Broken: Central California Farmers Offer Free Plane Tickets from Mexico
Tulare, CA - 1/17/2019
Faced with a critical shortage of field workers and a looming border wall, a coalition of San Joaquin Valley farmers has placed advertisements in newspapers in several Mexican cities, offering free air fare to qualified workers. Flights will land at Fresno's quiet airport, and workers will be offloaded on the runway and transported to areas in need of farm labor at no charge. Green cards and valid Social Security numbers will be supplied by a local printer working with the coalition. Competitive wages will be paid.
William Gutsherr, spokesperson for the CVFC (Central Valley Farm Coalition) said, "We are in emergency mode now. President Trump is doing everything he can to put us out of business, so we have had to take matters into our own hands. Local residents needn't worry about this. There's plenty of work to keep all of these workers busy and out of trouble."
= new reply since forum marked as read
the days of the bracero program. It was not a good kind of guest worker program at all. The workers lived in camps, where they often went into debt, because supplies were sold to them by the camp store only. Little money went back to their families. Once a week, they were transported into town to attend a Mass at the local Catholic church, a Mass that was only for them.
As a child, I rarely saw any of the workers, since I didn't live on a farm at the time. The program ended in 1964, a year after I graduated from High School. It was in operation throughout my childhood, since it began in my town in 1948.
Living conditions:
Health inspections:
You can learn more about this at the link below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracero_program
