Georgia's anti-immigrant law leaves millions in crops rotting in the fields

[James]

With the level of unemployment in the US, I'm surprised.

=====

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/22/georgias-anti-immigr.html

Georgia's anti-immigrant law leaves millions in crops rotting in the
fields<http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/22/georgias-anti-immigr.html>

Cory Doctorow <http://www.boingboing.net/author/cory-doctorow-1/> at 8:44 AM
Wednesday, Jun 22, 2011

Georgia's tough anti-illegal-immigrant law drove a sizable fraction of the
migrant labor pool out of the state, and as a result, "millions of dollars'
worth of blueberries, onions, melons and other crops [are] unharvested and
rotting in the fields." The jobs the migrants did paid an average of
$8/hour, without benefits, a wage that is so low that the state's
probationed prisoners have turned it down. Guest-writing in the
*Atlantic's* economics
section, Adam Ozimek doesn't believe that the farms would be
viable<http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/06/georgias-harsh-immigration-law-costs-millions-in-unharvested-crops/240774/>
if
they paid wages that legal American workers would take: "it's quite possible
that the wages required to get workers to do the job are so high that it's
no longer profitable for farmers to plant the crops in the first place."

After enacting House Bill 87, a law designed to drive illegal immigrants out
of Georgia, state officials appear shocked to discover that HB 87 is, well,
driving a lot of illegal immigrants out of Georgia.

It might be funny if it wasn't so sad.

Thanks to the resulting labor shortage, Georgia farmers have been forced to
leave millions of dollars' worth of blueberries, onions, melons and other
crops unharvested and rotting in the fields. It has also put state officials
into something of a panic at the damage they've done to Georgia's largest
industry.

[Peter T. Chattaway]

Post by James
With the level of unemployment in the US, I'm surprised.

What, you think people should accept lower wages in exchange for none?

[James]

On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 11:02 AM, Peter T. Chattaway <

Post by Peter T. Chattaway

Post by James
With the level of unemployment in the US, I'm surprised.

What, you think people should accept lower wages in exchange for none?

Low wage *rather* than none. Or is $8/hr even lower than what one would get
on some form of unemployment insurance or welfare?

[Karl Swenson]

When I was on UI in 2004 I made about 12 an hour.

-----Original Message-----
From: dadl-ot-bounces-***@public.gmane.org [mailto:dadl-ot-bounces-***@public.gmane.org] On
Behalf Of James
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 12:29 PM
To: DADL (off topic)
Subject: Re: [DADL-OT] Georgia's anti-immigrant law leaves millions in crops
rotting in the fields

On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 11:02 AM, Peter T. Chattaway <

Post by Peter T. Chattaway

Post by James
With the level of unemployment in the US, I'm surprised.

What, you think people should accept lower wages in exchange for none?

Low wage *rather* than none. Or is $8/hr even lower than what one would get
on some form of unemployment insurance or welfare?
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http://news.gmane.org/gmane.music.dadl.ot

[n***@public.gmane.org]

Post by James
Low wage *rather* than none. Or is $8/hr even lower than what one would get
on some form of unemployment insurance or welfare?

It's usually tied to the salary you made at the job you were let go from(at least in Minnesota). So, it varies from person to person. In 2001 I was getting around $7.00, my job having paid just over $8.


Thom
http://thomwade.wordpress.com/
http://www.cafepress.com/Thomwade
http://www.in-one-ear.com
_______________________________________
"I want a song to learn and sing, of a life requited."-Echo & the Bunnymen

[James]

Post by Karl Swenson
When I was on UI in 2004 I made about 12 an hour.

Ah, right. In Canada it's 55% of your insured earnings up to a maximum
insured earnings rate of $44,200. Maximum payment of $486 per week, or
$12.15/h. You'd have to have been earning less than $14.54/h for $8/h to
break even with that -- and why work at $8/h when you can focus on hunting
for a better paying job. Now, I think you can also earn up to 25% of your
benefit before they start to reduce the benefit. So at the max... you could
put in two days at $8/h to supplement your income and spend the other three
job hunting.

