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About three weeks ago, the United Farm Workers launched an interesting initiative, which Father Orthoduck is glad to support. The video above is from the 8 July Colbert Report. It had to do with illegal farm workers. The UFW wants to expose at least one false argument that is used against undocumented workers. That argument is that the undocumented aliens are taking jobs away from citizens and legal residents of the United States. They only work in the area of agriculture, so they can only issue a challenge in that area. But, the challenge is below:
There are two issues facing our nation–high unemployment and undocumented people in the workforce–that many Americans believe are related.
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. Just fill out the form to the right and continue on to the request for job application.
The form at the right asks for your name, e-mail address, and a zip code. Having said that, one can also simply write to the UFW using snail mail. The form at the right gives a very brief description of minimum job requirements. Father Orthoduck thinks the readers of this blog will agree that it is an accurate job description that is not sensationalized:
Job may include using hand tools such as knives, hoes, shovels, etc. Duties may include tilling the soil, transplanting, weeding, thinning, picking, cutting, sorting & packing of harvested produce. May set up & operate irrigation equip. Work is performed outside in all weather conditions (Summertime 90+ degree weather) & is physically demanding requiring workers to bend, stoop, lift & carry up to 50 lbs on a regular basis.
These are honorable jobs, working on farms that follow US Department of Agriculture guidelines. So, since we all believe in the dignity of hard work and since the unemployment rate is so high, certainly there will be plenty of US citizens and residents ready to take these jobs, right? Well, a week ago, the ABC affiliate in the Fresno, California area reported (Father Orthoduck has snipped parts of the report for brevity’s sake):
Tough, back breaking jobs that this farm labor contractor is having trouble filling this season. Leopaldo Garcia a farm labor contractor told us, “This is hard work, to harvest peaches grapes or whatever’s in the farm, it’s hard.” He has had no luck going to state unemployment offices for people willing to take the jobs he has to offer, “I make an order last week and nobody called yet, to whoever wants to work and they don’t call yet.”
Finding a permanent legal solution to a now largely illegal immigrant work force is a common goal for the UFW and farmers these days. And many Central Valley farmers like Chuna are hanging their hopes on the current farm bill before congress to insure a means to harvest their crops.
In other words, despite a terrible shortage of farm workers and a high unemployment rate in the nation, those jobs are going unfilled, uhm, except by those horrible illegal aliens, right? But, even with them, there is still a shortage of people willing to take those jobs. And it is not important if you follow all labour law posting requirements (more at LaborLawCC.com), it’s about the job. Without them, one can hardly imagine what will happen to the fruit and vegetable industry in this country. The UFW has even guaranteed in a letter to Congress that any new hires will be fully trained by an experienced union member, and should every position be filled, that the undocumented will be the first to be let go, even if they are union members.
And, yet, there has been little response. Here is the worst danger for the USA. Should the farms begin to close because of the inability to harvest their crops in an efficient fashion, we face the prospect of having to import fruits and vegetables from other countries. It is true that we export grains. But, grains can be harvested by combines, etc. Many of the fruits and vegetables, however, do not yield to mass-production mechanized methods of harvest, but must still be hand-picked to this day. So, we face the danger of becoming an importing country for even greens that have been being grown right here in America.
So, let Father Orthoduck do his bit to promote this campaign. Father Orthoduck doubts this will silence those who are convinced that illegal immigrants harm the USA, they are quite ready to believe fantasy tales, as Gov. Brewer of Arizona has demonstrated. But it will at least take one argument away from them.
So, go ahead America. Prove us Latinos wrong. Take those jobs. Are you unemployed and healthy? There are jobs for you, male or female, young or old. As the title of the campaign says, “Take Our Jobs,” please.
But, if you will not “Take Our Jobs,” then change the immigration policy to allow those here to continue working and new ones to come in, as necessary, for the farmers of America to be able to continue to provide the quality greens to which we have become accustomed in this country.
