Posted on 12/29/2014 11:48:44 PM PST by Jim Robinson
FRESNO, CALIF. — Farmers already scrambling to find workers in California — the nation's leading grower of fruits, vegetables and nuts — fear an even greater labor shortage under President Barack Obama's executive action to block some 5 million people from deportation.
Thousands of the state's farmworkers, who make up a significant portion of those who will benefit, may choose to leave the uncertainty of their seasonal jobs for steady, year-around work building homes, cooking in restaurants and cleaning hotel rooms.
"This action isn't going to bring new workers to agriculture," said Jason Resnick, vice president and general counsel of the powerful trade association Western Growers. "It's possible that because of this action, agriculture will lose workers without any mechanism to bring in new workers."
Although details of the president's immigration policy have yet to be worked out, Resnick said the agricultural workforce has been declining for a decade. Today, the association estimates there is a 15 to 20 percent shortage of farmworkers, which is driving the industry to call for substantial immigration reform from Congress, such as a sound guest worker program.
(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...
Repeat after me: There is no job that an American won't do for a given wage if the price point is set correctly.
If you are not attracting workers at wage A then increase wage A by amount B until you attract employees. It is called supply and demand. Your "friends" are blowing smoke up your tucas.
Would you pick lettuce for $100/hour? Probably you would, that is a ridiculous example but it makes my point. There is a price point between minimum wage and 100/hr that will attract workers. it is their duty to find it , not import foreign nationals.
Get rid of welfare, then people will have to work.
I'd estimate that at least three out of four in our area meet most of the above criteria.
Wasn't it interesting in the article how it was just assumed that the workers had to come from another country, and the price point was fixed?
The Resnick creep complained about not being able to bring in any new workers. How 'bout advertising in the Ferguson, MO paper, Jason, you jerk? Heard there's a lotta unemployment there.
For that matter I'm lectured daily about the Crisis of Homelessness here on the Central Coast of California, with unemployment and Hopelessness. Head to the Pajaro Valley, job seekers! Los Mexicanos will soon be doing Electrical Engineering in Cupertino according to this article, freeing up lotsa strawberry picker jobs! Yeeeehaah!
But apparently the Americans will find discrimination for these jobs, as the so-called "Americans" offering these jobs apparently believe they belong to one nationality alone, and it isn't ours...
Tell me again, why do they "own" land in the U.S. if that's the case?
Wow, so this is Skilled Horticultural Labor requiring specific backgrounds?
Could you point me to the Horticultural Institute in the Oaxacan Highlands where most of these Exquisitely Skilled Horticulturalists come from?! Maybe we could send some of our people there to be steeped in this mysterious knowledge.
You are so brilliant! I sense a business opportunity! Start a labor brokerage for US farmers. If pay is the only consideration and they are presumably hostage to their access to labor, you can simply keep upping the advertised pay package until you find the work force. Simple!
If that fails, you could set an example and advertise your services for whatever you think you are worth. Plan C could be to begin farming produce, paying American citizens whatever it takes to get them to work....right beside you, of course.
As for me, I am a small 72-year-old woman. I have always worked for myself. There was not a single time in my life that I can recall that I would have picked field crops, no matter how much was offered. And there were times I was pretty desperate for income. I just am not physically capable of such work and I recognize my limitations.
I do know people who picked apples seasonally up into their 50s. Everyone of them admitted it wasn’t worth it for the pay, but they had no other options. Thankfully, I was always able to find something else.
You obviously do not understand economics. If the border were sealed shut your friend would learn real quick about back stabbing America.
It seems Freepers that feel the need to let everyone know the are ex-liberals in their handle are always an issue. It is advertizing you were a brain dead loser at one point, part of the problem. I would keep it a secret myself only out of shame.
-- good day
I don’t see how a visa program that has been in effect for decades is an open borders issue. Not one of these workers has violated US borders. Not one of these employers has done a thing to hurt any American. Instead, good food is produced at the best possible price. These visas are not cheap and a lot of time & effort is required on the part of the employer. The workers are paid well, housed well and treated well. The business pays a lot of taxes at all levels. What is wrong with workers coming here and then going home? Some of these workers have been doing these jobs for the same employers for over ten years. They don’t want to live here, permanently.
Your alternative is....? No one comes here to work, nothing is produced and all food is imported? You would shut down American farming and lessen our food security.
Maybe you would prefer some sort of conscription service, sort of like Pol Pot’s, where every American is mandated to work on farms or perhaps a closed country “sealed shut” like every communist gulag?
Start a farming business with only American workers.
Recruit American workers to agricultural jobs.
Show everyone how it works.
