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Job Opportunities in Georgia. $9.12/hr, free housing


Guest Dulcimeramy
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Guest Dulcimeramy

Making $230 more a week than unemployment checks bring, with housing and utilities and free transportation to work. See this article at CNN.

 

You have to be a hardworking real American, though, unlike the lazy people in the article who say that farm work is unpleasant and beneath them.

 

$9.12/hr with free housing and free transportation to work! Yes, we are all over-qualified, over-educated, and otherwise 'above' farm work. (rolling eyes)

 

But someone with a little bit of humility and a whole lot of determination to get off the dole will go down there and pick those peaches. They'll live in the housing (which will suck) and take the free transportation (which will suck) and make some money.

 

I would do this. When I was younger I did farm work, the worst cleaning jobs imaginable, and other "dirty jobs" while living in horrible places to save up some money for vocational school.

 

My husband has done it. My brothers have done it. America has done this. Go pick peaches!

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Making $230 more a week than unemployment checks bring, with housing and utilities and free transportation to work. See this article at CNN.

 

You have to be a hardworking real American, though, unlike the lazy people in the article who say that farm work is unpleasant and beneath them.

 

$9.12/hr with free housing and free transportation to work! Yes, we are all over-qualified, over-educated, and otherwise 'above' farm work. (rolling eyes)

 

But someone with a little bit of humility and a whole lot of determination to get off the dole will go down there and pick those peaches. They'll live in the housing (which will suck) and take the free transportation (which will suck) and make some money.

 

I would do this. When I was younger I did farm work, the worst cleaning jobs imaginable, and other "dirty jobs" while living in horrible places to save up some money for vocational school.

 

My husband has done it. My brothers have done it. America has done this. Go pick peaches!

 

Thank you for posting this.

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Guest Dulcimeramy

It does sound a little "Grapes of Wrath." The difference is there will be actual jobs there, not just rumors. And the law requires them to pay a certain amount and provide housing. That's different than just following from field to field as migrant workers without contracts. This is a real job.

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I'm curious about what exactly "free housing" entails. I live in an area that used to be known for peaches, and when I was a kid, waves and waves of migrants would come every summer to pick. I've seen the shacks and death trap "homes" they crammed into, and it's not something the vast majority of people with any other option would choose. Who is providing this housing? The farms? Is it only for workers or for their families as well?

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Absolutely I would do it. If I was broke and needed money, I would certainly pick peaches for a summer, and the whole while I was earning that money, I'd be thinking about how to earn more so I didn't have to pick someone else's peaches. But that's just me.

 

Mosley, an African-American, said she used to work on her grandfather's farm in Texas, where he stressed the importance of a good education to get off the farm. Mosley believes Deal's plan would be a tough sell for many other African Americans, who saw their older relatives struggle farming.

"It could be a setback for people," Mosley said. "The only people that would even think about doing that are people who have nothing else left...An educated black person does not have time for that. They didn't go to school to work on a farm, and they're not going to do it."

 

Hmm. She makes it sound like they offering the actual farm. If someone wanted to be a farmer, they would own the farm and hire the people. Not the same thing. It's a job. A temporary way to put some money in your pocket, pay some bills, buy some things. Her statement "An educated black person does not have time for that." makes me kind of mad. An educated black person (or white person or any "educated" person!) who is not employed would certainly have "time for that". And it's kind of an insult to farmers to boot. I have yet to meet a farmer who is actually stupid. :glare: And I've never met one who didn't have a better grasp on math and earth science than I do (regardless of how they handle that knowledge).

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I'm curious about what exactly "free housing" entails. I live in an area that used to be known for peaches, and when I was a kid, waves and waves of migrants would come every summer to pick. I've seen the shacks and death trap "homes" they crammed into, and it's not something the vast majority of people with any other option would choose. Who is providing this housing? The farms? Is it only for workers or for their families as well?

 

I think that's a good point - if it's housing in a safe apartment with running water, free from mold or other harmful substances provided for a worker's immediate family, then this seems like a better deal. Well actually I don't know how much housing costs in Peach County. Here the studio apartments I've been looking at start at 1350 a month so free housing sounds like a pretty awesome deal!

 

But if free housing means tents with outhouses and unsanitary conditions where workers are likely to contract all sorts of communicable diseases then I can see why people aren't jumping at the opportunity so much.

 

Plus are the working conditions safe? Is there plenty of water provided for workers during the day (I'm presuming they are picking the peaches outside).

 

As for some of the people interviewed in the article, maybe they aren't representative of the population's attitudes as a whole there?

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I'm curious about what exactly "free housing" entails. I live in an area that used to be known for peaches, and when I was a kid, waves and waves of migrants would come every summer to pick. I've seen the shacks and death trap "homes" they crammed into, and it's not something the vast majority of people with any other option would choose. Who is providing this housing? The farms? Is it only for workers or for their families as well?