As a young teen parent in the recession of the early 80s in a very poor part of the country (the Ozarks), I worked a lot of those sorts of jobs. (Picking strawberries. Planting trees. Digging ditches for cable laying. Construction labor and drywall. And a host of other things.) In addition to being hard, manual labor, they are also transitory jobs. You not only have to be willing to do the work, you have to be willing to pick up and go where the work can be found. So not only are you working hard for long hours and relatively pay, but you have to spend days (or weeks) at a time away from your family. So I understand why most Americans don’t want to do those jobs. Heck, I didn’t want to do them then. I just had relatively few other choices for some years.
I have, however, noticed that the level of discourse in our country at present tends to be such that relatively few people seem to let reality intrude on their ideology.
It isn’t just hard manual labor jobs that are going begging. There are states in the NW part of the USA, like North Dakota and Montana, that are looking for trained Medical Technologists and are having trouble finding them because people do not want to live there. The reality of the winters there do tend to put one off. GRIN.
Definitely too cold! [g] However I may not have made my full point. It’s not just the hard manual labor aspect. One of my sons works in a lumber mill, which is certainly hard work. Lots of Americans are still willing to work hard. The jobs like the farm jobs, though, are not just hard manual labor. They are transitory (though cyclical) and migratory and low-paying. It’s a trifecta that makes the job such that no American will take them as long as they have any other way to eat.
Which lets me make a further point. Farmers have been able to successfully argue that no additional burdens should be put upon them since they are so often so close to the bankrupt point. Thus, no farmer that employs less than 25 people needs pay any benefits of any type. So, the farmers in an area can come together and bring in well over the 25 people limit. However, since no individual farmer will actually hire more than 25 people, one can have a certain area being harvested by well over a hundred people, but no one has to pay any benefits.
So, the job is manual labor, low paying, migratory, seasonal, and receives no benefits. Do you remember the outcry in the 1960’s when the UFW was beginning its union activities? Now, think about what you just said. The UFW has IMPROVED working conditions to what they are now. Do some reading and see what those good “Christian” folk who hire many of the migrant workers used to consider as adequate working conditions, and still consider as adequate working conditions.
This is why our immigration policy needs to take into account such things. Illegals are effectively slave labor–they cannot go to OSHA about dangerous practices, they cannot go to the wage and hour board about low wages, they cannot go the union about no benefits–But–the Powes THat Be seem to think this is just fine…..after all, this means CHEAP labor…..sigh…..
If you want to, you can….. I moved halfway around the world, from a very nice climate to Saskatchewan (think N is cold?) because i neede to feed my family. Also, I did it legally. But most people are married to their comfort zones, especially on this continent, in my 3.5 years of experience here.
I grew up in suburban new york, which I thought had a high population of hispanics. We had ESL classes in my school and an iglesia in every town. Then I moved to farm country, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the best mexican food I had ever tasted. I had never dreamed of how many undocumented workers lived in “white bread” states. Our neighboring state, which we lived quite close to the border of, got in trouble with DHS for passing a pro-illegal law, and by then I had come to understand the reality of the farm situation. Back in New York, though, no one believes me. The country is so big, and that makes our relations to the source of our livelihood abstract. Stereotypes reign, even when they are grossly untrue.
It breaks my heart to see the hard working, long suffering people that put food on my table lampooned in the national media. When I pray a blessing before a meal, I try to always remember to pray a blessing on the people spread all over the country and the world that nurtured it, harvested it, prepared it, and packaged it.
And this is where christian theology should upend our attitudes. If my worth and value are derived from being made in God’s image and redeemed by Jesus‘ blood, than every person is of as much value as me. It is just as important that their family be provided for as mine. My needs are not more important than their needs. And I certainly don’t get to demonize them for trying to find a livelihood.