Economics: My husband and I have worked for ourselves running our own business, sometimes with employees, since 1975. We create products and services, have a great credit score, have never been bankrupt, have taken no public money, have paid exorbitant taxes and have even survived this present political/economic situation.
As to my handle: 15 years ago, I thought it was good to be honest. I also thought that having experience on the left would be appreciated. However, there is a contingent here that apparently resents us. Perhaps we intrude on the echo chamber by correcting suppositions founded more in rhetoric than in fact.
Yes, there are many of us. Most of us were classical liberals, just like the Founders. We were personally impacted as the American classical liberal tradition turned totalitarian. We survived the fire. Seems to me that is cause for congratulations. Each of us is one less D voter. One more R voter (or not, considering the present GOPe). One more person supporting this site. All of us living proof that everyone can change.
Ad hominems redound against those who use them. They negate any opportunity for discussion. If you query the former liberals, most of them will explain that it is precisely that sort of response that characterizes the American Left, caused us to question their foundation and motives and turned us towards conservatism. You might also want to research the term “projection”.
Happy New Year to you, too.
Americans do not want to sweat, for the most part.
From observation and discussion, the skills needed are a work ethic that involves getting up at dawn, following the day’s rota of production necessities, doing each chore efficiently and as well as humanly possible, being able to operate heavy machinery, being willing to care for livestock as needed, being able to function within a team, being able to take appropriate initiative, exhibiting personal responsibility, doing a hard day’s labor until sundown and continuing this for the entire length of the growing and harvesting season. Then going home for three and half months, renewing the required visas with the attendant paperwork and background checks, returning in the spring to do it all over again, reliably.
I have employed American workers. Over about a ten year period within a forty-year career, I can point to two of these who met the above criteria. Both are successful today. The rest were a series of net losses. I found firing people to be traumatic. In the end, it was easier to scale back and do everything myself.
I wish there was some way of educating people to the value and rewards of essential work. I believe it is inherently cultural and for the past twenty years or so, our native culture has failed in this sort of education.
It isn’t just manual workers who lack these traits. I have been told by financial sector employers that they would be thrilled to find people who could manage to even change the toner cartridge when necessary without being specifically told to do so.
It’s not mystical and it’s not rocket science. IMO, it begins with basic self-respect and an appreciation that he who doesn’t work, doesn’t eat. It is the recognition that the means of production begins with two hands, two feet and a brain. I have called it bootstrap capitalism. It is what once made this country great. Today’s liberals hate the very concept and have excoriated me for supporting it.
I know you thought you were being wittily sarcastic, but I decided there was actually an element of truth in your screed and therefore answered it seriously.
I am sure if you emigrated to China you could find a lot of people that meet your criteria at the paltry wages you must pay.
So how much per hour did this job pay?
I was not speaking about our business, as we do not farm.
When we had workers, they were part-time. We stopped having employees in the mid-90s. We always paid well over minimum for 10-20 hours a week, with a lot of flexibility. We were producing jewelery, felted notions and hand-woven clothing at wholesale. I never had anyone I could trust to work while we were at trade shows...these were people who had to be closely supervised. They did metal prep/clean up work, assembly, loom prep and machine sewing.
There were no shortages of applicants from the 80s-90s. But what sounds like fun and easy work had tight parameters for quality. This was the part that most failed. The general attitude was “What is the allowable amount of slop?” Since there was none, many just couldn’t hack it. I had people who would not walk outside for 50 feet in the rain, even if I did.
I’ve never had a foreign worker, so I don’t know their demands/abilities/qualifications. I never asked anyone to do anything I didn’t also do and only hired when orders were beyond our individual ability to fill.
I’m sure you would find our salary/profit as owners too paltry, as well. We were not profiting off others. We were sharing the available work/revenue in an area short of jobs.
Be specific, exactly how mush did you pay per hour. In 1996 minimum wage was $4.75/hour. So EXACTLY how much did one of your jewelry people make?
You know what? It was over 2 1/2x that and I don’t need to allow an unknown forum poster to dissect 20-year-old business practices. I have no need to justify anything to you.
The topic was farm labor. I shared what I know from personal observation, discussion and kept my end civil. Take it or leave it. This is becoming obsessive on your part. I am taking the prior “troll alert” seriously.
Thread closed.
I looked on a website that advertises farming with robotic machines that can pick crops and do many other jobs on the farm. The machines are being developed to address the ongoing shortage of agricultural workers. It may be possible that the immigrant agricultural workers will cause unemployment and may cause US citizens to be unemployed in other jobs. Elites may be investing in agricultural automation and using the illegal immigration issue so that people will be distracted by the illegal alien problem.
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.