Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
There's no labor shortage in CA. In fact, unemployment is high here, it's real bad, and there's lots of people who would like to get jobs, even unskilled jobs.
The problem is, the farmers aren't offering high enough pay.
Minimum wage in California is $8.00/hour. If the farmers feel that's too high, they can always make their case to the California Assembly and Senate, and to Governor Moonbeam.
Good luck with that.
But they might even have a tough time getting people to pick lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes etc. if they offer $8.00/hr. To my knowledge, no farmer has ever tried offering that. But the work is hard, backbreaking, in a hot sun. Farmers might have to offer more to get people to work that hard, under fairly brutal conditions.
BTW, as I recall, there used to be some people who would sneak across the border illegally from Mexico, who would do the work pretty well, for very low wages. But after the US Govt's recent halfhearted efforts to enforce its own laws, some of them have left. But what they were doing was illegal, anyway. If the farmers (and their customers) don't like that, they can make their case to the U.S. Congress and President, to change the immigration laws so those folks can do it legally.
Again, good luck with that.
But even if the immigration laws change and let those folks in legally, there are still the minimum-wage laws, which make those low wages illegal too. Back to the CA govt, and to the U.S. govt whose min-wage laws are nearly as draconian.
And then, even if the farmers manage to get those min-wage laws tossed out too... what makes you think the same people who used to work for $1.00/hr, will want to do it again? Back then, they accepted such low pay, mostly because they couldn't complain to the authorities (they were there illegally, remember). But now they can... and also complain to American TV and radio stations, who would be all to happy to excoriate the eeeeevil farmers for paying so little.
And even if California farmers start paying higher wages, either to legal residents or to newly-legal immigrants after the laws change... they will have to sell their crops on a market where they compete with other states who are still quietly using illegal-alien labor at $1.00/hr (or less).
And even if ALL states crack down on illegal aliens, and/or change their laws and let the market dictate wages instead of taking advantage of illegal aliens who don't dare fight back...
....the farmers will still have to pass their increased labor costs on to their customers (that's you and me).
Will you still buy the same amount of lettuce and strawberries as you did last year, if the price suddenly jumps by 50% or 100%?
Free markets and competition are a b|tch, aren't they?
We've gotten used to paying relatively low prices for decades, taking advantage of those aforementioned illegal aliens who don't dare protest or complain. Now that there are fewer of them around, the only alternative, is paying form workers what their labor is really worth in a truly free market.
The gravy train is over, customers. You used to be getting Other People's Money for free... the "Other People" being the illegal aliens who you weren't paying what their labor was really worth. Now that is starting to choke off.
We've made our beds. Now it's getting a little tough to lie in them. Too bad.
But, in truth, there is no labor shortage in California.
Just a shortage of people who want to pay what that labor is worth.
The core of the "corporate culture" is a few free owners controlling masses of slave labor.
The previous post proves my point. All we have to do is use starvation to force people to work for someone else's profit. Now that is a free country.
But somehow taking the product of my labor giving it to someone else because they don't want to work, they don't want to give up their freedoms, is fair?
There's no labor shortage in CA. In fact, unemployment is high here, it's real bad, and there's lots of people who would like to get jobs, even unskilled jobs.
(cut short your post)
Indeed, migrant workers are exempt from overtime regulations. I'm sure there are many employers that would like to pay minimum wage for 50-60 hours of work.
Small farms aren't even required to pay minimum wage.
There's no labor shortage in CA. In fact, unemployment is high here, it's real bad, and there's lots of people who would like to get jobs, even unskilled jobs.
The problem is, the farmers aren't offering high enough pay.
Minimum wage in California is $8.00/hour. If the farmers feel that's too high, they can always make their case to the California Assembly and Senate, and to Governor Moonbeam.
Good luck with that.
But they might even have a tough time getting people to pick lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes etc. if they offer $8.00/hr. To my knowledge, no farmer has ever tried offering that. But the work is hard, backbreaking, in a hot sun. Farmers might have to offer more to get people to work that hard, under fairly brutal conditions.
