[quote=no_such_reality]BG, good to see you are supportive of a modest proposal.[/quote]
Actually, I AM supportive of US wages not being driven to the ground by (skilled) H-1B workers and the like. HOWEVER, $11.75 – $13.95 IS a bit higher than Colo min wage AND there are likely 2-4 adult workers (full or PT) living in every rental farmhouse we’re talking about here.
The problem is that, unlike the immigrant kid with farmworker/meat-processing parent(s), the kid with “American” parents and grandparents graduating from local HS’s in NE Colo have MANY CHOICES in life. UNC, CSU and CU AREN’T “impacted” like our systems in CA are. Therefore, a “solid-B student” can actually get admitted as a freshman (at least to UNC and CSU)! In addition, there are MANY other smaller public four-year colleges in CO who will admit them. They have never had to take meat-processing/packing jobs and aren’t going to.
The area’s longtime residents, for the most part, are “well-heeled,” most of them having several land holdings which were passed down through their families. If they wish to partially support this population by way of philanthropy because they are grateful that the plant remains in Colo … then so be it. Far be it from us to judge. This plant doesn’t and won’t have to pay higher wages because multiple safety-nets (both public and private) exist in the region for their employees.
This isn’t a “new phenomenon” for this region. “Chicanos” as they are called there, are often second, third and fourth generation immigrants whose parents and grandparents migrated northward for work as early as the late 1950’s. They didn’t just drive from TJ to Carlsbad (50 mi) last week to spend part of the year cultivating flowers, only to return home for weekends and longer stretches and return to work. The Colorado workers are there for keeps, occasionally traveling back home for holidays, weddings and funerals. They HAVE TO BE as the majority of CO’s original immigrant-farmworkers originated from the States of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipais, as well as those indigenous peoples who immigrated from points south, all the way down through Central America (1500 – 3000 miles away).
For the most part, these immigrants working in “flyover states” are not of the same origin as immigrants from Baja CA. Mexico’s citizens are as diverse as the citizens of the US.
It’s not a “transient-worker population” like what we have here in SD County.
