This is a harrowing story of personal challenge. Immigrant labor is key to the success of California agriculture. Click here to hear a song by Tom Russell focusing on some aspects of the Mexican immigrant experience.
--Brent W.
Monday, June 7, 2010
J. V. Palerm: "A season in the life of a migrant farm worker in California"
This is a harrowing story of personal challenge. Immigrant labor is key to the success of California agriculture. Click here to hear a song by Tom Russell focusing on some aspects of the Mexican immigrant experience.
--Brent W.
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Immigrant labor has always been a very important role for the production of fruits and vegetables in California as well as other locations. The amount of labor that is required from these immigrant workers is extreme and the conditions of the work are not ideal for any person. They work exremely hard to make a decent wage, so they can afford to support their families in other countries. The large farms and foremans give the immigrant workers shantys to live in and pay them next to nothing for a ten hour or plus day. J.V Palerm says that, "[...]Pedro worked 10-12 hours a day all week and recieved a large wad of cash in all ones and one twenty, a total of 86 dollars, 1.36 an hour."(A season in the Life of amigrant farm worker in California). This quote from the passage explains the struggles faced by these workers. Just because these immigrants are not legally citizens of the US the farmers take advantage of these immigrants and treat them as if they do not matter. When really the farm is breaking the laws by hiring the undocumented workers. The work carried out by the immigrants in California is extremely important for the farms hiring these workers because without them the amount produced would fall greatly. Instead of these farms placing these workers in a segregated poor town like there prison inmates these farms should value their employees working for them.
ReplyDeleteBen
Ben: I agree that farm workers, illegal or legal, are undervalued by many employers. It is their work that in large part makes the United States' inexpensive food possible. I observed in California that employers work to avoid addressing the immigration issue by working with contractors that carry all the responsibility and therefore risk of employing illegal immigrants. The fact is, though, that California depends on worker immigration from the south. It worries many farmers in the state whenever there is talk of stricter immigration controls, because the production system is dependent upon their exploitation.
ReplyDelete--Brent W.
Sang Hyun Park (Tue/ Thu 6:30pm - 8:00pm)
ReplyDelete"California's thriving agricultural industry, driven since the mid-1970s by a massive development of high-value fruit and vegetable specialty crops, has....and capital to high-value, machine-resistant, labor-intensive, and wholesome specialty crops that, in turn, require that more low-paid farm laborers be sought to tend them. These workers come primarily Mexico" (364).
California agriculture has become increasingly mechanized and reduced its need for migrant labor recently (in past few decades). However, there are still huge increasing demand for specialty fruit and vegetable crops. These products are very labor intensive, so it brings increasing needs for migrant workers who come from Mexico.
I think they are main stream of foreign workers in the United States. I saw almost every restaurant has Mexican worker in California. They are pretty cheap labor as well as very hard worker. I think US government should take care of immigrant issue for them. We can't just ignore what they have been done in this industry.
- Sang Hyun Park.
(I don't know why it shows the name of
'Bryan Parsons', even though I logged in
with Username: hosp350norcal@gmail.com)
Eventhough much of the immigrant drama is happening aroudn Arizona, i feel that California is at the main concern for these illegal workers. Many of them are involved with agriculture and/or farming, which California is at the top of. Many of these farms and workers depend of the job that they are provided.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happens with the situation in Arizona, i feel will escalate in California because of the growing immigrant population in the area. THe real question is if hiring and employing these people is ethical. It is illegal but doesnt every human deserve a chance, ven when they are working as hard as many people. THese workers are the heart and sole of the farms that are producing these products eaten all over the country.
nicholas karoly
On J.V. Palerm, migrant farm workers
ReplyDeleteSince the first European settlers began colonizing the new world, people have relied on migrant workers to get the work done. Back then, slaves were brought over from Africa to do the physical labor of construction and farm work. Fortunately, we have since realized the dreadful realities of slavery and no longer force labor to outside immigrants. Today, Latin Americans migrating up from South America provide the majority of our agricultural labor. They are an integral part of the agricultural system in the U.S. because they do the work that we Americans don’t want to, and they do it for very little money. Many of them were farmers in their old country so they already have the skills required. The money is relative however, because to them, that minimum wage paycheck is big. Issues such as the recent Arizona Immigration law controversy should make people think about just how important migrant workers are in this country.
Ryan C.
Mechanized farming is causing many farmers to stop using people and purchase equipment to cultivate their land. Although this is certainly efficient, it puts many migrant workers out of the job. Migrant workers are most definitely some of the hardest working people in the food industry. They work long hours, work tiring jobs, are often mistreated, and tend to suffer the most negative externalizations that farming can produce. I understand that migrant workers are not citizens of the states but I find it to be unruly and inhumane to treat them in the ways that they are often treated. They are human beings, after all. Farmers strongly rely on migrant workers to produce their products and it is imperative that we learn to take care of them before our farms close and our food is completely commercialized. Mistreating the workers will only lead to bigger issues with our own health when we lose the privilege of having hand harvested foods due to the fact that there are not many people willing to work for the wages that they do. Essentially, it's a domino effect that could have some very scary results.
ReplyDelete--Julia G.