Alabama lawmakers getting pressured from business group to change immigration law

[trof]

Source: The Birmingham News



Potato farmer Kim Haynes discusses Alabama's immigration law near his farm in Cullman, Ala. None of potato farmer Kim Haynes workers showed up for work in Cullman the day that Alabama's stringent immigration law took effect. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Alabama lawmakers are facing pressure from agriculture and business groups to change the state's tough new immigration law that a judge allowed to take effect last week. Crops are rotting in the fields because farmers can't find enough workers to harvest them. Even legal immigrants are not showing up for jobs at construction sites and poultry plants because, agriculture and industry officials say, they fear a hostile state climate.

"The two issues are the labor shortage and the burdensome red tape," said Jay Reed of Associated Builders & Contractors. Reed also co-chairs a group called Alabama Employers for Immigration Reform. "There was a big misconception that there were long lines formed by Alabamians who wanted these labor-intensive jobs," Reed said.

For farmer Keith Smith, who has 200 acres of ripening sweet potatoes in his Cullman fields and no one to pick them, the new law boils down to a matter of finding anyone to do the work.
Smith normally hires about 20 pickers -- mostly Hispanic immigrants -- for the October harvest. On Thursday he could find only five workers.
"They are all leaving up here. They are just scared," Smith said. "They are taking kids out of school."

Smith said he has four to six weeks to get his crops in before they rot. He said he has found a few American workers for his fields, but he complained they can't keep up with his Hispanic crews.
"If you want to solve the immigration problem, quit eating," Smith said.

Read more: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/10/alabama_lawmakers_getting_pres.html

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"If you want to solve the immigration problem, quit eating,"
That about says it all.

[Syrinx]

1. could this be an in-road for our Democrats?

Infighting between the business-oriented Republicans and the racist-oriented ones?

[trof]

3. One can hope.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Unintended consequences????

[trof]

4. As a result of sheer stupidity.

[izquierdista]

8. Superior stupidity

All they had to do was look east to the rotting onions and peaches here in Georgia to see this was a bad idea and they STILL went ahead with it.

[Mosaic]

5. Give them Amnesty

And Quit Being Such AMORAL fucks already!

[totodeinhere]

6. Perhaps if he paid a decent living wage with good benefits he could find workers. n/t

[trof]

19. Farming isn't like office work.

Farmers don't need year round workers.
They just need seasonal workers.
Usually for a few weeks when the crops come in.
Most planting is done more-or-less mechanically, but many food crops still have to be harvested by hand.
(It's back breaking work, BTW. I've done it.)

If farmers gave their employees of 4 or 5 week 'benefits', you'd be paying $10 a pound for potatoes.

[totodeinhere]

23. I doubt it. Actually, labor costs make up a very small portion of the

cost of food. Most of the cost is taken up by other things. But if providing decent benefits to workers means that costs go up, so be it. All workers deserve benefits.

[Critters2]

29. + 1 nt

[Critters2]

25. Exactly. There are plenty of workers, but they expect to be paid. nt

[LonePirate]

7. The Rethugs say these immigrants steal jobs from hard-working Americans. Why did he find only 5?

The amount of lies and stupidity from right wingers is boundless.

[Historic NY]

9. It would be easier in the old days they had slaves.....

but the morans complained that they too cost money to upkeep. :eyes:

The only way people will figure out there is a problem when they head to a supermarket and find the cost of produce has doubled. It already happening too. Migrant farm labor was a staple in bringing in the crops for decades.

[cppuddy]

10. Several points.

One,if it is his potato crop, get his fat a$$ in the field to pick the crops. Two, i used to live in Maine they used machines to harvest. Three, if he paid a living wage people would work. I remember picking blueberries in maine(the small blueberries), $5.00 for two 5 gallon pales. Not easy work. What did they think would happen. Dumb A$$E$

[Critters2]

30. Correct on all counts! nt

[4lbs]

11. Can't find American workers to do that work, eh?

Yeah, it's supremely shocking that one cannot find an American worker that is willing to do back-breaking manual labor for just $8 per hour (if it even pays that much), outside, under the hot sun, sweating like crazy, getting dirty, and with no air-conditioning.

