5-21 IAN Labor Whining

 A very slippery slope.

 Almost no way to take the subject on without offending somebody. Political correctness be darned. I’m going to jump into this one. From an article in the New York Times, “For years, labor unions and immigrant-rights activists have accused large-scale farmers, like those harvesting Vidalia onions, of exploiting Mexican guest workers. Working for hours on end under a punishing sun, the pickers are said to be crowded into squalid camps, driven without a break and even cheated of wages. But as Congress has weighed immigration legislation expected to expand the guest-worker program, another group is increasingly crying foul — Americans, mostly black, who live near the farms and say they want the field work but can’t get it because it is going to the Mexicans. They contend they are illegally discouraged from applying for work and treated shabbily by farmers. You know what? I’ve done dozens of stories on ag producers who say they can’t get any Americans to apply for work. They even hang signs outside their farms looking for workers. No one applies except for immigrants.  Maybe this is the reason.  Listen to Jesse Vargus who is a farm labor contractor. “Basically we are just happy to have workout here. We are just happy to have a job.”