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STEVENS POINT (Wisconsin) JOURNAL December 25, 2007
Migrants do variety of labor
By
Ivy Farguheson
During earlier immigration waves to the United States, families would search for a better life in the land of opportunity. "We are finding that a lot more migrant workers are doing other types of work, other than the traditional agricultural work," said Rod Ritcherson of UMOS, a multi-state advocacy organization based in Wisconsin. "It's dairy and meatpacking and printing -- more technological than in the past." In Buttonwillow, Calif, an agricultural community in Kern County, workers do a variety of work from almond and cotton picking to the more technological work of dairy farming and hay bailing. Tony Lucas works for A. Rodriguez and Sons, a family hay bailing company in Kern County. He works as an all-around man, sometimes welding, sometimes working as a company mechanic. He works for the company year-round, but many of his co-workers do not. "They'll either go on unemployment or they go and get another seasonal job," he said. "Then, they'll come back during the season." For the bailing season, which typically starts in early March and goes to early to late fall, Lucas works with as many as 30 other workers, some migrant and some not. He knows of people in the community who work season to season. "Some people come from Texas," he said. "They just stay for two to three months in the season and then they'll go back." Jesus "Chuy" Heredia, who lives in nearby Wasco, Calif., is from Mexico, near Sonora. He works full-time for Rodriguez and Sons, while his wife stays at home with their four children. "She already does a lot of work," he said in Spanish. "She doesn't have time to work outside the home." He has permission to work in the United States but would not discuss the process to get his "papers" or why he moved from Mexico to the United States. He did say it was easy to find work in California and felt that he was treated fairly by his employers. "The work isn't too hard, because you have the machines to do the work for you," he said in Spanish. "It's not easy, but it's just right. I like to work here." Similar to Wisconsin, Lucas and Heredia found that many families are staying instead of traveling back and forth to Mexico or another home country when the season is over. Ritcherson agrees with that assessment. "We're finding more and more single men are coming first," he said. "When they find more stable employment, more year-round employment, then they will send for the rest of their family members. We are finding more families are coming and staying."
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