Not enough farm workers in Alabama since anti immigration law passed.

[guzzijohn]

http://blog.al.com/wire/2011/10/state_program_to_replace_immig.html


There are other similar articles like the above. May be tough time for farmers that need a lot of labor. Once again laws passed from emotion without thinking through the ramifications.
GuzziJohn

[Swampman]

I've said this would happen all along.  we can expect prices to rise as food rots in the field.

[BUGEYE]

you can't expect to be able to work in the field while wearing your pants around your knees.
my early training was in plumbing with my Dad and I have been literally "up to my elbows in s--t".
people won't do those jobs as long as we hand them a check every month.
we need to cut those checks and make people WANT to take DIRTY jobs.

[powderman]

Gov. Robert Bentley has called such claims "almost insulting" to Alabamians. The new program has signed up about 200 people who want to work, but so far only one employer has sought one worker, the administration said.

 
Our garbage service is done by jail inmates. They clean the roads, cut weeds, storm cleanup, etc. No reason it can't work there. POWDERMAN. 

[ironglow]

 What in blue blazes id wrong with doing it the LEGAL way ?
  http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/taw.htm
  The Democrats are just whining because they WANT ILLEGALS TO BE HERE !

[Swampman]

It's almost impossible to do it legally.  It takes tens of thousands of dollars to bribe officals in Mexico to get the proper papers.  The average mexican don't have that kind of money.

[guzzijohn]

Our garbage service is done by jail inmates. They clean the roads, cut weeds, storm cleanup, etc. No reason it can't work there. POWDERMAN.

What makes you think that prisoners will stay on the job any longer? The last I knew they could not be forced to work.


Quote from Ironglow:
What in blue blazes id wrong with doing it the LEGAL way ?[/size]  http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/taw.htm

[/size]  The Democrats are just whining because they WANT ILLEGALS TO BE HERE !

Many of the legal workers have left due to not understanding the law or that they do have illegals in their household and are scared they may be found out.


GuzziJohn

[Sourdough]

I agree with Bugeye, as long as we pay people to stay home and get fat they won't work.  We now have an entire generation that grew up with their Mamas getting paid to have more babies.  Those babies grew up doing nothing to improve their lot or to benifit society.  Grandma and Mama get money from welfare and they feed them.  They steal anything else they want.  Drugs and Illigal activities is where they make real money.  Young men aspire to be a big drug dealer.  Most end up in jail. 

[Swampman]

I suspect the Republicans want illegals here more than democrats.  They tend to own businesses that need reliable and inexpensive labor.  Democrats don't want illegals tapping the public funds they live on.

[ironglow]

  Mexico's bribery problem and the illegals situation..that's what the guest worker program is designed to clear up..
  Perhaps if Obama got busy straightening things like that out, instead of forcing queers upon the military or throwing billions of dollars at phony "green energy" schemes, this could have been taken care of by now !

[mirage1988]

Its much easier to hold a sign that says gimme a job than to actually work. There are more than enough able-bodied people on welfare (unemployment and public assistance) in alabama to fill those jobs.

[mcwoodduck]

It would be easy to do it legally.
We can issue tempory cards, tax the illegals, and as they sign up for a tempory / Migrant workers card we finger print them.  We hand them the form in English and off you go.  They renew the card every year at your local ICE office.  Heck set up an ICE office. 
My phudo Nephew went to get a job at one of the local fast food places.  Typical high school kid, wants $ for dates, clothes, gas, and shotgun shells.
The fast food business here in CA is over run with illegals and they will not work with High school kids.  The minimum wage job is a career to them not a steping stone.

[rio grande]

Big agriculture is spoiled - they want workers who work for peanuts and don't complain about unsafe conditions.
Maybe if they paid a decent wage they could get the job done by U.S. citizens.

And yes, I'd pay more. I'd pay more to support American citizens.

