The state of Georgia isn’t having much luck getting unemployed probationers to work in the agricultural fields harvesting cucumbers. The probationers say the work’s too hard. Remember this story the next time someone tells you American citizens would gladly work in the fields if the pay were higher.
By law, each worker must earn minimum wage, or $7.25 an hour. But there’s an incentive system. Harvesters get a green ticket worth 50 cents every time they dump a bucket of cucumbers. If they collect more than 15 tickets an hour, they can beat minimum wage.
The Latino workers moved furiously Thursday for the extra pay.
Jose Ranye, 37, bragged he’s the best picker in Americus, the largest community near the farm. His whirling hands filled one bucket in 25 seconds. He said he dumped about 200 buckets of cucumbers before lunch, meaning he earned roughly $20 an hour. He expected to double his tickets before the end of the day.
None of the probationers could keep pace. Pay records showed the best filled only 134 buckets a day, and some as little as 20. They lingered at the water cooler behind the truck, sat on overturned red buckets for smoke breaks and stopped working to take cellphone calls. They also griped that the Latinos received more tickets per bucket than they did, an accusation that appeared unfounded.
At one point in their lives, my mom and dad worked in the fields in Arizona in order to pay the rent and buy food. Yes, it was hard, but they did what needed to be done, and they did it with no complaints.