Thread: Immigrant farm workers challenge unemployed Americans: Take

Immigrant farm workers challenge unemployed Americans: Take our jobs

JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer
Posted June 24, 2010 at 11:27 p.m.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/jun ... ed-americ/

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In a tongue-in-cheek call for immigration reform, farm workers are teaming up with comedian Stephen Colbert in a challenge to unemployed Americans: Come on, take our jobs.

Farm workers are tired of being blamed by politicians and anti-immigrant activists for taking work that should go to Americans and dragging down the economy, said Arturo Rodriguez, the president of the United Farm Workers of America.

So the group is encouraging the unemployed — and any Washington pundits who want to join them — to apply for the some of thousands of agricultural jobs being posted with state agencies as harvest season begins.

All applicants need to do is fill out an online form under the banner "I want to be a farm worker" at www.takeourjobs.org, and experienced field hands will train them and connect them to farms.

Three out of four farm workers in the U.S. were born abroad, and more than half are illegal immigrants, according to the Labor Department.

Proponents of tougher immigration laws have argued that farmers have become used to cheap labor. The problem with the UFW's proposition, they argue, is that growers don't want to raise wages and improve working conditions enough to attract Americans.

In either case, those who have done the job have some words of advice for applicants.

First, dress appropriately. During summer, when the harvest of fruits and vegetables is in full swing in California's Central Valley, temperatures hover in the triple digits. Heat exhaustion is one of the reasons farm labor consistently makes the Bureau of Labor Statistics' top ten list of the nation's most dangerous jobs.

Second, expect long days. Growers have a small window to pick fruit before it is overripe; work starts before dawn and goes on for 12 or more hours.

And don't count on a big paycheck. Farm workers are excluded from federal overtime provisions, and small farms don't even have to pay the minimum wage. Fifteen states don't require farm labor to be covered by workers compensation laws.

Any takers?

"The reality is farmworkers who are here today aren't taking any American jobs away. They work in often unbearable situations," Rodriguez said. "I don't think there will be many takers, but the offer is being made. Let's see what happens."

To highlight just how unlikely the prospect of Americans lining up to pick strawberries or grapes is, Comedy Central's "Colbert Report" plans to feature the "Take Our Jobs" campaign on July 8. Requests to Comedy Central and Colbert for comment on the nature of the collaboration weren't immediately answered.

Another way of tackling the issue is to strengthen immigration enforcement, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports strict immigration laws.

It's an idea that might not end up on Comedy Central, but reducing the pool of farm workers would force growers to improve working conditions and raise wages.

"They're daring the American people to get by without farm workers," he said. "What I'm saying is, 'Let's take them up on that and call their bluff.'"

The campaign is being played for jokes, but the need to secure the right to work for immigrants who are here is serious business, said Michael Rubio, supervisor in Kern County, one of the biggest ag producing counties in the nation.

"Our county, our economy, rely heavily on the work of immigrant and unauthorized workers," he said. "I would encourage all our national leaders to come visit Kern County and to spend one day, or even half a day, in the shoes of these farm workers."

Hopefully, the message will go down easier with some laughs, said Manuel Cunha, president of the California grower association Nisei Farmers League, who was not a part of the campaign.

"If you don't add some humor to this, it's enough to get you drinking, and I don't mean Pepsi," Cunha said, dismissing the idea that Americans would take up the farm workers' offer.

California's agriculture industry launched a similar campaign in 1998, hoping to recruit welfare recipients and unemployed workers to work on farms, he said. Three people showed up.

"Give us a legal, qualified work force. Right now, farmers don't know from day to day if they're going to get hammered by ICE," he said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "What happens to my labor pool?"

His organization supports AgJobs, a bill currently in the Senate which would allow those who have worked in U.S. agriculture for at least 150 days in the previous two years to get legal status.

The bill has been proposed in various forms since the late 1990s, with backing from the United Farm Workers of America and other farming groups, but has never passed.

Politicians' and advocates' perspectives on the matter might change if they were to take up the farm workers' offer, said Rubio from Bakersfield.

"The view and the temperature is much different from a row in a field than from inside an air conditioned office," he said. "Is it a challenge? Most certainly, yes. Come on down."