BTW, as I recall, there used to be some people who would sneak across the border illegally from Mexico, who would do the work pretty well, for very low wages. But after the US Govt's recent halfhearted efforts to enforce its own laws, some of them have left. But what they were doing was illegal, anyway. If the farmers (and their customers) don't like that, they can make their case to the U.S. Congress and President, to change the immigration laws so those folks can do it legally.
Again, good luck with that.
But even if the immigration laws change and let those folks in legally, there are still the minimum-wage laws, which make those low wages illegal too. Back to the CA govt, and to the U.S. govt whose min-wage laws are nearly as draconian.
And then, even if the farmers manage to get those min-wage laws tossed out too... what makes you think the same people who used to work for $1.00/hr, will want to do it again? Back then, they accepted such low pay, mostly because they couldn't complain to the authorities (they were there illegally, remember). But now they can... and also complain to American TV and radio stations, who would be all to happy to excoriate the eeeeevil farmers for paying so little.
And even if California farmers start paying higher wages, either to legal residents or to newly-legal immigrants after the laws change... they will have to sell their crops on a market where they compete with other states who are still quietly using illegal-alien labor at $1.00/hr (or less).
And even if ALL states crack down on illegal aliens, and/or change their laws and let the market dictate wages instead of taking advantage of illegal aliens who don't dare fight back...
....the farmers will still have to pass their increased labor costs on to their customers (that's you and me).
Will you still buy the same amount of lettuce and strawberries as you did last year, if the price suddenly jumps by 50% or 100%?
Free markets and competition are a b|tch, aren't they?
We've gotten used to paying relatively low prices for decades, taking advantage of those aforementioned illegal aliens who don't dare protest or complain. Now that there are fewer of them around, the only alternative, is paying form workers what their labor is really worth in a truly free market.
The gravy train is over, customers. You used to be getting Other People's Money for free... the "Other People" being the illegal aliens who you weren't paying what their labor was really worth. Now that is starting to choke off.
We've made our beds. Now it's getting a little tough to lie in them. Too bad.
But, in truth, there is no labor shortage in California.
Just a shortage of people who want to pay what that labor is worth.
And that's not the laborers' faults.
Are you aware that there are unlimited H-2A visas for legal foreigner crop pickers? There is no excuse to hire illegal ones except for greed from paying them less with no benefits, etc. Even with the cheap, illegal labor they use already there is little to no savings passed on to the consumer. The farmers just pocket the profit. Learn to know the truth, please.
This once great state can't seem to solve the most basic of problems and that is pathetic. How about having low risk prisoners go and pick some corn? Just think of what free labor would do to the bottom line...and eventually the prices we pay.
This once great state can't seem to solve the most basic of problems and that is pathetic. How about having low risk prisoners go and pick some corn? Just think of what free labor would do to the bottom line...and eventually the prices we pay.
Which would be a motivation to increase laws like drug laws to increase the labor pool. That doesn't help freedom in the long run. Think those profiting would want to lessen laws like the drug war when they stand to get rich off it?
This once great state can't seem to solve the most basic of problems and that is pathetic. How about having low risk prisoners go and pick some corn? Just think of what free labor would do to the bottom line...and eventually the prices we pay.
And think of the bankruptcies it would cause in neighboring states. They used to compete with California farms that used cheap illegal labor. Now they'd be competing with farms that use FREE labor. Buh-bye.
The prisons are full of able bodied people. Seems like a simple solution. Put shock collars on them with GPS trackers and correction jolts if they get out of line. Time for these guys to start earning a living.
And I don't for reasons stated above. Just like"liberals" who increase taxes on cigarettes to pay for government and children services or whatever yet with another face talks about "stop smoking for your health" what happens when the availability decreases? So produce prices decreases for people and profit increases for the businesses from prison labor what happens when prison labor availability decreases? Think those benefiting off it will let that happen? I don't.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
