If the wages are too low to make the jobs attractive, people will no longer be interested in doing the work, the supply of laborers will decrease, and the issue will be self-correcting.
Furthermore, wage subsidies actually hurt the most vulnerable workers -- higher wages mean that the farm owners will in turn be more aggressive about getting the most efficient farm workers possible, meaning those with lesser skill or other hard circumstances will have an even more difficult time finding any employment at all.
Sticking up for farmworker rights is a noble cause. Sloppily messing with the market forces determining their wages isn't.
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Student/Farmworker Alliance Victory in BK Campaign
This Whopper™ of a victory must be even tastier (sorry - couldn’t resist) as it comes after the discovery that Burger King hired a company to spy on the Student/Farmworker Alliance.
Burger King and CIW just announced an agreement that would increase wages for tomato pickers in Burger King’s supply chain, have Burger King join other companies calling for an industry-wide penny per pound surcharge to increase wages, a zero-tolerance policy for growers that participate in certain unlawful activities, and farmworker participation in monitoring BK suppliers for violations of their vendor code of conduct.
CIW and the Student/Farmworker Alliance are on a roll – they have reached similar agreements with Yum! Brands (Taco Bell) and McDonald’s, and have educated tens of thousands of people about the issues facing agricultural workers in the US along the way. They have also helped to expose slavery in Florida’s tomato fields.
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If the wages are too low to make the jobs attractive, people will no longer be interested in doing the work, the supply of laborers will decrease, and the issue will be self-correcting.
Furthermore, wage subsidies actually hurt the most vulnerable workers -- higher wages mean that the farm owners will in turn be more aggressive about getting the most efficient farm workers possible, meaning those with lesser skill or other hard circumstances will have an even more difficult time finding any employment at all.
Sticking up for farmworker rights is a noble cause. Sloppily messing with the market forces determining their wages isn't.