Businesses suffer from lack of labor

Gary Akers is right to say that people are tired of an immigration system that does not work. All of his other statements are mistaken.
Businesses throughout the United States are indeed “suffering unnecessarily due to some misguided attempt at securing our country’s border.” Farm Bureau estimates that America is in danger of losing at least one-third of our domestic fruit and vegetable production. The “unfriendly climate toward immigrant” labor is not only real, it is no accident. Many legislators have repeatedly claimed that the unfriendly climate in Colorado was the objective of much of the legislation they have proposed regarding this issue.
Higher wages are no inducement to labor that does not exist. The belief that the 75 percent of agricultural labor that is immigrant and Hispanic can be replaced with domestic labor, regardless of the wage, is no longer held by anyone remotely familiar with farm-labor issues.
To characterize these agricultural workers as unskilled is untrue and unfair. There is no pool of under- or unemployed citizens to take these jobs. The tiny fraction of citizens who actually try farm work are generally found to have lost the ability and the inclination to engage in strenuous physical labor for one day, much less throughout an entire season, season after season. Many agricultural employers have tried every possible avenue to hire local labor and it just does not exist. Anyone who says otherwise has not tried. With so little available labor, no one turns away willing and able help of any kind.
The H2A program that Mr. Akers claims to be the answer to all labor problems, does and can work for some employers. But the supply of labor created by H2H is woefully inadequate and the program is flawed for many employers, especially those needing high volumes of short term-labor. Much of agriculture’s labor need falls into that category. And while most employers treat their guest workers with dignity and respect, the H2A program continues to be plagued by abuses. H2H is a part of the solution, for employer and employee, but far from the complete solution.
I too remain frustrated with the lack of progress on comprehensive immigration reform. But if we decide to treat our agricultural labor as an asset rather than a liability, and
let the facts guide our decisions, America can and will, create sane and humane comprehensive immigration policy.
MARK HARRIS
Grand Valley Hybrids
Grand Junction

We need compassion when it comes to animals

This is a note to sportsmen and hunters about the issue of killing prairie dogs or any animal for “sport.”
I believe that God gives us dominion over all other animals, not so we can cause pain and death for fun just because it’s legal.
What is truly right? We should look forward and use compassion the Lord gives us to do what we know Jesus would want us to do.
I hear there is a big fear of losing rights to kill, especially for our children and future generations. If compassion and foresight are not used now, there will be no wildlife and nowhere left to kill or see them for future generations.
Prairie dogs have hearts, brains, nervous systems, blood and families. They do not deserve to be used for target practice because they are helpless. Please give their lives some respectful thought, as some of God’s own creatures, before you go and exercise you legal right to kill next time.
I fear what God will do to humans for our evil.
TINA SLIVON
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under Printed letters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.