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BAR[_2_]

In article ,
says...

On Sun, 23 Jan 2011 20:10:17 -0800, wrote:

Most of the agriculture is right in that general area (south central
Florida, around the lake) and there are not really that many farms at
least not that many producers. There may be a lot of individual land
owners but they are part of a couple large syndicates that control the
market. Going from $12 to $20 is not insignificant.

$12. wow. They could retire on that!

That is why it is now $20, $12 was not seen as enough.

In real life these are fruit pickers. That is an entry level job at
best. How much do you pay your lawn man? How about the cleaning lady
at your office?
I am sure I know a lot more latinos than you and my wife knows a lot
more. They all look at jobs like that as a way to get into this
country and then they want to move up.
We were at a party right before Christmas with one of these guys. His
wife is a care worker at the rest home where my neighbor works. The
hubby came here to work in agriculture as a guest worker. While he was
here he taught himself English. Then he went back to Mexico and went
on the list. A year later he came back with a green card and a job
working landscape. He taught himself irrigation (timers, design etc)
Now he is a full time irrigation tech for one of the largest landscape
companies in Lee county (full benefits) and expects to be a crew
manager soon.
This is a guy who did something with a picker job and there are lots
of others who will follow in his footsteps. Those who don't are in
about the same boat as Americans who see "do you want fries with
that?" as a career. Do you think they should be making over $20 an
hour too?

You mean he is not stuck making minimum wage for the rest of his life?