Thread: Wages

We've advertised in local church bulletins, El Latino (a 60,000 circulation, Spanish-language weekly newspaper in San Diego), and we can't get anyone," Ramirez said . . .

You MORONS, you need to advertise in the midwest and south, oh my God, for people here, a chance to go to California, most people here on the east coast in the south have never been to California, they could work picking whatever, and then see San Diego, one of the most beautiful cities in America in my opinion. Pay their transportation out there, pay them $15 to $20 an hour plus the over-time, and they'll work their butts off picking your grapes or whatever you want picked. Train them, show them how you want it done, teach them the tricks of the trade, and be nice to them, don't ask them to report someone who doesn't speak English, give them the breaks they need until they get acclimated, and they'll work hard for you and get your grapes or whatever picked. Advertising in San Diego is like advertising in NAPA Valley, your potential farm workers probably aren't even IN California let alone places like San Diego and NAPA Valley.

You need to seek them out in the midwest and south, and not on the computer. You need to hire someone in those areas to line them up. Spread the word, give them a phone number to call, a lot of these people don't even have computers and if they do, they don't like using them to find a job. They'll need travel expenses and a little money to get by until they get their first check. You'll also need to work out with them how to pay them their money because they could get robbed of their earnings before they even get back home. Most won't even have bank accounts.

But you do this type of looking for good workers and do it in the rights areas the right way, you'll find the Real American Worker that will do anything for $15 to $20 an hour before over-time.

This is important money from California farming that Americans have been robbed of for an entire generation and you all need to put it back in their kitty.

Every state employment office in the country has computers for unemployed people to see what jobs are available in every state.
Every library in the country has computers that can be used to job search every state employment database.
Unemployed people can apply for these jobs online and talk to the employers on the phone and online.
Some employers wil even hire people sight unseen.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

8/25/2012

To use H-2A labor the farmer has to pay the transportation cost from the person's home country and back to their home country after the season is over, plus provide a decent place to live near the work site. They end up costing more than the farmer can pay.




http://www.alipac.us/f12/agriculture...-crops-263125/

What a load of B.S. All this information is coming from the farmers themselves or special interest groups that represent them. It's like a said in a early post, they simply don't want to play by the rules because they find them inconvenient.

I'm sorry, not everyone operating a business in this country gets to maximize their profits while we the taxpayers subsidize their labor! For the farmers this is all about greed and maximizing profits at our expense.

California ranks as the top food production state for a number of crops

2/9/17

California’s Largest Garlic Grower Will Soon Pay Workers $15 an Hour

Agricultural employers are advised that the application and approvals for H2-A visa workers can take up to 80 days to complete...

https://www.ssa.gov/employer/hiring.htm

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Agricultural employers are advised that the application and approvals for H2-A visa workers can take up to 80 days to complete...

https://www.ssa.gov/employer/hiring.htm

That shouldn't be a problem. The farmers know year to year when the growing season and picking time is.

Migrant mushroom pickers in Canada

Rod Nickel

Updated 21 Oct 2016

18 images

Canada may delay implementing new restrictions on the use of foreign workers as farmers and meat processors warn of severe labour shortages in one of the world's biggest agricultural exporters, the employment minister said.

Employers have reported difficulty finding workers despite a 7.1 percent unemployment rate. Many Canadians resist jobs involving manual labour and rural living, a trend that has driven up labour costs and hurt productivity.

Employment Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk told Reuters the Liberal government may delay the July 1 starting date for changes made by the previous Conservative administration, when low-skilled foreign workers can account for no more than 10 percent of an employer's workforce. That is down from 20 percent currently and 30 percent in 2014.

Mihychuk said that timeline may be too ambitious.
"Ten percent has obviously caused a lot of disruption," she said.

The move to 10 percent is part of a "progressive strangulation of the livestock industry" in rural areas, said Ron Davidson, spokesman for Canadian Meat Council, whose members include Cargill Ltd and JBS Canada.

At Sunterra Group, the changes mean some workers would have to leave even though its Alberta pork-processing plant runs at only 70 percent capacity, said president Ray Price.

"They're so happy to be here and they've come from difficult environments," he said. "To see them start to go home makes everybody feel sad."

Even though the government may extend the deadline, Mihychuk said employers should try harder to hire Canadian aboriginals, women and youth.

The Liberals loosened foreign-worker restrictions in March for seafood plants. Mihychuk said then she was not convinced other sectors needed the same help.

But other parts of the program are also creating worker turnover.

Highline Mushrooms lost 73 harvesters last spring, mostly because of a government rule change in 2011 that foreigners who work in Canada for four years must then return home for at least four years.

It meant that last year, many Highline mushroom harvesters, including 40 percent of harvesters on one Ontario farm, headed back to Jamaica, Guatemala and Honduras.

Some of the crop went to waste because there were not enough workers to pick.

"We take up to a year to train workers and then we know they will have to leave. When someone works for you for four years, they're part of your family," said Highline director of human resources Susan McBride.

The gap between domestic workers and jobs on Canadian farms was 59,000 positions in 2014, of which foreign workers filled three quarters, according to Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council. The gap will expand to 114,000 jobs by 2025, the council said, adding that vacancies currently cost farms C$1.5 billion ($1.19 billion) in lost sales and production.

Legislator Jason Kenney, who handled the file when the Conservatives held power, said foreign workers' stay should be temporary. Since it is not easy to recruit Canadians for many jobs, he said employers should consider boosting wages and benefits.

Saskatchewan grain farmer Kenton Possberg employs six workers from Europe and South Africa, and restarts his search every time a worker times out. He said many farms already pay more than double minimum wage of C$10.50, but bigger paychecks don't overcome disadvantages such as remote locations.

"If we can't find a Canadian to occupy that role, I don't know why we have to go through (hiring) all over again every year."

The current system allows some employers to abuse their leverage by keeping workers short-term, said Stan Raper, national coordinator of Agricultural Workers Alliance.

“It’s not a humane system,” he said.

https://widerimage.reuters.com/story...kers-in-canada

Police Shortage Hits Cities and Small Towns Across the Country

We have plenty of Americans who will do these jobs on the right terms and conditions.