One aspect that struck me while reading this was the idea of necessity: It seems to me that “Americans” continue to be “bailed out” by the government so that it’s not necessary for them to take jobs that are difficult. My father worked well into his 80’s because, on principal, he believed in self-sufficiency and therefore it was necessary to work. Quite simply, I think that given the option between picking veggies and starving, people would pick veggies, move to where work is, etc; Americans did it in the past and would do it again, except for the gross over-reach of the State into spheres of sovereignty where it ought not be. Americans have come to take food stamps, unemployment, welfare, etc – being supported by someone else’s labor – as some sort of civil/human right. Take away the things which make it unnecessary for people to work and provide for themselves and they will, at the very least, out of necessity. The Leviathan of the State has neutered America.
You have a good point. I have moved for jobs–and I have done a lot of scut work–when I was younger, obviously–because that is what I had to do to survive. I guess I am blessed that all three of my girls have a strong work ethic–but that is because I have one and was raised by parents and grandparents who had the same. My father lost his father at a year old and his mother at 10. His brother who was 18 raised his three younger siblings–during the great depression–in the South–my dad worked from the age of 10 doing whatever he could do to survive–that was the example I was raised with.
And yet, in your America without a safety net, would we not also see an increase in the infant abandonment chronicled a few days ago on this blog? I have no doubt that our people will do what they have to, but how many kids do you want living impossibly far from one or both parents much of the time? My sponsored kid in the poorest part of Mexico is 10 years old, caring for an ill mother, and raising himself while his fatherly faithfully follows the work, ever farther from their home. I don’t think he has seen his dad in a year. They are making it, but that is hardly ideal. Poor people make hard choices, including in their food purchases. We could live without food stamps, but would our nation be stronger for having more malnurishment?
In a darwinian sense, I suppose letting the poor, the weak, and the disadvantaged die quicker would make us “stronger”. As a poor, permanently disabled person I wouldn’t get to live there, though, so I guess I am a little biased. But I am not into that kind of strength.
I am not saying that we abandon the disabled, the sick, the children–the truly needy,but my daughter who is 30 and I were talking about this very thing yesterday. Her observation of her peers is that too many of them are moochers on parents, the system, or anyone who will let them mooch. Her feeling is that many of her peers lack a work ethic and are of the mindset that you go along to get along, do the minimum that will let you get over and let someone else do the hard stuff. That being said, I think there is a happy medium between helping the poor and the needy and giving anyone who wants to loaf a means to do it on the government dole. When I was still working, I had clients at the detox I worked at tell me that they didn’t get a “real” job because they made more pan-handling. Sad–
Incidently, I am one of those disabled folks as well and don’t live in high cotton myself.
We could, of course, return to the 19th century. However, I suggest that you read some Charles Dickens and see what the world was like before we put in some types of safety net. Look also at the plaque in yesterday’s post and see the note on the “paupers” buried there who died during one of the famines. I have no desire to return to the 19th century. In passing, since Social Security and Medicare are not self-supporting, I assume that we should do away with that expected benefit? Or, at least, we should pay out only in proportion to the actual real money that was put into the system by the individual.
The problem is that once we fall into the argument of benefits, then we need to do away with EVERY subsidy we have from the government. Moreover, since 1% of the populace pays over 50% of taxes, to be fair everyone should pay exactly the same percentage. There are those who argue that. They may be right, but I do not think so, but I will grant that they could be right. Of course, if you have seen how even Republicans defend Social Security and Medicare, despite the fact that you receive more than you put in, then you realize that the argument is only about which benefits, not whether to give them.
I’m not advocating for no safety net and never helping those who cannot help themselves, such as the disabled, orphan, the widow, etc; and I certainly don’t consider my self a Darwinianist who believes that it’s good to let the weak die, nor do I necessarily advocate going back to the Dickinist 19th century. I simply think that there is a rational middle ground between no charity and too much charity. On the one hand I think that no charity disregards human dignity and leads to great suffering, while on the other hand, too much charity not only is fiscally unsustainable, but more importantly it destroys human dignity and eventually leads to great suffering too. I also think there is a debate to be had regarding the form and function of institutions (Kuyper’s Sphere Sovereignty) – Church, State, Family, etc.
