Jobs for the Picking
Published: July 16, 2010The United Farm Workers union has issued a call to unemployed American citizens.
“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.”
It is safe to conclude that few if any Americans will take up the offer, no matter how hungry they are. The campaign is a sly attempt to draw attention to the push for immigration reform, particularly an effort to legalize undocumented farm workers. With anti-immigrant resentment running hot, many accuse immigrants of stealing American jobs. The union replies: How can immigrants steal jobs nobody else wants?
There are, of course, industries besides agriculture in which immigrant labor dominates, and it is fair to note that more Americans would take dirty, difficult jobs if they offered better pay and benefits. Still, it is hard to imagine the native-born work force itching to return en masse to housekeeping, landscaping, car washing, meatpacking, poultry plucking and street-corner day labor.
The answer is not to eradicate immigrants so American sons and daughters can have the low-wage economy all to themselves. It is to have those jobs filled by a legal immigrant work force, and to raise the floor on wages and working conditions so no American industry gets to run on cheap, exploited labor. That is the reform that President Obama and some members of Congress have been pushing for, against the objections of those who would rather complain about immigrant workers than fix the system.
Taken from NYT
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