Thread: CA-No Water, No Jobs

No Water, No Jobs

Vida en el Valle, News Report, Sandra Velázquez, Daniel Cásarez, Olivia Ruiz, MartÃ*n E. MartÃ*nez, and Jennie RodrÃ*guez, Posted: Jul 03, 2008

MENDOTA -- Crossing the border and arriving in the United States doesn't always mean the beginning of prosperity.

For many farm workers in California, arriving legally or illegally this summer hasn't made much of a difference.

Since 1988, Juan Solorio travels each summer from La Piedad, in the Mexican state of Michoacán, to Mendota, Calif. to work in the fields doing irrigation or in the cotton harvest.

But this year has been different. Since he arrived on June 5, he hasn't been able to work one day. Luckily, his wife and four kids in Mexico are living with a family that hasn't charged them any rent, knowing that he is unemployed.

"If there was water right now, we would be working," said Solorio outside a store with two other unemployed farm workers who were hot from the sun.

Ricardo Torres, 42, and Eliseo Melgosa, 61, echo Solorio's words.

Torres applied for unemployment benefits in January but that assistance is about to run out.

Melgosa is surprised by what they are going through in Mendota and other farming cities in the fertile county of Fresno such as Firebaugh, Huron, Tranquility and San JoaquÃ*n.

These five small communities in the California's Central Valley with a high Latino concentration are seeing the growing necessity for a reform in the water system.

"This never happened during the last 25 years. There are a lot of people and not enough work," said Melgosa.

This year, the city of Mendota, with a population of 9,788, suffered a 40 percent water supply cut.

Images of the dry yellow fields here say more than a thousand words.

"They started with 45 percent in January and February, but last month it was reduced by five percent," said Councilman Leo Capuchino.

Mendota is known as the "cantaloupe center of the world," but for many of its inhabitants, the city has become known for its lack of employment and natural resources.

City officials have figured that Fresno County will suffer a loss of $73 million in harvests this year.

But the general manager of Westlands Water District declared that "the magnitude of this disaster could not be measured on the value of the harvest and the size of acres alone. There are huge human costs too. There are jobs that have been lost and others that will be lost."

Capuchino explained that if a farmer doesn't have enough water, he will stop watering his tomato, cotton, alfalfa, lettuce, cantaloupe, or broccoli crops to keep the almond, pistachio, apricot trees or grape vines alive.

Birmingham added in a formal statement that the call for an emergency by the governor Arnold Schwarzenegger due to the drought will not provide relief to consumers.

Nonetheless, he hopes the declaration will help move water to the crops that need it much sooner.

"The situation is critical," said Capuchino, who worked for Westlands Water District for more than 40 years. He knows better than anyone that the panorama of the region looks gloomy. "Without water there is no work."

And without any work, people will not go out to buy all of the basic foods and business owners will suffer.

"The impact (of unemployment) has been so great that I no longer have a grocery store," said Joseph RiofrÃ*o, who is also a city council member. Due to its lack of profit, RiofrÃ*o instead opened an impromptu video and video game store in his building that has been owned by his family for 75 years. He still sells sodas and some other products.

San Juana Prieto, who has lived in Mendota for 23 years, doesn't remember a time as difficult as this year's drought.

"We have lived through floods and freezes, but now that there is no water it coincides with the high gas prices and it's making it worse."

About two weeks ago Prieto found an agricultural job, but the foremen told her that it will be for a short period of time.

"We have thought of moving to Madera," said Prieto, whose husband works as a truck driver and is having trouble paying the high diesel prices.

Last week Assemblyman Juan Arámbula introduced a proposal to extend the unemployment benefits to those who have lost their job due to the drought.

Bruce Blodgett, executive director of the San JoaquÃ*n Farm Bureau Federation, said that the county has not been significantly affected.

"We haven't seen good numbers," said Blodgett. "It has been ironic that it hasn't been difficult to find sources of employment either."

In the past -- before the economy began to decline -- farmers would have a hard time finding enough people to work in their fields. But when the farmers don't have a job, they don't need help.

