5 ms·

>This year, Mendoza and two other women approached Schreiber and told him that if he was limiting them to 48 hours a week, they wouldn't cut asparagus this year

by ruined 3y ago

>This year, Mendoza and two other women approached Schreiber and told him that if he was limiting them to 48 hours a week, they wouldn't cut asparagus this year. They didn't want to be on the farm seven days a week as required during the asparagus harvest. >They had their own economic puzzle to figure out, and fewer hours meant it no longer made sense to pay for child care for all of those days. okay, so he won't give more than 48 hours, but he's still requiring a 7-day schedule. this isn't about the hours, this is about stupid scheduling. and what prevents him exactly from changing the hourly, so the total pay is equivalent? if you take the example of 70h at 30/h with no overtime, 70h at 26/h with time and a half would be roughly equivalent. as with everything management complains about, this is a management problem

patcon 3y ago
> he won't give more than 48 hours, but he's still requiring a 7-day schedule My read is that the workers want more, and the workers want 7-day schedules. They want to work 7 days when there is full work, to store up for winter. But the economics don't make sense when they can't commit fully during that week. I don't like how it sounds, but if the worker from the article if believed to be representative, then I think that's what's going on. > and what prevents him exactly from changing the hourly that's a good idea. a bit weird that it means everyone makes less (and is underpaid by industry standards) if they don't work through the harvest season though... seems like a tough situation all-around Disclaimer: I'm a socialist and cofounder of a tech worker co-operative, so I favour workers rights. I'm just admitting that this situation is confusing :)
- cxr 3y ago
  > My read is that the workers want more, and the workers want 7-day schedules. No. This is a classic instance of the X/Y problem. If they began working half the number of hours in a day for half the number of days in a week that they had been before, except bringing home the same amount of money, there would be no issue; no one would show up saying, "We want 7-day schedules". The workers don't want 7-day schedules. They want to be paid greater than or equal to what they were making when they were working 7 days a week under the old arrangement.
  - inemesitaffia 3y ago
    I don't exactly know how asparagus works, but isn't the harvest time for anything limited? Is this like fishing where you make $200k in two weeks then file for unemployment for the year?
    - cxr 3y ago
      I don't understand why this question is posted as a reply to my comment.
bobthepanda 3y ago
Small farms usually deal with distributors and grocers, and don’t have the leverage to tell Kroger et al to eat all of the increase.
- rascul 3y ago
  Indeed. In many cases the price is set by the buyer and the farmer has little choice.
bastardoperator 3y ago
Schreiber is basically saying If he can't exploit workers and their wages his business won't be profitable. Fine, go out of business...
SoftTalker 3y ago
IDK much about asparagus farming, but perhaps during harvest you can't take a day off. The plants don't grow on a management schedule, they have to be cut when they're ready.
- HWR_14 3y ago
  Maybe if your job requires 7 days a week work you should either hire two shifts or pay a premium of more than 25% over minimum wage as the base salary?
- ruined 3y ago
  yeah, sure, schedule some workers to harvest every day. but there's no reason to schedule every worker to harvest every day, especially if they're not scheduling hours that make it worth it. WA state has no daily hour limit for overtime, and the employees were already working long days before the change. if management is really going to insist on staying under, then instead of spreading the hours across seven days, cram the hours into three or four days and rotate the staff. this is not hard. many businesses are open 7 days and still understand how to give staff days off. this is an invented problem.

by ruined 3y ago

patcon 3y ago

> he won't give more than 48 hours, but he's still requiring a 7-day schedule My read is that the workers want more, and the workers want 7-day schedules. They want to work 7 days when there is full work, to store up for winter. But the economics don't make sense when they can't commit fully during that week. I don't like how it sounds, but if the worker from the article if believed to be representative, then I think that's what's going on. > and what prevents him exactly from changing the hourly that's a good idea. a bit weird that it means everyone makes less (and is underpaid by industry standards) if they don't work through the harvest season though... seems like a tough situation all-around Disclaimer: I'm a socialist and cofounder of a tech worker co-operative, so I favour workers rights. I'm just admitting that this situation is confusing :)

cxr 3y ago
> My read is that the workers want more, and the workers want 7-day schedules. No. This is a classic instance of the X/Y problem. If they began working half the number of hours in a day for half the number of days in a week that they had been before, except bringing home the same amount of money, there would be no issue; no one would show up saying, "We want 7-day schedules". The workers don't want 7-day schedules. They want to be paid greater than or equal to what they were making when they were working 7 days a week under the old arrangement.
- inemesitaffia 3y ago
  I don't exactly know how asparagus works, but isn't the harvest time for anything limited? Is this like fishing where you make $200k in two weeks then file for unemployment for the year?
  - cxr 3y ago
    I don't understand why this question is posted as a reply to my comment.

bobthepanda 3y ago

Small farms usually deal with distributors and grocers, and don’t have the leverage to tell Kroger et al to eat all of the increase.

rascul 3y ago
Indeed. In many cases the price is set by the buyer and the farmer has little choice.

bastardoperator 3y ago

Schreiber is basically saying If he can't exploit workers and their wages his business won't be profitable. Fine, go out of business...

SoftTalker 3y ago

IDK much about asparagus farming, but perhaps during harvest you can't take a day off. The plants don't grow on a management schedule, they have to be cut when they're ready.

HWR_14 3y ago
Maybe if your job requires 7 days a week work you should either hire two shifts or pay a premium of more than 25% over minimum wage as the base salary?
ruined 3y ago
yeah, sure, schedule some workers to harvest every day. but there's no reason to schedule every worker to harvest every day, especially if they're not scheduling hours that make it worth it. WA state has no daily hour limit for overtime, and the employees were already working long days before the change. if management is really going to insist on staying under, then instead of spreading the hours across seven days, cram the hours into three or four days and rotate the staff. this is not hard. many businesses are open 7 days and still understand how to give staff days off. this is an invented problem.