Many would rather earn the same (possibly sub) minimum wage inside an air-conditioned McDonalds pushing buttons on a register, or easily plopping potatoes in cooking grease to make french fries.

[trof]

20. Bingo

[SoapBox]

12. Hilarious...and the psychos in Georgia put themselves AND the state in the same mess.

Are the jobs awful, hate, etc.? Yes.

Are American "citizens" flooding in to take over the jobs? NO!

...let's get real GOPBaggers...PASS a common sense immigration bill.

[joeglow3]

16. They are not flooding them NOW

My father was a drywaller. Illegal immigrants busted up damn near every union shop in town (over the course of 25 years) and the wages are now shit. Pisses me off when people pull out the bullshit "American citizens don't want the jobs" argument. You let 25 years of supply/demand pressure kill wages and then act like we HAVE to have illegal immigrants.


I proudly list my father as an American citizen who LOVED to work the job you seem to denigrate.

[JoeyT]

17. The only job's Americans are willing to do are apparently

ones in an air conditioned office, at least according to the people that use that dumbass phrase.

There aren't any jobs Americans aren't willing to do. Not one fucking job. What they won't do is a rough job for almost no pay and terrible conditions while suffering abuse. It's more convenient to insist we have a permanent underclass to shove into those jobs than it is to fight to change the conditions and pay. And we can claim to be just as "progressive" and insist people that disagree with us are racist, so there's no actual downside.

[trof]

22. Fine.

Just prepare for your grocery bill to quadruple or worse.
We won't have cheap food without cheap labor.
Not within our current agricultural framework.

[joeglow3]

24. So, you appear to support slavery

After all, our shit will be real cheap to buy.

[Critters2]

26. We should pay what things are really worth. Your food is worth more

than you like to think. Don't believe me? Try going without.

Time to pay up.

[JoeyT]

31. If your grocery bill quadruples it ain't going to be labor costs that cause it.

Labor is actually probably the cheapest thing involved in running a farm. Not paying the workers decently is just an added bonus. The real incentive is being able to treat them like shit.

We oppose conditions in Chinese factories, but insist that it's positively critical that even worse conditions be allowed here. Where's the morality in that?

[Plucketeer]

13. If they passed laws like this here in......

....California, this nation would STARVE in short order. I spent years in Georgia. The anti-hispanic sentiment was percolating there 30 years ago.

Heh - only FIVE workers showed up. The Rethugs are not doing enough to beat the spirit out of a desperate populace.

[JoeyT]

14. They could easily find people to dig them

if they weren't adamant about the need for a workforce they pay under minimum wage and treat like shit. Labor shortage? With unemployment the way it is? What bullshit. Red tape is code for "Having to pay taxes and minimum wage". Can't keep up with immigrants is code for "Goddamnit, these people are too hard to threaten".

If Keith Smith wants to hire people to work for him, he should try maybe advertising and paying at least minimum wage. Fuck him, he gets no sympathy. I hope his potatoes rot and he goes bankrupt.

Plenty of farms are having absolutely no problem hiring employees, but they pay decent wages and their employees don't live in constant fear. We're supposed to support unions on one hand and support the very right wingers that bust them on the other? I think not.

[Critters2]

27. +1 nt

[Arby]

15. Stupid 'mericons ... This sounds familiar

to what happened the first time AZ attempted discriminatory immigration law:

http://youtu.be/SNIhBVbgtxM

[Kingofalldems]

18. I bet business wins out on this one

Repubs know who runs the show.

[Brooklyns_Finest]

21. Instead

Of rooting for illegal immigrants to get just above slave wages, why dont we encourage employers to pay Americans a living wage.

[Critters2]

28. +1 nt