The United Farmworkers have started a campaign, Take Our Jobs, that borders on brilliant. It should help put to rest the wacky notion that the majority of illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from "red-blooded Americans!"
For starters, the pay is incredibly low -- particularly for the amount backbreaking work involved. And why is the pay so low? Because if it was higher, consumers -- especially during the current economic hard times -- wouldn't be able to purchase produce in adequate amounts. Far too many of us wouldn't be able to satisfy our daily nutritional needs and this might lead to food riots in the streets. No sitting political leader wants that!
Secondly, as mentioned above, the work is incredibly difficult. Except during the most extreme weather, farm workers are out in the fields for 6, 8, 10 or 12 hour days. I don't know about you, but the thought of toiling away in 95 degree heat isn't my idea of a picnic.
Thirdly, farm workers routinely are exposed to all sorts of noxious poisons and known carcinogens. In order to keep yields high, too many farmers use all sorts of pesticides. You don't see farm workers sporting haz mat suits, do you? Not at all. They get to breath it all in!
I'll be interested to see how many hundreds of thousands (yeh right) of unemployed legal residents flock to sign up for this program. What would be EVEN better is for Congress to adjourn for one week and for all of our able-bodied senators and representatives to take to the fields under typical working conditions. I bet the immigration debate would lose steam very quickly!
There are two issues facing our nation--high unemployment and undocumented people in the workforce--that many Americans believe are related.Why is it that mainly foreigners from south of our borders make up the vast majority of farm workers? The reasons are many.
Missing from the debate on both issues is an honest recognition that the food we all eat - at home, in restaurants and workplace cafeterias (including those in the Capitol) - comes to us from the labor of undocumented farm workers.
Agriculture in the United States is dependent on an immigrant workforce. Three-quarters of all crop workers working in American agriculture were born outside the United States. According to government statistics, since the late 1990s, at least 50% of the crop workers have not been authorized to work legally in the United States.
We are a nation in denial about our food supply. As a result the UFW has initiated the "Take Our Jobs" campaign.
Farm workers are ready to welcome citizens and legal residents who wish to replace them in the field. We will use our knowledge and staff to help connect the unemployed with farm employers.
For starters, the pay is incredibly low -- particularly for the amount backbreaking work involved. And why is the pay so low? Because if it was higher, consumers -- especially during the current economic hard times -- wouldn't be able to purchase produce in adequate amounts. Far too many of us wouldn't be able to satisfy our daily nutritional needs and this might lead to food riots in the streets. No sitting political leader wants that!
Secondly, as mentioned above, the work is incredibly difficult. Except during the most extreme weather, farm workers are out in the fields for 6, 8, 10 or 12 hour days. I don't know about you, but the thought of toiling away in 95 degree heat isn't my idea of a picnic.
Thirdly, farm workers routinely are exposed to all sorts of noxious poisons and known carcinogens. In order to keep yields high, too many farmers use all sorts of pesticides. You don't see farm workers sporting haz mat suits, do you? Not at all. They get to breath it all in!
I'll be interested to see how many hundreds of thousands (yeh right) of unemployed legal residents flock to sign up for this program. What would be EVEN better is for Congress to adjourn for one week and for all of our able-bodied senators and representatives to take to the fields under typical working conditions. I bet the immigration debate would lose steam very quickly!
Thank you so much for writing about this, TRT. You mention some facts that I hadn't thought of.
ReplyDeleteIn the name of my people, I thank you.