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Growers say crackdown is causing workers to flee; now they want reform
Maureen Torrey, an 11th-generation farmer in the rural town of Elba, N.Y., has been losing sleep. Just as rows of cabbage and winter squash stand ready for harvest on her 11,000 acre farm, she can't find enough workers to bring in the crops. She needs about 350 workers and is 70 short of that number. "I wake up at 3:30 in the morning and my mind doesn't shut off," she says.
It is their own fault for using illegals. I do not feel sorry for them. Let start using legal immigrants and Americans and pay them decent wages or suffer the consequences.
Maybe Ms. Torrey needs to get her cheap self to an immigration lawyer and/or immigration office to fill out the proper paperwork in advance next year so she can hire workers who have been given LEGAL clearance to work here.
After all, someone on this board told me that as a farmer employing illegals, she pays those people $20-$30 bucks an hour! I'm sure she can afford it!
Location: The world, where will fate take me this time?
3,162 posts, read 11,436,860 times
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Originally Posted by TriMT7
Maybe Ms. Torrey needs to get to an immigration lawyer and/or immigration office to fill out the proper paperwork in advance next year so she can hire workers who have been given LEGAL clearance to work here.
After all, someone on this board told me that as a farmer employing illegals, she pays those people $20-$30 bucks an hour! I'm sure she can afford it!
I support the idea, I think that would be a possible solution, if all the employeers that are addicted to illegal labor did this, the problem would be solved, maybe this is the solution.
Interesting story, they discussed the wages as potentially not being the problem (guess it is a perception both ways) towards the end of the article.
I think this goes to a greater discussion about workers and population distribution. Is there a worker shortage in the State of New York, and could this be constructively addressed by moving folks from places with job shortages?
There are not enough legal workers, Ya'll need to drop the ignorance. You need to get educated. There are not enough legal workers, there are not enough legal workers. Can I say this enough times? Apparently not. She needs 70 workers, she will take anyone that walks in the door, they are not walking in the door.
Where do you get this deranged idea that the farmers want illegal labor? They want labor, they may want very much to hire legal workers, BUT THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH LEGALS WHO WILL DO THE WORK!!!! How many different ways can this be said. If she, or you, or I, or anyone needs 70 workers they are not going to turn away legal workers or illegal workers.
There are not enough legal workers, Ya'll need to drop the ignorance. You need to get educated. There are not enough legal workers, there are not enough legal workers. Can I say this enough times? Apparently not. She needs 70 workers, she will take anyone that walks in the door, they are not walking in the door.
Where do you get this deranged idea that the farmers want illegal labor? They want labor, they may want very much to hire legal workers, BUT THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH LEGALS WHO WILL DO THE WORK!!!! How many different ways can this be said. If she, or you, or I, or anyone needs 70 workers they are going to turn away legal workers or illegal workers.
You like to eat? You best change your thinking.
I think you jumped the gun here. Perhaps the problem is seasonal workers. How do you develop an employment process allowing seasonal workers to be paid in other fields the remainder of the year? Folks won't move to upstate New York for 5 weeks.
There are not enough legal workers, Ya'll need to drop the ignorance. You need to get educated. There are not enough legal workers, there are not enough legal workers. Can I say this enough times? Apparently not. She needs 70 workers, she will take anyone that walks in the door, they are not walking in the door.
Where do you get this deranged idea that the farmers want illegal labor? They want labor, they may want very much to hire legal workers, BUT THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH LEGALS WHO WILL DO THE WORK!!!! How many different ways can this be said. If she, or you, or I, or anyone needs 70 workers they are not going to turn away legal workers or illegal workers.
You like to eat? You best change your thinking.
Address the issue:
Do we or do we NOT have procedures in place in this country where businesses can apply for DOCUMENTED workers to come in and do work when no Americans can be found?
Yes, or no?
How many different ways can this be said? We are TIRED of LAZY corporatists and farmers using the same tired excuses for NOT following the rules and procedures ALREADY IN PLACE.
So go ahead, bring in the illegals to pick the fruit that the government subsidizes anyway so you'll remain competitive in a world market you would RAPIDLY be priced out of. I'm sure you'll find a nice house in a middle class area for all 70 of them to move into while they work your inefficient, uncompetitive farm.
Do we or do we NOT have procedures in place in this country where businesses can apply for DOCUMENTED workers to come in and do work when no Americans can be found?
No, we don't.
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So go ahead, bring in the illegals to pick the fruit that the government subsidizes anyway
Please show me where in America fruits and vegetables are subsidized.
I think there is an extreme lack of knowledge of how agriculture works in this country.
Quote:
I think you jumped the gun here. Perhaps the problem is seasonal workers. How do you develop an employment process allowing seasonal workers to be paid in other fields the remainder of the year? Folks won't move to upstate New York for 5 weeks.
Workers have followed the crops for generations. I cannot speak for New York, but in CA the term migrant worker meant one who followed the crops. Today many of the field workers are not migrant, they do not follow the crops. There is still a labor shortage, one caused by the fear engendered by the ICE raids.
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