Crops rotting in Ga. without immigrant workers

[WTFünke]

http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2011/06/17/gas-farm-labor-crisis-playing-out-as-planned/

After enacting House Bill 87, a law designed to drive illegal immigrants out of Georgia, state officials appear shocked to discover that HB 87 is, well, driving a lot of illegal immigrants out of Georgia. ...

Thanks to the resulting labor shortage, Georgia farmers have been forced to leave millions of dollars’ worth of blueberries, onions, melons and other crops unharvested and rotting in the fields. It has also put state officials into something of a panic at the damage they’ve done to Georgia’s largest industry.

Barely a month ago, you might recall, Gov. Nathan Deal welcomed the TV cameras into his office as he proudly signed HB 87 into law. Two weeks later, with farmers howling, a scrambling Deal ordered a hasty investigation into the impact of the law he had just signed, as if all this had come as quite a surprise to him.

The results of that investigation have now been released. According to survey of 230 Georgia farmers conducted by Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, farmers expect to need more than 11,000 workers at some point over the rest of the season, a number that probably underestimates the real need, since not every farmer in the state responded to the survey.

If only the politicians would have watched The Colbert Report ... or followed common sense.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

You reap what you sow.

Or maybe you don't.

 

[Stitch]

All of those out-of-work engineers have jobs to apply for now.

 

[imjustagirl]

So long as I can still buy peaches.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

So long as I can still buy peaches.

Sure, at a higher price.

 

[Blitz]

They could use prisoners from area jails and prisons to do the work, comp those individials for "work performed" as they move toward eventually being freed, and have the companies tally up all the money that would have been paid to the migrant workers and have them donate that money to a designated, needy charity.

 

[imjustagirl]

It was a joke about how the story mentioned four other fruit/food crops ahead of peaches, which is weird. So I joked that obviously the peaches will be fine, since they'll make sure those get picked.

Never mind.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

They could use prisoners from area jails and prisons to do the work, comp those individials for "work performed" as they move toward eventually being freed, and have the companies tally up all the money that would have been paid to the migrant workers and have them donate that money to a designated, needy charity.

Or, the companies could pay what the jobs are actually worth and have a large pool of applicants to choose from.

But, nah, slavery's still in.

 

[Blitz]

I'm in favor of that option, TSP, but I don't think you'd have a quality pool of applicants. Folks are not as into working those types of jobs as they were, say, 30 or 40 years ago.
The advent of technological age has as it's nasty byproduct a lazier workforce, by and large.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Actually, from what I understand the state's peach crop is in good shape. There are only about five legitimate growers, and they apparently are in good shape for labor, partly due to the fact that peaches were being harvested before the backlash on this law got rolling.

The melon and vegetable crops are a different story though. And next year looks iffy for peaches.

Georgia is referred to as the peach state, but there are two or three other states that produce more.

As for the prisoners ... they're trying probationers now, and about 90 percent aren't making it past the first day doing the work.

RE: Wages. The most productive workers can rake in $20 per hour. Yeah. Slavery. They willingly come to America to do this work.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Pretty good AP story on the subject:

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/georgia-puts-probationers-to-984075.html

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

The jobs are worth what it takes to hire people to do them legally.

 

[Blitz]

Pretty good AP story on the subject:

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/georgia-puts-probationers-to-984075.html

Good story that describes the rough conditions for these non-skilled workers.
Here in San Antonio, they use prisoners all the time to pick up trash on medians and other areas prior to them being mowed. We need to make law-breakers pay a price for their deeds and trash/crops represent positive work alternatives.
It ain't slavery as long as they are credited for time. The probationers shouldn't have a say in what type of work is asked of them.

 

[dixiehack]

Still shaking the bush, boss.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Pretty good AP story on the subject:

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/georgia-puts-probationers-to-984075.html

Good story that describes the rough conditions for these non-skilled workers.
Here in San Antonio, they use prisoners all the time to pick up trash on medians and other areas prior to them being mowed. We need to make law-breakers pay a price for their deeds and trash/crops represent positive work alternatives.
It ain't slavery as long as they are credited for time. The probationers shouldn't have a say in what type of work is asked of them.

Quite a difference in having prisoners do state work and requiring them to work for someone's business. I wonder how the people who actually work those jobs feel when they find out their jobs are actually punishment for some people.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

That's easy to say, Blitz, but forcing businesses to take laborers who can't do the work isn't exactly fair to the business owners. It's not working in Georgia, where the losses from unharvested crops have already escalated into hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

[slappy4428]

It's all about how to properly retrain Amurican workers

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

Don't understand why we're playing these sorts of games with our food supply when severe drought in the Southwest and spring and summertime flooding elsewhere have already done a number on crops.

 

[Stitch]

It's all about how to properly retrain Amurican workers

It would solve the problems of funding education.

 

[Freelance Hack]

Pretty good AP story on the subject:

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/georgia-puts-probationers-to-984075.html

Good story that describes the rough conditions for these non-skilled workers.
Here in San Antonio, they use prisoners all the time to pick up trash on medians and other areas prior to them being mowed. We need to make law-breakers pay a price for their deeds and trash/crops represent positive work alternatives.
It ain't slavery as long as they are credited for time. The probationers shouldn't have a say in what type of work is asked of them.

Quite a difference in having prisoners do state work and requiring them to work for someone's business. I wonder how the people who actually work those jobs feel when they find out their jobs are actually punishment for some people.

Not to mention the added cost for security (law enforcement) to make sure no one escapes when they should be picking crops.

I'm all for prison labor, but there's usually a reason these people are behind bars. I'd rather they stay there.