Saw this in spades in the construction industry (when we had one).  Houses were built by young skilled American men, citizens.  Framing, roofing, electrical, plumbing.  My friends often worked in construction - summer jobs too.
Then the illegal Mexicans started taking over - it got to be if you weren't Mexican you were locked out, pushed out.  Yes, they worked for less.  Quality is not as good now, for many reasons, not the Mexicans (who are certainly capable of good work) but the poor quality is related to the same reasons low-wage workers are hired - greed.

Saw this in the shrimping industry on the Gulf Coast too.  My uncle was a shrimper back in the day.
Vietnamese took over. Worked for less, lived very poorly.

I was told the apple orchards in the Northwest were the same. Used to be young white folks, seasonal - made good money.  Now Mexicans - work for less.

This is the 'surplus labor' that owners and bosses love. Thanks to a Congress that opened the gates to massive immigration, legal and illegal.
Can you guess why they did that?

[Swampman]

I can't pay more.  We hardly eat any fresh fruits and veggies now because they are too high.  Farmers can't pay good wages because they don't make the money off what they grow.  The middle man gets all the money.

[rio grande]

I can't pay more.  We hardly eat any fresh fruits and veggies now because they are too high.  Farmers can't pay good wages because they don't make the money off what they grow.  The middle man gets all the money.

'Farmers' or Agribusiness like ConAgra and Tyson?
But you are right - middlemen are also to blame.
I support small farmers, they are getting squeezed big time, thanks for the reminder.

"As a result of government policies and international trade agreements, family farmers have been forced off their land and out of business at an increasingly fast pace. According to Farm Aid, 330 U.S. farmers leave their land every week. Between 2005 and 2006, the U.S. lost 8,900 farms (more than a farm per hour). There are approximately 5 million fewer farmers today than there were in the 1930’s."

http://action.ran.org/index.php/People%27s_Rights_vs._Agribusiness

[Swampman]

That rate should increase now that they have no labor force.  Urban sprawl will eat up those fallow farm lands.  Way to go fellows!

[mcwoodduck]

That rate should increase now that they have no labor force.  Urban sprawl will eat up those fallow farm lands.  Way to go fellows!

Laws either mean somethng or they do not.
If a Federal law can be ignored by a state and state laws can be ignored by a city or county can the  people of that state ignore laws by that city or state?
The cartels in Mexico need the open boarder, they need illegals flowing back and forth to move their drugs in and cash out.  If illegal immagration was only about illegal workers most would not care.  But as everything it is more complex and the viloence seen in Mexico and on the boarders, heck all of Southern Az there are warning signs that it is unsafe. 
As others have said the Mexicans legal or illegal once in bully their way to being the only workers locking out anyone.  Be it only speaking Spanish and refusing to speak to anyone not speaking spanish unless they are a boss.
 

[Heather]

What a way to spin a story! Geeze guys you really think that is a bad thing that illegal workers have left! It is not that we don't have LEGAL CITIZENS who will do the job.  That's just a crock of hooey. What you may have is employers not wanting to pay minimum wage, but not too many people around here will turn down any job at this moment. The line that killed me was saying that our work force didn't' have the physical or mental stamina to pick tomatoes. Come on give me a break! The real story should have read, Illegals flee, temporary setback for farmers who had illegally hired help and are now trying to hire a whole new workforce in a matter of weeks before crops are over ripe. THAT IS THE ONLY ISSUE, an Issue of TIMING. Well maybe an issue of greed. The farmer who won't pay minimum wage to pick combined with the mindset that we DESERVE a certain wage.  The rest of the story should have went like, NOW ALABAMIANS HAVE MANY JOB OPENINGS, THAT WILL BE FILLED SOON. 
Heather

[Swampman]

Change Federal laws to allow farmers to hire labor that will work and that they can afford.
 
Drugs shouldn't be illegal......problems solved.
 
Government involvement in anything means ruination for everyone involved.

[BUGEYE]

I can't pay more.  We hardly eat any fresh fruits and veggies now because they are too high.  Farmers can't pay good wages because they don't make the money off what they grow.  The middle man gets all the money.

my parents spent their last few years in Fla. and their little 1/4 acre had several citrus trees and a year-round garden.