 

I wonder what that means as well… is someone providing housing for the employee and his wife & children, or is the expectation that families will split themselves apart for this?

 

It's so easy to say "go on down there and do this" to other people.

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I think it's also interesting that for my parents and older brother (he's 12 years older than me), picking peaches was seen as something teens did for summer cash. Adults did not work in the fields, for the most part, unless they were part of the family that owned the farm. Somewhere along the line, by the time I was a teenager in the '90s, the labor force had shifted from local teens to adult migrant workers. It is extremely rare for locals to work in the fields any longer. I wonder how the wages shifted with the worker demographics.

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Guest Dulcimeramy

It is only easy to say because I have done things like this myself, LidiyaDawn. I'm not ignorant about how dirty this job is.

 

I've lived in a tent. I've lived in a shack. I've lived with horrible neighbors in unsafe neighborhoods. I've worked 14 hours of back-breaking labor for 6 days a week, and so has my husband.

 

For Pete's sake, I'm not saying to take your baby and your elderly Grandma and go pick peaches! But why aren't the men going? Why aren't the single women going?

 

They don't want to. They don't want to leave their families and homes and material comforts. No kidding! No one wants to do that! But for some, sitting around collecting unemployment while there are jobs to be had is immoral and entirely out-of-character. They would go work and live like that and send the money home to wives and kids. Or, if they are single, they might save the money to move to a better location or go to vocational school.

 

Just in case some of that kind are reading, or in case mothers here know of husbands, brothers, fathers, sons, or grown daughters who would want to do this, I posted.

 

"These are the jobs Americans won't do."

 

Really?

 

Americans used to do this, and worse, to provide for their own. I applaud the GA governor for considering that Americans might do it again now that times are really getting hard.

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Guest Dulcimeramy
I think it's also interesting that for my parents and older brother (he's 12 years older than me), picking peaches was seen as something teens did for summer cash. Adults did not work in the fields, for the most part, unless they were part of the family that owned the farm. Somewhere along the line, by the time I was a teenager in the '90s, the labor force had shifted from local teens to adult migrant workers. It is extremely rare for locals to work in the fields any longer. I wonder how the wages shifted with the worker demographics.

 

That is interesting. When I was growing up, we did farm work as teens. We'd go out of town on school buses and work and 8 hour day in the fields, and be brought back. Everyone took their own water and their own sack lunch. It was hot, exhausting work! I would wake up at night, de-tassling corn in my sleep.

 

But adults have to take these jobs now, if there are any jobs. Even if they've been to college. Even if their skills and training were worth 4 or 5 times more before the recession.

 

According to the NY Daily News, half of last month's job growth went to just one employer: McDonalds.

 

That stinks.

 

A job at McDonalds! Not even sort of enough to raise a family on, or even pay the mortgages we acquired before 2008. But these are the jobs, and adults want them, because working is better than not working. Both for the worker and for the nation.

 

Of course, teens are suffering from not being able to get these jobs anymore. The effect will be lasting for those who need jobs for their own needs, to save for college, or to help their parents keep a roof over the family's heads.

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Guest Dulcimeramy

Here's one more story from the week (CBS): Summer Bummer

 

The official unemployment rate for teens ages 16-19 is 24%.

 

My son's friends and peers are in a second Great Depression.

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My mom grew up in Migrant housing, with her Migrant Father and Mother. All were poor, hard working, honest, more than one generation here, people. They worked, the lived, they loved. My parents worked hard for what they have, and have a nice lifestyle. No one has given them a "hand-up" and all they have done is by hard work for long hours, with much schooling and loans to pay back. I'm proud of both of them! They weren't too good for whatever they had to do to get to their goal. It included dirt floors for my mom growing up, and for my dad...he grew up with his dad being a mechanic and having a shop.

Hard.Work. Little... really. little.... gov't assistance.

:)

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Hmm. She makes it sound like they offering the actual farm. If someone wanted to be a farmer, they would own the farm and hire the people. Not the same thing. It's a job. A temporary way to put some money in your pocket, pay some bills, buy some things. Her statement "An educated black person does not have time for that." makes me kind of mad. An educated black person (or white person or any "educated" person!) who is not employed would certainly have "time for that". And it's kind of an insult to farmers to boot. I have yet to meet a farmer who is actually stupid. :glare: And I've never met one who didn't have a better grasp on math and earth science than I do (regardless of how they handle that knowledge).

 

Thank you, as the descendant of generations of farmers.

 

This sounds great! I'd take a tent and if the housing was horrible, I'd set up a tent.

Edited by Cheryl in NM
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I don't think this would be a job where you would bring your family. But what is wrong with unemployed husband/father/teen/young adult heading down there for the summer? My husband is in the military and we're separated a lot. It's what we do to pay the bills. Being separated isn't ideal for anyone, but it was pretty common throughout much of history.

Edited by Robin's Song
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