United Farm Workers Wants YOU… To Come Take Their Jobs?

America's Voice Blog

Posted 06/24/10 at 05:30pm

That’s right, the United Farm Workers (UFW) have commenced what they are calling the “Take Our Jobs” campaign, an unprecedented effort to call attention to the importance of immigrant workers to our food supply -- and the difficulties agricultural employers have in maintaining a stable, legal workforce. As UFW highlights on their campaign website:

“We are a nation in denial about our food supply."

Watch a farm worker slideshow from their site:

According to Marisa Treviño at Latina Lista:

The idea behind it all is to highlight the need for a legal workforce which can only be achieved through immigration reforms -- without which the domestic agricultural industry could be crippled, leading to more jobs moving off shore.

In a letter to U.S. lawmakers, UFW offers farm workers who are "ready to train citizens and legal residents who wish to replace immigrants in the fields," and encourages Members of Congress to refer their constituents to vacant farm worker positions.

It’s clear that undocumented farm workers are the backbone of United States agriculture. They make up the majority of workers in this crucial industry, yet many of these workers have no way to normalize their status – they often live in fear of exploitation and deportation. These workers and their advocates have been asking Congress for years to fix what most everyone agrees is an outdated, ineffective, and inhumane immigration system.

Now, hoping to compel Congress to pass what’s known as “AgJobs” legislation, the UFW’s “Take Our Jobs” campaign is a bold and creative attempt to counter their opponents’ claims that immigrants take jobs from American workers instead of contributing to the U.S. economy

The invitation to American workers, however, is real – farm workers will be on hand to train folks who apply through their website, , www.takeourjobs.org, which helps job seekers get in touch with local farms in need of field hands.

People in the industry, so far, appear skeptical that Americans will take them up on the offer, given the strenuous conditions of farm work. The Silicon Valley Mercury News reports:

Salinas farm labor contractor Paul Powell had not heard about the "Take Our Jobs" campaign Wednesday, but said he doubted that most unemployed Californians would be up to the challenge.

"There may be a lot of folks who show up and don’t stay for more than a day or two," Powell said. "They don’t realize how hard the work is. Field work is not easy."

Manuel Cunha, president of the Fresno-based Nisei Farmers League, sarcastically remarked:

Come out here and climb the ladder, pick tomatoes, and oh, by the way, you’ve got to prune, and oh, by the way, it’s seasonal work so you have to move all over the place.

It seems that the UFW has set up a win-win situation for themselves. If it turns out that Americans do take them up on the offer, kudos to them for helping jobless Americans find work and gain skills. If native-born Americans don’t take them up on the offer, lawmakers will have a hard time opposing AgJobs legislation with the claim that immigrants are “stealing American jobs.” The offer itself should serve to highlight the hypocrisy of politicians who seek merely to prey on Americans’ legitimate economic concerns for political gain, while scapegoating vulnerable populations whose labor fuels our economy and feeds our nation.

Stay tuned to see how it all plays out.