Farmers say they can’t find workers to harvest their crops, and the Labor Department has now admitted in writing that unemployed Americans won’t take the jobs.A memory of Supporting UFCW 1428 in their efforts to negotiate a contract with Ralph’s, Vons, and Albertson’s who were making billions in profits but wanted to cut worker’s health and retirement benefits , pay workers less for some tasks, and delay a living wage. We used our consumer power to win a contract that treated them with respect and dignity. Continue reading
With the anti-immigrant policies of the Trump administration now affecting worker shortages and crop failures in agriculture – the Labor Department is bringing back a “revamped” H-2A program which has aspects of the unjust Bracero program (which was terminated in 1964 because of its exploitation of Mexican workers) – in lowering hourly rates by between $1 and $7 – and includes cost of housing workers as part of that compensation. Continue reading