These idiots need to quit complaining and hire people legally through the Temporary Worker Program that has been available for many years.

Farmers don't use it because they would be responsible for their labor force and their care as it should be.

Seems some in Oregon have wised up and are using temp. Jamaican workers.

There have been temp farm jobs forever

Now lets talk about packinghouse jobs that use to pay $20 hour
Lets talk about construction, drywall, cement , steelwork, electrical, plumbing and all the rest of the building trades

Lets talk about supermarket jobs that use to pay good with good benefits

I can think of a about a hundred other jobs that illegals have taken over that Americans would kill to have

Just more hype and spin from these idiots

Nice thought but only a small percentage of illegals work in agriculture.

Illegal immigrants work in many sectors of the U.S. economy. According to National Public Radio, about 3 percent work in agriculture; 33 percent have jobs in service industries; and substantial numbers can be found in construction and related occupations (16 percent), and in production, installation, and repair (17 percent).[4] According to USA Today, about 4 percent work in farming; 21 percent have jobs in service industries; and substantial numbers can be found in construction and related occupations (19 percent), and in production, installation, and repair (15 percent), with 12% in sales, 10% in management, and 8% in transportation.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_im ... ted_States

It's the jobs in construction, factories, carpet laying, roofing, etc. that they steal and cause wages to go down. I can't pass a building site that has non-Hispanic labor.

Immigrant farm workers challenge unemployed Americans: Take our jobs

Pay me a decent wage.

I worked summers as a kid on my Grandads farm in Texas hand picking cotton that the combines missed. It is grueling work but at least my grandpa paid me and my cousins a fair wage and I stayed in a nice farmhouse.

The farmers in California treat their illegal workers like crap, pay them low wages, house them in sub-standard housing..mainly 30 year old trailers packed in like sardines. They take full advantage of their illegal status and enhance their own personal lives.

If I was here illegally I would work on one of these California farms because it is better then starving to death.

What this article fails to point out is that do you think these field labors suffering these 12 hour days of back breaking work would continue to do so once they were made illegal? I say hell no they won't they will move on to better paying and better living condition employment.

Farm working in Califoria is akin to slave working in China. No difference really accept the US Goverment stamp of approval. They all admit the working and living conditions are horrid but they do not do anything to improve the labor standards such as pay, housing, ect.

So, if a farm worker employee gets injured from heat stroke (work related injury) since they don;t require the employer to carry workers comp who pays the hospital bill? I have a good guess.

This just goes to show futher how corrupted our government system is to labor unions and lobbiest groups. This United Farm Workers Union should be insisting better conditions for the farm workers but no, instead they say its a job no American will take and only illegals will do it. So does that mean they enjoy benefits off this slave labor too? You bet they do.

What sane American is going to jump up and say "Yeah, I would love to work in a slave camp for poor pay and poor living conditions and no protection from work related injuries".

We have legalized slave work in America under the guise of Farm Workers.

An El Salvadorian who can only make a few dollars a day in his country will think 60 dollars a day is wealth working in one of these slave camps.

I would have to agree with the statement that the Farm Worker jobs in California is not a job most Americans currently want because we are not willing to be slaves to industry. Raise the pay to competitive labor levels and improve other working conditions and yes, Americans will probably take those jobs then.

Millions of Americans including me would line up for the $50 an hour McCain was offering.

First, they're not "immigrants".

Second, the article inadvertently implies that all illegal aliens are farm workers.

When in reality most illegal aliens are not working on farms in current day America.

If illegal aliens inside the USA were farm workers, then the unemployment rate would not be as high as it is.

Heck, even illegal aliens are getting unemployment benefits.

Why?

How?

Because they acquired fraudulent I.D.'s by implimenting their first rule as illegal aliens - LIE, LIE, and LIE AGAIN, UNTIL THEY BELIEVE THE LIE - i.e.; until they believe they are legal citizens and not illegal aliens.

These are LIFETIME illegal aliens in the majority in the USA stealing America's jobs - NOT seasonal workers.

Sounds like McCain offering $50.00 hour for picking lettuce. I don't think he ever paid up.

http://sensico.wordpress.com/2008/08/22 ... -for-50hr/