Post by Greg CarrPost by Karl Pollakx-no-archive: yes
Post by Len McLaughlinVery true. It's the middle men that are ripping off the system and why
Show me one person who got rich selling vegetables you fucking idiot.
Post by Len McLaughlinfarmers are forced to seek immigrant labour or sell out to the
We are not talking about immigrants but MIGRANT LABOUR
Post by Len McLaughlinmultinationals who will continue with the cheap labour bit. These are the
two selling the myth of the need for cheap labour...it keeps the spot light
off of them.
Fancy paying $12/kg for cherries?
I don't see you complaining about having fresh tomatoes in the middle of
winter, you moron. Where the hell did you think they come from? And who
do you think is looking after the plants, planting them, weeding,
harvesting? The same Pedro and Jose that comes here to do some more
weeding and harvesting for a few weeks. Except that he gets far more money
for his work here than he gets back home. So that you can have fresh
tomatoes at a very reasonable price in February.
It is amazing to watch you ignorant bunch of idiots get your shit in a knot
over any issue you can raise, without having the least clue of the facts.
Yet they have greenhouses producing tomatoes and pineapples making
profits without migrant slave labour. There is no need to import guest
workers to Canada.
Perhaps you can tell us how the Holland Marsh would operate. Then, after
that, how the apples would get picked in the Lake Huron (Meaford and
Collingwood) growing area. Then you can explain how the SW Ontario farm
land would get worked and harvested. Yes -- Ontarians used to do these
jobs, but they are too fat and lazy now -- the conditioning of young
people is not as good as it used to be. I know cause I made spending
money doing those jobs. They sucked, they were dirty, difficult and
exhausting -- and the wages paid (piecework) were much lower than those
paid to migrant workers.
Now as I recall --- the minimum wage in Mexico is $43NM per day -- About
$3.80 -- $4.50CDN a day depending on exchange rate.
Now they come here and make say $60 to $100 per day ($2000 to $3000 a
month)-- that is $500 to $1000 pesos (NM) a day in Mexico or about
$15,000 to $30,000NM depending on job and rate of pay. (I used to live
next to a doctor who made $40,000 pesos a month.) They send the money
home, and they are now a middle class family there. Why do they do it?
It's the money -- and their conditioning to hard work allows them about
20 to 30 years when they can actually do the hard labour.
So as long as they are treated reasonably and fairly and have good
living conditions -- well till you guys send your kids out to pick the
berries and till the lettuce -- bring on the migrant workers.
What you guys see as rip-off wages is -- to them -- a small fortune.
I'll probably (or maybe not) be back somewhere in Latin America working
within the next few months -- and I can expect the usual crop of
Mexicans asking me how they can get work here -- they too want to be
rich. So I tell them about the Holland Marsh and Lake Huron and SW
Ontario and Blueberry picking in BC -- and their eyes glow with the
though of good wages for light work. (You should see some Mexican
conditions.) And who can blame them?... I have lived with them and
eaten their food and worked beside them. They think like we do. They
want to get ahead -- and we are the vehicle. You don't have to like it
-- but it is reality. The companies I worked with are owned by Canadians
and they pay good wages, work with local customs and are very respected
-- Canadian and Mexican owners -- and the Nicaraguans think the same of
these companies.... Many Mexican owners cheat their employees and treat
them horribly -- after all they are owned by the law-makers themselves
-- no need to worry about prosecution. So Canada looks like paradise...
--
Will
A liberal -- but definitely not a (shudder) Liberal.