1050
'They quit after a few hours': Farmers admit they can't find American workers (www.rawstory.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/leopardsatemyface@lemmy.world
286 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 27 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Importing workers to make 16.84/hr. Just what American is going to accept that kind of wage when the boss is getting grants of hundreds of thousands of dollars?

The immigrant would have to work 11,876 hours to earn the 200k handout that the boss gets for hiring him seasonally for two years. How is this sustainable? Are we all going to be working to subsidize farmers by 100k/year to hire a single foreign farmhand?

Not to mention the program for that grant has only 141 members... it just doesn't make sense.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 8 child comments
    •
  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    OK, so, I live in farm country and there's some problems with what your saying. 1. It's actually good pay. In fact some farmers have tried raising the pay to attract more workers, it rarely works. Farms are in the middle of nowhere. There's no city. MAYBE there's a post office and a store that sells exclusively Croation gass station fare. MAYBE. It's temporary work. You get a few months pay. So. Remote, physically demanding, and temporary. That's what makes it a ''no thanks'' job for every American. We live hand to mouth, we live in a stack of cards that requires constant payments. That's not a problem in Latin America for the most part, they live hand to mouth but they can save up money, they are maxed out on payments and debt, they just throw extra money in a jar and only live of what they really really need. So working a few months in the US, then Canada, then Mexico, it's OK. That's why they're called seasonal farm workers. When you close to boarders you trap them out of their job and create insane problems. I don't know why Americans can't figure out how the food gets to the Walmart, but they have been failing up grasp this for a long ass time.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    You're not gaslighting anyone into thinking $17 an hour is worth much of anything. What the fuck does "some farmers have tried raising the pay to attract more workers, it rarely works" mean?? Oh no, farms are paying more, better not work there. Are you retarded? You don't see rednecks passing up oilfield work because it's out in the middle of nowhere. Couldn't possibly have anything to do with the six figure paychecks those jobs have. Nope. Hell, I bet if you dropped their pay to $17 an hour, every roughneck in the field would sprint as fast as they could over to thank you personally. What a fuckin genius idea.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (2 children)

    So what amount of pay would YOU want to do that type of work for? And what would you be willing to pay for the food produced at that wage level?

    You guys were bitching about the cost of eggs being $5 a dozen not too long ago. And just a few years ago it was the cost of Doritos and cornflakes because of high corn prices. So make up your minds. Either you can pay the temporary fieldworkers $50 hr, or YOU can have cheap food. Which is it going to be?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago*

    The funny thing is that if they used the 100k/year for labor, they would be able to pay out $87,600 after 12.4% employer tax, this equates to ~$42.11/hr. I absolutely promise workers will line up for that wage.

    Course that still doesn't provide healthcare. That being said, the farmer is pocketing more money by paying the employee so little than what the employee actually makes, and this money is not at all earned by the farmer, but a handout from taxpayers. The employer gets to profit from the fruits of their labor on top of making more money simply by paying them the legal minimum they can pay with the program.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago*

    I've been running my own garden for three years now on a community plot. I don't ask anyone to work for me, and I don't pay anyone. I pick what I want and everyone else does the same. Sometimes they help, sometimes they don't. It doesn't change anything for me.

    I can't fix your busted local economy for you. I do know that paying $30/hr will get a lot of people out doing something they don't necessarily like, even if they have to drive for it. Even in a place with ridiculous cost of living like California.

    I knew guys who left their house at 1 in the morning to be 120 miles away for the start of work at 4. I asked one of them why they did it. They said "Where we live, you either go out and get a real job, or you work in the fields". It's not even about the money. It's mostly about the benefits. How many farmers offer medical, paid holiday, or sick pay?

    These guys worked 10s and 12s every day. They work hard, and they want that work to mean more for them than someone else's profit. That's ALL you are offering.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent