against someone to use the benefits that they paid into as I did for 8 weeks. Just as long as they are out looking for work and not using the system as an income source and exploiting the system.

It seems to be a trend for people to have their hand out and almost expect to be taken care of. Even when there are plentiful jobs out there, maybe not what they did or even maybe they are “over qualified” for that farm job or McDonalds job but it would get them off of the free handouts and back to being productive for the economy and not a drag on the economy.

Just saying!


77 posted on 04/14/2013 3:57:34 PM PDT by kas7351
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To: Blue Ink

You should have looked harder ... otherwise you are part of the problem. It is just an excuse. If the massive flood of illegal aliens had not been allowed - the market place would not have worked as you described. It would have been competitive among AMERICANS. There cannot be competition when a flood of Illegals earn a fraction of the wage. And when the white guy is filing income tax returns and when he is withholding income tax payable to the government and pays it . NONE of which the Illegal Alien or American contactor does when employing illegal aliens. Thus the reason the bids can be cheaper. A dozen illegal workers paid wagebusting wages and no taxes withheld nor paid to the government. Do you endorse forced child labor too?


78 posted on 04/14/2013 3:58:09 PM PDT by ICCtheWay
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To: CodeToad

I live in Central Florida where there are many farms and that is even where the news article came from, Central Florida.

I also am sure the last time I looked at a map Central Florida is not anywhere near the Mexican border. I might be a little rusty on my history but not geography!


79 posted on 04/14/2013 4:02:55 PM PDT by kas7351
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To: Vendome

Excuse me Workmans Comp Is paid by the insurance company retained by the employer!
Not know where your from but! To be in business you need these!
FED Id #
Liability Insurance
Workmans comp Ins
Business liability on Autos to 1 million aggregate
Business premisis Ins
Liability Bond.
For us, underground excavation insurance 2million aggregate

These are just a few been a while prob more now!


80 posted on 04/14/2013 4:03:32 PM PDT by Conserev1 ("Still Clinging to my Bible and my Weapon")
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