In Firebaugh, MarÃ*a del Refugio RuÃ*z is feeling the effects of the drought because her daughter hasn't been able to find a job either and she can't help her.

At the age of 70, RuÃ*z would rather be able to go to the fields herself, but stopped working in the fields a few years ago after breaking her ankles.

In order to survive, she cleans houses or baby-sits for women who work in the fields. She sometimes earns $30 a day.

"Many people are leaving to Dos Palos. There are many fields here that are not going to be sowed," said Ruiz, who became a widow more than seven years ago and lives with her 20-year-old paraplegic son.

Recently, Ruiz was left with no electricity for 15 days and it wasn't until San José Catholic Church gave her a check for $250 to pay off the four months she owed that she was able to get the service turned on again.

Ruiz regrets that one of her grandsons, who is 20, can't get a job due to his undocumented status. "He's practically from here. My daughter brought him when he was two and he's a good kid. He already finished (high) school and he can't find a job."

Ruiz was pleasantly surprised when a couple of months ago, the driver of the bus she takes to go and clean houses told her she no longer had to pay him. Due to her age, she qualifies for free transportation.

"People suffer a lot more here than in Mexico. I would go back if my son wasn't sick," she said.

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/vi ... 7580b98f2b

No water for Americans, no water for crops, NO WATER FOR ILLEGALS.

This is really going to be a mess. CA is headed for/in a huge, long drought with no end in sight. Why should we have to share our most precious resource with people who are not here legally, when we don't have enough for ourselves?

I am so sick of hearing how these illegals are suffering. AMERICANS are suffering! How dare they come here and receive unemployment. GET OUT OF HERE!! What is it gonna take for them to leave?

I encourage every single one of them to go home, since people suffer more here than they do in Mexico.

Come on illegals, stop the suffering, go home where the living is good!!!

Leave America, for Americans (and those who wish to become Americans, legally).

Ruiz regrets that one of her grandsons, who is 20, can't get a job due to his undocumented status. "He's practically from here. My daughter brought him when he was two and he's a good kid. He already finished (high) school and he can't find a job."

Alot of people can't get jobs because there aren't any, and they ARE legal here, good people, finished high school and some more education beyond that.......looks like your cashing in days are over.

How is this illegal collecting unemployment benefits.??????

Crazybird:

Alot of people can't get jobs because there aren't any, and they ARE legal here, good people, finished high school and some more education beyond that.......looks like your cashing in days are over.

It is so true. My husband was mentioning a temp at his work who is in her forties and cannot get a permanent job, and she mentioned numerous friends having the same problem. As well, my daughters boyfriend is also having an extreme hard time finding anything, she is trying to, but returns to school in fall, so people are unwilling to hire her for such a short time (not even sure where their August rent is coming from at this point and we DO NOT have it for them to borrow, or room for them to be here with us either).

All I can say is this, people, hold onto the jobs you have, it may be ALL you have. I see jobs out there, but dang, they never seem to hire or contact those who have applied, I do not understand what is happening, or why they place the ads anyways.

If there is little work for farm workers in this state, then why is Diane Feinstein claiming there is an "emergency need" for farm workers in California and doing everything in her power to increase HB-2 visas!

So we are allowing workers into this state that will not be able to find work , and thus, will be entitled to claim unemployment benefits because they are here legally on an HB-2 visas.

Great work Feinstein!

All I can say is this, people, hold onto the jobs you have, it may be ALL you have. I see jobs out there, but dang, they never seem to hire or contact those who have applied, I do not understand what is happening, or why they place the ads anyways.

AE, one reason they are not getting back to applicants could be because they are being bombarded with people desperate for jobs.

Could be, maybe they have a huge field to choose from and are taking their own sweet time.

BTW, we're not talking about high end jobs, we are talking about entry level jobs, that is what alarms me.

So far, my daughters boyfriend and herself, have one last avenue, she said it was fast food, but felt there was little chance of even getting something there. I told her, if people are having to pay more out for gas and other things now, then fast food will be something many will immiediately cut out of their budgets and fast food may not need extra people.