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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] we'll have to confront the farm-labor crisis

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  • From: Liz <liz@allslash.org>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] we'll have to confront the farm-labor crisis
  • Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:36:45 -0400

At 08:03 AM 6/1/2008, you wrote:
My wife is payroll officer at a company that repairs motors and transformers. Several employees will not get married [same woman and several children and together for many years] and will not work for more than 30? hours per week. Why?

They would no longer have welfare checks, etc.


Why doesn't the company tell them they have to work 40 hours? It sounds to me as though the company is complicit in this. Or are they just not getting paid enough even if they did work 40 hours? They are probably getting medical help too, and it's really hard to turn your back on that when you have kids. I'm not defending abuse of the system, but I know many people who hate being on assistance, but are afraid that if they turned their backs on the food stamps and medicare and rent assistance, and some calamity hit them (something that might not seem like a calamity to people with money, like a major car repair), they'd just have to apply for help again, and they'd be that much farther behind.

Like everything else that has gone haywire with today's culture, the welfare system that was meant to help people has also contributed to dependency and irresponsibility. It doesn't work to decry just one aspect of it, as though that existed in isolation from all the rest. The whole system is screwed.

On the other hand, I suggested once to a person who was squawking about the "shiftless people on welfare." that he should get together with his wealthy friends and each family "adopt" one family from the housing project. Help the parents find jobs, make sure the kids understood their school assignments and did their homework, help the older kids with decisions about work and/or further education--in other words, do the things that would help get these folk off welfare. He looked at me like I was nuts, and said that wasn't "his problem." He didn't want government to help, but he didn't want to put himself out to help either. He just wanted those dirty, dark-skinned, criminal, baby-making people to go away. If not for that kind of attitude, we wouldn't need government assistance. And there are many people who are willing to help, but who don't know how to go about it, or who assume that since government is taking care of it that they don't need to. That's why I said the whole system is messed up.

I think we've gotten far enough away from the purpose of the list that I'm not going to comment any further on this topic. We all have different opinions, and I don't claim that mine is any better than anyone else's.

Liz in SW VA
http://life-as-a-spectator-sport.com




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