I just read the article and saw that there is (1) increasing unemployment, (2) increasing enrollment in government assistance, & (3) and many job openings in an area of the economy that is difficult and unpleasant. Putting those factors together it seems to me that level of government charity (which I think is a violation of sphere sovereignty, as well as borderline theft) is enabling many Americans to avoid the necessity of work by living off of forced “redistribution” of wealth.
I’ve been considering the idea of “subsidy” recently after watching food inc and seeing how the subsidization of the corn industry has skewed so much in this country…
PS, thanks for the civil conversation.
I would agree with 90% of what you posted. I wish more people would realize that we ought to be arguing about where that middle ground is rather than speaking in some rather radical and unsustainable terms. The far left often speaks in economically unsustainable terms. The far right often speaks in morally unsustainable terms. May the Lord raise up a generation of moderates who know how to both argue vigorously and yet how to reach acceptable compromises.
By happenstance, today’s post (not this one, the one for the day on which this comment was written) begins a couple of posts by me on the role of government.
Thanks for the post Father! I saw this bit on Colbert and loved it. This is an issue where I can easily and comfortably break with my typically more conservative friends and family.
This is a great post Father, and one that I’ve studied quite a bit. I wrote a post on it recently that got some attention here if you want to look:
http://www.thesocialperiodical.com/policy/does-illegal-immigration-violence-a-look-at-the-facts/
Anyways, I understand that average Americans won’t take these very labor-intensive jobs out in the fields, but I do believe that a great influx of immigrants have a sometimes negative effect on our workforce, especially those in lower income brackets. George J. Borjas wrote an essay on the New Economics of Immigration (you can find it here: http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/96nov/immigrat/borjas.htm), and in it he explains the economic effects of great influxes of low income/skill workers coming into the United States. This excess supply of low-skill labor seems to cause an income-pull downwards for natural citizens here in the states, especially low-skill labor already here. This may be one reason for increasing wage inequality here in the U.S., because over the past two decades we’ve have incredibly large migration here to the U.S., especially from Mexico, and these workers often depend on public programs, hospital care, as well as offer low skill work (in economic terms).
I don’t say this to make them sub-human. I am a son of an immigrant from Cuba, a refugee who had everything taken from him by gun-point. But I also don’t think the current policies being argued for are necessarily right either. The way society will benefit is if we allow this influx of workers, but somehow be able to train or assist in ways that are more long term, in order to alleviate the affects of already natural low-wage/skill workers here in the U.S. I think this would benefit both the migrants to this country that are simply living out the very principles this country was built upon, but also create a sustainable partnership between new migrants and natural citizens.
Btw, I don’t think many people would take these jobs, I highly respect the 75% latino farm workers that do this incredibly hard work. I just hope that they find promise here in America; a chance for prosperity here that will benefit them and society as a whole, and not an endless cycle of poverty, exploitation, and cynicism (it’s the last and easy thing we should do; to blame the poor, the marginalized, and those without a voice as loud as the zeitgeist of bitterness and hate).
I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This Nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. All of us ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated, but this is not the case.
I know the proponents of this law say that the majority approves of this law, but the majority is not always right. Would women or non-whites have the vote if we listen to the majority of the day, would the non-whites have equal rights (and equal access to churches, housing, restaurants, hotels, retail stores, schools, colleges and yes water fountains) if we listen to the majority of the day? We all know the answer, a resounding, NO!
As for the undocumented workers, as was attributed to Ronald Reagan “It’s the Economy, Stupid”. When the economy is good you say let’s all celebrate “Cinco de Mayo, my brothers” but when the economy is down “it’s all your fault, you damn immigrant”. This too will pass, the real problem is the narcos, arms and people smugglers and that’s what the focus should be on.
Today we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free. In a time of domestic crisis men of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics and do what is right, not what is just popular with the majority. Some men comprehend discrimination by never have experiencing it in their lives, but the majority will only understand after it happens to them.
I love the Colbert Report! Good post!