[Peter T. Chattaway]

Post by James

Post by Peter T. Chattaway

Post by James
With the level of unemployment in the US, I'm surprised.

What, you think people should accept lower wages in exchange for none?

Low wage *rather* than none.

Ah, thought my grammar might be a little off. Though if you give up none
in order to have low, then there is an exchange of some sort there.

Post by James
Or is $8/hr even lower than what one would get on some form of
unemployment insurance or welfare?

The real question is: Is $8/hr the sort of wage that these farmers are
prepared to pay? The whole point of permitting illegal immigrants, after
all, was that "they do the jobs that Americans won't do", right?

[Peter T. Chattaway]

Post by Peter T. Chattaway

Post by James
Or is $8/hr even lower than what one would get on some form of
unemployment insurance or welfare?

The real question is: Is $8/hr the sort of wage that these farmers are
prepared to pay? The whole point of permitting illegal immigrants,
after all, was that "they do the jobs that Americans won't do", right?

Ack, I see I should have read the story more closely. It says:

The jobs the migrants did paid an average of $8/hour, without benefits,
a wage that is so low that the state's probationed prisoners have turned
it down.

So, there's your answer.

[Ronald Hatton]

This is something I had broached a while back, with a different thread: is the migrant worker/illegal immigrant situation in this country really a legalized form of slavery? When I was serving my parish in Virginia Beach, years back, we had a ministry to the migrants on the Eastern Shore, supplying them with the basics of life: blankets, clothing, and so on, because these people had *nothing*. If we were to treat them like human beings, like the article states, farmers couldn't afford to plant crops that require human industry to harvest. When you consider, from what I have been reading, that slavery would have died out early on in the Republic if the invention of the cotton gin hadn't made growing cotton profitable, and caused slavery to hang on in the South, aren't migrant workers just a
replacement for slavery?

-Fr. Ron

Post by James
With the level of unemployment in the US, I'm surprised.
=====
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/22/georgias-anti-immigr.html
Georgia's anti-immigrant law leaves millions in crops rotting in the
fields<http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/22/georgias-anti-immigr.html>
Cory Doctorow <http://www.boingboing.net/author/cory-doctorow-1/> at 8:44 AM
Wednesday, Jun 22, 2011
Georgia's tough anti-illegal-immigrant law drove a sizable fraction of the
migrant labor pool out of the state, and as a result, "millions of dollars'
worth of blueberries, onions, melons and other crops [are] unharvested and
rotting in the fields." The jobs the migrants did paid an average of
$8/hour, without benefits, a wage that is so low that the state's
probationed prisoners have turned it down. Guest-writing in the
*Atlantic's* economics
section, Adam Ozimek doesn't believe that the farms would be
viable<http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/06/georgias-harsh-immigration-law-costs-millions-in-unharvested-crops/240774/>
if
they paid wages that legal American workers would take: "it's quite possible
that the wages required to get workers to do the job are so high that it's
no longer profitable for farmers to plant the crops in the first place."
After enacting House Bill 87, a law designed to drive illegal immigrants out
of Georgia, state officials appear shocked to discover that HB 87 is, well,
driving a lot of illegal immigrants out of Georgia.
It might be funny if it wasn't so sad.
Thanks to the resulting labor shortage, Georgia farmers have been forced to
leave millions of dollars' worth of blueberries, onions, melons and other
crops unharvested and rotting in the fields. It has also put state officials
into something of a panic at the damage they've done to Georgia's largest
industry.
--
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http://mail.thehood.us/mailman/listinfo/dadl-ot_thehood.us
http://news.gmane.org/gmane.music.dadl.ot

[Peter T. Chattaway]

Post by Ronald Hatton
is the migrant worker/illegal immigrant situation in this country really
a legalized form of slavery?

It is certainly ironic that many of the people in favour of relaxing the
restrictions on illegal immigration are also the same people who tend to
be pro-union, anti-big business, etc.