[ironglow]

What a way to spin a story! Geeze guys you really think that is a bad thing that illegal workers have left! It is not that we don't have LEGAL CITIZENS who will do the job.  That's just a crock of hooey. What you may have is employers not wanting to pay minimum wage, but not too many people around here will turn down any job at this moment. The line that killed me was saying that our work force didn't' have the physical or mental stamina to pick tomatoes. Come on give me a break! The real story should have read, Illegals flee, temporary setback for farmers who had illegally hired help and are now trying to hire a whole new workforce in a matter of weeks before crops are over ripe. THAT IS THE ONLY ISSUE, an Issue of TIMING. Well maybe an issue of greed. The farmer who won't pay minimum wage to pick combined with the mindset that we DESERVE a certain wage.  The rest of the story should have went like, NOW ALABAMIANS HAVE MANY JOB OPENINGS, THAT WILL BE FILLED SOON.
Heather

  Heather is right..only thing wrong with this plan was the timing.  Giving the farmers a little lead time to adjust, would probably have helped.

[mcwoodduck]

Heather is correct even the title is wrong.  the law is not anti immagration.
The law is about ILLEGAL immagration.  If we had a closed boarder the farmers would need to find labor some how either as pople or innovation.
The cotton Jin ended the need to hand pick the seds out of cotton and fewer workers were needed.
With scanning technology a fruit picker cna be made to get citrus, berries, and other vegtables.  Will it be expensive in the short term, yep will it drive some farmers out of farming and bring others in?  Yep.  Free market where new companies are always entering the market and some fail and are leaving for a multitude of reasons.  Here is CA farmers are leaving due to a small fish and hte government diverting water to the fish rather than the fields, spiking the price of food in a congress made drought.

[Swampman]

I told you this would happen and you still believe your right.............
Americans will never do hard labor until they are really hungry.  As long as they are on the government teat, it ain't gonna happen.

[dukkillr]

I told you this would happen and you still believe your right.............
Americans will never do hard labor until they are really hungry.  As long as they are on the government teat, it ain't gonna happen.

You are only partially right.  Americans of the type who would consider the job, won't do it for what it currently pays.  If they would, there would be no illegal immigrants here.  But they will do the job, it's just a matter of how much it costs.  You are right about all the people on the government teat.  All part of the nanny state we live in.

[ironglow]

Dukkillr is right, in that we should expect to pay more for domestic labor and thus more for the product in the marketplace.  Say another dime on a quart of berries, a nickle or two on a head of lettuce etc.
  If the illegals were required to pay income tax, unemployment etc, their labor costs would go up also....

[Swampman]

Most of them do pay it using false Social Security numbers.  We will have to import the food from other countries to keep the price down, and we will have to stop exporting food which increases of trade deficit.  The related jobs that support farmers will simply go away. 

[powderman]

The real story should have read, Illegals flee, temporary setback for farmers who had illegally hired help and are now trying to hire a whole new workforce in a matter of weeks before crops are over ripe. THAT IS THE ONLY ISSUE, an Issue of TIMING. Well maybe an issue of greed.

 
HEATHER. good post, I agree. Fact is the farmers have had plenty of time to do the right thing, they simply chose to hire illegals. This has nothing to do with IMMIGRANTS, it's all about criminals. POWDERMAN. 

[billy_56081]

I bet if we cut off the blood supply to the parasites that are American citacens, they would go do these jobs when they started to feel the pangs of hunger, and after the news showed a few of them being eliminated form the gene pool from those they tried to steal from.

[srussell]

It's almost impossible to do it legally.  It takes tens of thousands of dollars to bribe officals in Mexico to get the proper papers.  The average mexican don't have that kind of money.

  well now maybe its time they did what we did.we fought England for our freedom let them fight for theirs. and yes we should put the welfare babies to work weather they want to are not. no work no pay

[powderman]

Not sure exactly where but I believe the Bible says, he who will not work, neither shall he eat. POWDERMAN.