Excluded from federal overtime provisions? No minimum wage? Not covered by workers compensation law?

[NNN0LHI]

Holy Geebuz! Walmart greeter job sounds pretty good after reading this.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100624/ap_on_en_tv/us_immigration_take_our_jobs

Immigrant farm workers' challenge: Take our jobs

By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Writer Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jun 24, 5:42 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – In a tongue-in-cheek call for immigration reform, farm workers are teaming up with comedian Stephen Colbert to challenge unemployed Americans: Come on, take our jobs.

Farm workers are tired of being blamed by politicians and anti-immigrant activists for taking work that should go to Americans and dragging down the economy, said Arturo Rodriguez, the president of the United Farm Workers of America.

So the group is encouraging the unemployed — and any Washington pundits or anti-immigrant activists who want to join them — to apply for the some of thousands of agricultural jobs being posted with state agencies as harvest season begins.

All applicants need to do is fill out an online form under the banner "I want to be a farm worker" at http://www.takeourjobs.org and experienced field hands will train them and connect them to farms. snip

During summer, when the harvest of fruits and vegetables is in full swing in California's Central Valley, temperatures hover in the triple digits. Heat exhaustion is one of the reasons farm labor consistently makes the Bureau of Labor Statistics' top ten list of the nation's most dangerous jobs.

Second, expect long days. Growers have a small window to pick fruit before it is overripe.

And don't count on a big paycheck. Farm workers are excluded from federal overtime provisions, and small farms don't even have to pay the minimum wage. Fifteen states don't require farm labor to be covered by workers compensation laws.

Any takers?

[yellerpup]

1. Colbert is a brilliant comedian and activist.

K&R!

[NNN0LHI]

3. Knocks the right wing talking point that "The illegals are taking our jobs!" right out of the water

But I think a lot of Dems like that talking point too? Especially the ones with an imported car or two in their driveway.

That way they can make some people believe none of this mess we are in is partly their own fault.

Don

[yellerpup]

6. I heard that "taking our jobs" line at lunch last month in NY

when a relative from AZ came to visit. She: "Our meat packing plant is full of Somali guys. I'd like to round up those unemployed whites who say they can't find jobs and MAKE them go to work there." also, "I'd like every state to make the same kind of immigration laws we have." I asked her how it happened that so many Somalis came to her small town. "I don't know," she said, "I guess they heard there were jobs open." She had brought her teenage granddaughter with her, but the teen was more interested in if I thought pot should be legalized. I do and I cited the failure of prohibition as an example. She then asked me about what we do in NY about the "terrible immigration problems." I pointed her toward the statue of liberty. I said, "We don't have the problems you have in Arizona with immigration. We welcome all, we have for years, and as you can see no one is suffering for it." Then grandma chimes in with her personal experience with one of the Mess-kin workers she employs. She said, "I don't pay him, but I give him a big hunk of meat out of the freezer when he comes. I've given him bags of clothes, too, but I'm not going to do that any more. I don't think he appreciates it the way he should. He sure doesn't look very grateful. I think he might even steal from me if I give him a chance." I asked her why she doesn't hire someone else to help out. She said, "I'd have to pay them."

I laughed. Now I'm off the will.

[jody]

2. If minimum wages are not paid, are workers paid by the container? n/t

[pschoeb]

7. Only Farm employers who have less than 500 man days in any quarter of

the preceding year are exempt, and only if these employers aren't connected to a conglomerate. So the Farms would have to have not employed over roughly 7 persons fulltime in one quarter of any quarter of the previous year, and not be connected to a conglomerate.

This is the federal law, states might make the minimum wage exemption harder.

They can pay whatever they want if they are exempt.

[TheMadMonk]

4. More than this. A recruiter or three should attend every anti-immigration rally.

Every time an idiot steps up to claim "I don't have a job because of those dirty wetbacks." Offer to sign him up on the spot.

[blondeatlast]

5. +1! nt

[Better Today]

8. As someone succinctly put it the other day, they aren't "jobs Americans won't do," they are rather

"Conditions and wages NO ONE should do."