Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040

    Jobless finding new work on farms

    Jobless finding new work on farms

    Updated 38m ago
    By Emily Bazar, USA TODAY

    Unemployed workers are seeking jobs in fruit orchards and vegetable fields, easing farm labor shortages in the process.

    Farmers who struggled in recent years to find laborers report that former workers who left for higher-paying jobs in industries such as construction are coming back because of layoffs.

    Growers also are getting applications from first-timers who see the backbreaking seasonal work as their chance at a paycheck.

    "We're having a great many more applicants this year than we have had in the past," says Dan Bremer, president of AgWorks, a company that helps employers, primarily in Southern states such as Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, apply for temporary visas to hire people from other countries for the season.

    To qualify, farmers must advertise to prove the positions can't be filled by people already in the USA. Bremer says there have been three times the number of applications from U.S. workers this year than last. "Most are brand-new to farm work," he says. "Most come from factories that are closed, or come from various businesses that closed their doors."

    The same is happening in Colorado, says Larry Lemmons of the state's Department of Labor and Employment.

    From July through September 2008, 39 U.S. workers applied for 171 openings statewide in the visa program, he says. From January through March this year, 1,799 applied for 726 openings.

    Lemmons says he doesn't know how many took jobs, but the growth in U.S.-worker applications is new.

    "With the higher unemployment rate, we have workers who are willing to consider jobs that in the past they might not have been willing to do," he says.

    Lemmons and Bremer are talking about legal workers. However, about 70% of the nation's 1.6 million farmworkers may be in the country illegally and present fake documents when applying, says Craig Regelbrugge of the American Nursery and Landscape Association. He says most of the people looking for farm work are probably illegal immigrants.

    Tom Nassif, president and CEO of Western Growers, which represents 3,000 produce farmers in California and Arizona, says many recent applicants are "people who lost their jobs in construction." Many had worked on farms before getting better-paying jobs, he said.

    Kevin Andrew, chief operations officer for Sun World International, a fruit grower and marketer based in Bakersfield, Calif., says he was surprised to run across a few men from the San Fernando Valley, at least an hour and a half away, looking for work. One had been a waiter and the other worked in construction. Neither could find jobs in the Los Angeles area. "We've got people driving 120 miles one way" for farm jobs, he says. "For the first time in a decade, we have a labor force that is fairly reliable now."

    The spike in new workers is most pronounced where housing boomed, says Armando Elenes, national vice president of the United Farm Workers union, which represents 29,000 workers, primarily in Oregon, Washington, California and Florida.

    He spoke with a union carpenter a few weeks ago who was trimming grape bunches and leaves in Delano, Calif. "For every crew of 60 workers, at least five to seven are going to be former construction workers," he says. "It's pretty dramatic."
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
    You can post a comment on the USA TODAY Online site at this link:

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... kers_N.htm
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  2. #2
    MW
    MW is offline
    Senior Member MW's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    North Carolina
    Posts
    25,717
    I'm sure many of these applicants are illegals that can no longer find work in the construction industry. I'd almost bet my first born that very few, if any, of these farmers are using E-verify.

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts athttps://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  3. #3
    Senior Member azwreath's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Posts
    6,621
    To qualify, farmers must advertise to prove the positions can't be filled by people already in the USA. Bremer says there have been three times the number of applications from U.S. workers this year than last. "Most are brand-new to farm work," he says. "Most come from factories that are closed, or come from various businesses that closed their doors."




    Aren't these workers also supposed to be legally present and able to work in this country.....not just "already" here?


    Farmers who struggled in recent years to find laborers report that former workers who left for higher-paying jobs in industries such as construction are coming back because of layoffs.


    That seems to tell us bunches about exactly who these farm workers are
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Fort Worth
    Posts
    1,482
    Quote Originally Posted by MW
    I'm sure many of these applicants are illegals that can no longer find work in the construction industry. I'd almost bet my first born that very few, if any, of these farmers are using E-verify.
    I'm with you on that. NONE of these farms are using e-verify. Once again, the illegals have job security, while Americans and LEGAL immigrants have none.
    We see so many tribes overrun and undermined

    While their invaders dream of lands they've left behind

    Better people...better food...and better beer...

    Why move around the world when Eden was so near?
    -Neil Peart from the song Territories&

  5. #5
    Senior Member BetsyRoss's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    5,262
    I've been seeing these stories. Some may be displaced illegals, but others are definitely not.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  6. #6
    Senior Member vmonkey56's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Tarheel State
    Posts
    7,134
    Well, I have a friend that was offered a job in North Carolina tobacco fields. I couldn't believe it. But illegal aliens go into the state's Employment Security Commission Offices and no E-Verify is done on the I-9 forms. After questioning my local manager in the ESC office he told me he only has to E-Verify "Only Migrate Farm Workers". Why is this?

    So when a raid by ICE is done at the employer site that used the state Employment Security Commission Office who is going to be fined and held responsible for hiring the illegal aliens.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •