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WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Miriam Jordan
In a summer campaign, the United Farm Workers of America is challenging
unemployed Americans to harvest the grape, peach and lettuce crops.
Expectations are low. The union's campaign, called "Take Our Jobs," is
intended to highlight the role of illegal workers in feeding Americans
and to goad Congress to overhaul
"I can't imagine we'll find that many Americans want to work in the
fields," said Arturo Rodriguez, president of the California-based union.
Immigration has reemerged as a prominent national issue since
About 1.8 million people work on
But kicking them out, the union argues, would lead to crops rotting in
the fields, higher food prices and a greater reliance on imports.
"If we asked all the undocumented immigrants to leave the country, the
agriculture industry would die," Mr. Rodriguez said.
Farmer associations are also backing the campaign. And on Thursday , Mr.
Rodriguez was scheduled to make an appearance on Comedy Central's
"Colbert Report" to publicize it.
Opponents of legalizing undocumented workers say the problem is more
nuanced than the UFW suggests. The labor shortage is caused by the
agriculture sector's unwillingness to offer fair wages, argues the
Federation for American Immigration Reform, which calls for curbs on
immigration to the U.S. "There are certainly American people who would
be attracted to this work if pay and working conditions were better,"
said Ira Mehlman, a federation spokesman.
The union sees the nation's 9.5% unemployment rate as an opportunity to
make its case on immigration. In a letter sent to every member of
Congress, the union tries to provoke elected officials, calling on them
to "help people you represent get back to work" by having them apply for
farm jobs.
On its web site, www.TakeOurJobs.org, job applicants can get assistance
from the union "to replace the undocumented farm workers everyone seems
to believe are the cause of high unemployment," as it says in its letter
to lawmakers.
"Missing from the debate...is an honest recognition that the food we all
eat-at home, in restaurants and workplace cafeterias (including those in
the Capitol)-comes to us from the labor of undocumented farm workers,"
says the union letter. "We are a nation in denial about our food
supply."
Since announcing the campaign on June 24, the UFW says that its normally
overlooked Web site has gotten an unprecedented two million hits. On the
job link, applicants can fill out a form under the heading "I want to be
a farm worker." The union helps match them to potential employers.
About 5,300 people have applied. Three ended up in the field, said the
union.
Many applicants became disillusioned when they learned of the typical
$8-to-$9-an-hour pay, said UFW spokeswoman Maria Machuca. "They were
asking for $1,200 a week," she said. Others gave up when they realized
that the jobs "weren't around the corner" andthat farmers wouldn't pay
for relocation.
Anthony Miskulin is one of the three that followed through. The
31-year-old father was laid off from an office-manager job at a
car-rental company. He heard about the field work on the UFW website,
though he said the job he ended up taking was listed on Craigslist.At a
farm outside
Barely two weeks into harvesting beets and heirloom tomatoes for $10 an
hour, he said, "Honestly, any work is hard work...When I find an
occupation that pays more, I'll jump ship."
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