Higher paying jobs in construction send Mexican immigrants to
builders instead of the fields
Before Sept. 11, Enrique Segundo crossed the U.S. border from
Mexico illegally without much fuss on two separate occasions. But
following Sept. 11 he was caught four times in 15 days by the
authorities before he finally made it over.
It’s an example of how immigration policy has changed, as more
of an effort is placed on screening immigrants, and alsw why farm
fields in South County are experiencing a shortage of labor.
Higher paying jobs in construction send Mexican immigrants to builders instead of the fields
Before Sept. 11, Enrique Segundo crossed the U.S. border from Mexico illegally without much fuss on two separate occasions. But following Sept. 11 he was caught four times in 15 days by the authorities before he finally made it over.
It’s an example of how immigration policy has changed, as more of an effort is placed on screening immigrants, and alsw why farm fields in South County are experiencing a shortage of labor.
Tim Chiala of Chiala farms said it was the worst year he had ever seen for getting people to pick his fields. Even though he was paying workers an amount per box of produce that would exceed the minimum wage, field workers were able to be picky about where they worked, choosing fields that would net them more money at the days end. Fields of jalapeno peppers sat un-picked at Chiala farms, causing them to over-ripen and lessen the number of times the plant could be picked in its lifespan.
In the Central Valley, farmers report that they were 40,000 workers short of the 50,600 needed for the annual raisin harvest that began in August, according to the Nisei Farmer’s League.
While growers face a labor shortage, there is a crowd of people waiting for work at the Morgan Hill day worker center who would rather not work in the fields. They aren’t guaranteed work everyday, and many don’t work everyday, said Julian Mancias, president of the board of directors that runs the center. These men have gone through many hardships to be in the United States, but farm work isn’t worth the low pay and back-breaking toil to many of them. They were eager to talk about why they weren’t in the fields.
Segundo told a story of a bad experience he had when he was one of 10 workers at the center picked up by a grower and then cheated out of their full pay. They were asked to pick fava beans for $1.25 per five-gallon-bucket. Segundo had filled 180 buckets by the day’s end, but the grower would only pay him for 35 buckets. Other workers had stolen beans out of his buckets, but he wasn’t able to watch them while he was in the field.
Since then Segundo said he hasn’t wanted to go back to the fields. Many Mexican immigrants just can’t handle farm work, said Valntin Urbina. If you are from the city, you might make it through one week and then leave. Those from the more agricultural areas of Mexico, such as Oaxaca, can handle the back-breaking work in the fields much better, Urbina said.
At the day worker center last week was Maclovio Ortega-Carillo, a worker in the U.S. since 1984 who sends money to his wife and three kids in Guadalajara, Mexico. Like many of those who worked in the fields in the past, he has become a citizen and chooses not to work in the fields. He is able to find jobs painting houses like he did in Mexico. Now he refuses to work for $10 an hour. At the day workers’ center he gets other jobs paying $15-16 an hour. Unless he gets $400 per week from his work, he will be unable to get by and send money to his family, he said. He tried working at Wal-mart once, but they simply don’t pay enough.
“I never work in the fields, I can’t do it,” said Ortega-Carillo.
The booming housing industry has taken many immigrant workers from the fields and into the construction of houses where wages are above $9 an hour for work year round, said Jeff Gilles of Gilles and Lumbardo, a law firm that represents agribusiness in Salinas. Growers hands are tied when it comes to the wages they pay to migrant workers, said Gilles. Three to four grocery stores control the market on prices for produce, and force growers to pay low wages to stay afloat.
“For that amount of money nobody wants to work except Mexicans,” said Alejandra Gomez, English teacher at the day workers center. “You will not see any other nationalities except Mexicans.”
In Salinas there isn’t as big of a problem with finding labor to pick fields because there is a year round supply of labor, Gilles said. The cost of living is higher in South County than in other parts of the state as well. In Morgan Hill and Gilroy, farmland is regularly being replaced with houses, which is why fewer migrants come here for agricultural work, said Patricia Aglony director of migrant education in the Morgan Hill Unified School district.
Typically migrant workers return to Mexico from December to March to be with their families for the holidays, but that has changed in the political climate since Sept. 11, 2001. The political rhetoric of an administration determined to fight terrorism and citizens calling themselves the “Minutemen” while they guard the border could be enough to scare away potential farm workers, said Eloisa Gamez, director of the day workers center.
“What ever happened to the Bracero program of the 1950s?” said Gamez, also a former farmworker.
There are bills to allow more immigrant workers into the country that have floundered on Capitol Hill since Sept. 11. Gilles said it was interesting to see that Democrats and Republicans were on both sides of the issue.
“We don’t want to lose our good people,” Gilles said. “Anyone who walks across the border has lots of initiative, obviously not the type you want to lose. Mexico and the U.S. really have to get together and put together a commission that looks at this issue and tries to solve it.”
Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Larry E. Craig, R-Idaho presented a bill in 2003 called AgJobs, which would provide two main benefits to immigrant farm workers. Those who have worked more than 100 hours in agriculture during the 18 months prior to the bill’s passage would receive temporary citizenship, which would extend to the family of the worker. In the three to six years following, 360 days of agricultural work would earn an immigrant the opportunity to apply for a green card. As many as 500,000 workers would be eligible, say the bill’s supporters.
