Thread: Farmworkers say cold weather cost them $50M in lost wages

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Farmworkers say cold weather cost them $50M in lost wages

By TANIA VALDEMORO
tvaldemoro@MiamiHerald.com

Standing atop a ruined tomato patch off Krome Avenue in Homestead, advocates for farmworkers on Wednesday called for federal relief to help thousands of farmworkers, who are out of work, money and food in the aftermath of this month's cold snap.
``Gov. Charlie Crist needs to speed up his request for a declaration of a disaster by the federal government. One hundred thousand farmworker families in Florida will be out of work for the next three months,'' Tirso Moreno, general coordinator of the Farmworker Association of Florida, told reporters at a press conference.

He estimated that the damage crop from this year's harvest will cost farmworkers about $50 million in lost wages.

The farmworker association and eight other groups said they had sent a letter to Crist outlining their concerns and urging the governor to get the Obama administration to declare the state a federal disaster area.

If the Obama administration makes the disaster declaration, emergency food stamps, disaster unemployment benefits and food will be made available to affected farmworkers, said Rob Williams, director of the Migrant Farmworkers Justice Program at Florida Legal Services.

``The presidential declaration is the first step. Without that, nothing really happens,'' Williams said.

Last winter, state agriculture officials asked for the same assistance for some counties in central Florida after nearly $100 million in crops were damaged by cold weather, said Terry McElroy, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

This year, Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson has written to Crist about the extensive damage and requested that the state be designated a disaster area.

In addition, the department has asked federal officials for more food and will send it to any area, said McElroy, who noted the hardest hit places from the recent freeze have been Collier and Lee counties.

State agriculture officials are continuing to assess the damage caused by the record-breaking cold temperatures that kept much of the state with bone-chilling temperatures for about 10 days. No specific dollar figure has been determined.

``We are working as diligently as we can and hope to finish the assessment within a week,'' McElroy said.

Ten days ago, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson told a House legislative committee that at a minimum, 30 percent of Florida's crops were lost and the losses could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.

In South Miami-Dade, farmworkers and small farmers expressed fear of an uncertain future.

For Marcela Gonzalez, of Homestead, help cannot come soon enough. The 40-year-old woman, who packs green beans, tomatoes and squash at a facility in Florida City, said there is no work right now because the cold ruined those crops.

In March, she and her husband plan to go to Georgia to pick fruits and vegetables. In the meantime, she wants to work.

Byron Erreguin, of Homestead, feels the same sense of helplessness. He usually picks tomatoes at this time of the year. These days, he worries about how he will keep up with the mortgage and car payments for his family of five.

``This is my livelihood,'' said Erreguin, 42 as he surveyed the shriveled tomato patch that he rents on Krome Avenue. ``I lost 80 percent of my tomatoes. The farmworkers don't have any resources to continue farming.''

And exactly how many of them are here illegally? Another teeny-weeny fact that is not mentioned.

Originally Posted by vortex

And exactly how many of them are here illegally? Another teeny-weeny fact that is not mentioned.

I would bet only the anchor babies.

NO U.S. taxpayer funding for illegal aliens - that is the message being sent about the Healthcare legislation and right down the line!

I can bet it's warmer in Maxico and central America plus more crops to pick.
Please go home and better your own Country instead of burdening my Country.

Yea those workers use to show up at harvest each year and then go home. Now that they decide to stay we need to provide for them. No! send them home now.

Newest Alert, Please join in!!!

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-186708.html

OMG. Disaster relief for farmworkers. They will be out of work for 3 lousy months. Get unemployment. Oh wait....maybe they are not eligible because they are....ILLEGAL. If they are legal they could just collect an unemployment check.

The farmers want the money and may not even give it all to the workers.

Originally Posted by swatchick

The farmers want the money and may not even give it all to the workers.

Oh so its the farmers who get the money. So thee workers think if the farmers get the money they wont get laid off. Because giving the money to the workers would be INSANE.