Thread: Workers speak up - Yeah Right

Workers speak up

highlandstoday.com
BY VANESSA CACERES
Central Florida's Agri-Leader
Published: November 16, 2011
Updated: 11:35 am


Gabrielea, 6, and Guadalupe, 13, pose with their mother, Maria Perez of Wauchula. Agriculture is what supports their family.

Empty fields and lost dollars.

That's what Florida could experience if an immigration law similar to the one recently passed in Alabama reaches the Sunshine State, said a number of Central Florida farmworkers in recent interviews.

Alabama's HB 56 gives local and state police the right to detain and check the immigration status of anyone suspected to be in the United States illegally. The law has been hotly debated and is said to be the nation's strongest anti-illegal immigration law.

News stories report that the bill has led to undocumented farmworkers fleeing the state, leaving few willing people to pick produce grown in the state.

If such a law came to Florida, its consequences could be even more harsh, said a group of farmworkers from Mexico who live in Wauchula.

"The people who passed that law are not thinking about the future," said Maria Perez. "In Alabama, there's a lot of sadness now. There are people who had to leave behind their home and their children."

"Alabama is persecuting too many people with this new law," said Joel Hurtado.

For six years, Perez has lived for at least part of the year in Florida. She has remained year-round in the state for two years. She has worked with tomatoes, cucumbers and oranges in Florida and Ohio. The field work she and her husband do supports their five children ages 6 to 18.

Perez works when contracts are active and the fruit is in season. During the busiest times, she may work 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. During slower times, she works only three or four hours a day, if at all. Pay is typically by the box, not by the hour. Weather is a big factor in this line of work — bad weather could mean fewer hours working, Hurtado said. A hot day can make work harder.

"Sometimes when you get to work it's dark, and when you leave work, it's dark," said Francisco Hernandez, who has worked in Florida, Ohio, Michigan and South Carolina to pick tomatoes, cucumbers, tobacco and chili peppers. "If you don't work hard, you're not going to earn anything."

Working in the fields isn't easy work, said Hernandez.

* * * * *

Hernandez and other farmworkers are skeptical about American workers taking their place if a strong anti-immigration law affected agricultural workers in Florida.

"Who would do the work?" Hernandez said.

"There will not be fruit to eat because not many Americans will do this work," said Magdalena Santiago, who has lived in Florida for 15 years.

"I think it's impossible to think that many people would do this work," Hurtado said.

Not having enough people to pick Florida's produce would lead to lost revenue for the growers, said Eliseo Sacramenta.

An anti-immigration law would also mean lost dollars at local supermarkets and restaurants from undocumented farmworkers who would likely flee the state, Perez said.

Other industries that employ large numbers of immigrants would be affected, such as housecleaning and yard maintenance, Sacramenta said.

The farmworkers interviewed said they make their comments about who would hypothetically take their place based on what they see in the fields — and what they see is almost entirely an immigrant-based workforce.

Since HB 56 passed in Alabama, Eddie Hernandez says, he knows eight people who left the state. Some have come to Florida in search of work. "We go where there is work in the fields," he said.

http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/ ... -speak-up/

well American can Speak up also we work just as many hr as they do ?
we work two or three jobs as well the wife & Husband work
& yes well we all have kids also . yes we work in the dark & the weather . bad also no one told you to work in the Fields . I did work
the Fields also & the owner get well pay .& if the owner pay
me 17.00 hr I will work . what do you get pay? 7.00 Hr is that by
the box ? he get pay good money . you are the fool
you have 4 or 5 family liveing in one apartment am I right
you all work around the clock ?
you are on food Stamp ?
I see what going on & Im sick of this I don't feel
sorry for any of you only the American
Obama is Not going to be in the wh for long so starte
packing your bag's