Lancaster farming. (Lancaster, Pa., etc.) 1955-current, October 12, 1974, Image 14
—Lancaster Farmlm. Saturday. Oct. 12. 1974 14 Organizing the Agricultural Labor Force •Many individuate and group* in Pennsylvania have struggl'd with the question of supporting efforts to organize farm workers into unions The support usually includes manpower and/ or financial contributions for organ izing efforts or support of consumer bov - cotts of certain products. This question presents the public with some difficult dilemmas with regard to appropriate actions Objective evidence makes it obvious that there are real social problems in the plight of many American farm workers. What is not so obvious is what the appropriate solutions to those problems are While much has been said and written about the issues by the advocates on either side, there have been many distortions and inac curacies on both sides. There is little objectivity in information regarding union membership, participation, strikes, working conditions, performance under contracts, and violence alleged by the various parties to agricultural-labor dis putes. This presents a dilemma to indi viduals and groups concerned with social justice seeking to make mfoimed and objective judgments about the issue. In order to understand the issue, some background information about the eco nomic status of farm workers and the structure of agriculture is essential. The economic status of farm workers There is no question that “farm labor ers” as an occupational group fare sub stantially worse economically than most other occupational groups in the econo my Census data show that only private household workers- (domestics) rank lower in average annual earnings This is partly because rates of pay for many agricultural jobs are low, but also be cause of the large component of seasonal workers in the farm work force For example, in 1972 (the most recent year for which national data are available) there were 2 8 million persons who did some farm work for wages in the United States at some time during the year However, 40 percent of that number did less than 25 days of farm wage work dur ing the entire year Another 37 percent did from 25 to 150 days of farm wage work during the year Only 13 percent worked as many as 250 days at farm wage work in 1972 Obviously, average earnings data across such a diverse lahrr force arc very misleading. ’ Only about a quarter (24 percent in 1972) of the hired farm work force is chiefly engaged in farm work during the year Others are chiefly engaged in non farm work, operating their own farms, or are not in the labor force at alt most of the year Persons not in the labor force most of the year account for much of the seasonality of farm employment. In 1972, nearly half (47 percent) of the hired farm work force indicated their chief activity during the year was "keep ing house,” or "attending school.” Stu dents represent a large component of the hired farm work force, although most of them work relatively few days at farm work and therefore account for relatively little of the total hired agricultural labor input (For example, in 1972 there were approximately 825,000 youth 14 through 17 years of age who did some farm work for wages, of which 56% worked fewer than 25 days, and another 30% worked from 25 to 74 days) Only a small num ber of these ycuth were migratory work ers, and they worked only a few days at farm wage work. Used in your calf rearing program, these Beacon products can help increase your calf livability. Why not call your Beacon Dealer or Beacon Advisor today H. JACOB HOOBER INTERCOURSE, PA A recent study by Penn State showed that of 12,000 calves started, more than 18% died in their first 12 months. Beacon’s Complete Calf Feeding Program is designed to help you minimize such losses by increasing calf livability. Be-Co-Nurse milk replacer is one cornerstone of this program. It provides a high level of digestible energy in the form of easily digested lactose (milk sugar) and a high content (20%) of stabilized animal fat. Beacon Golden Calf Starter is the second foundation stone of the program. It is fortified with vitamins A and D, plus Aureomycin. Partially pelleted, Beacon Golden Calf Starter is a highly palatable grain ration that ca!»es love. Beacon Calf Power and Beacon Scour Stop-R offer a scour prevention and control program that is highly effective. Calf Power is recommended for calves under undue stress. Scour Stop-R provides a “Feed and Treat” method of combating scours when they actually occur. THARPE it GREEN MILL H. M. STAUFFER & SONS, INC. 0. KENNETH McCRACKEN Churchviile. Md fed Belefskl Ph. 523-9173 Beacon Feeds, York, Pa. While wages earned by farm wage workers ore low, they are related to the duration of work The wages earned by all farm wage workers in 1972 averaged $1,160, or about $l3 20 per day. How ever. this average is greatly influenced by the fact that 40 percent of these workers 'only averaged 9 days of farm wage work and had average total farm earnings for the year of only $94. By contrast, those workers who worked 250 days or more at farm work had average annual farm earnings of $4,358 and aver age total anneal earnings, including non farm earnings, of $4,551. These figures relate to cash wages and do not include the value of prerequisites, such as hous ing or meals, that may also be provided. There are too few migrants in the farm work force to provide statistically reliable data on annual earnings of mi grants related to the duration of their work. The data that are available show that daily cash wages are similar among migrants and non-migrants (actually slightly higher for migrants) However, migrants average fewer days of work and therefore have lower total annual earn ings. Only about 7 percent of the hired RHOADS MILL, INC. Selinsgrove & Milton, Pa Chester Weist Ph. 741-2600 v **nt n m f n r' w ' r- r»-.-. *• EARL SAUDER, INC. VAN-MAR FEEDS NEW HOLLAND, PA. LEESPORT, PA. LEOLA, PA. Beacon Reps. R. E. Rudisill Richard B. Kendig Ph. 854-2281 302-478-3058 Phone 717-843-9033 farm work force (or fewer than 200,000 persons in 1972) were migrant*. The above in not intended to imply that farm workers’ incomes are not low, hut to suggest that the problem is relator) to the duration of the working season, which is short for many agricultural activities An examination of hourly pay rates for farm workers also suggests this In October, 1973 (the most recent period for which statistics are available) the U S average hourly rate paid to farm workers was $2 24 ($217 in Pennsyl vania, $2 83 in California). For workers paid piece-rate, which includes many mi grants, the U S average hourly earnings were $2.71 ($2 69 in Pennsylvania, $3ll in California ) The structure of the agricultural industry Much of the discourse on the farm labor problem (and other agricultural prob lems such as the recent concern over food prices) creates the impression that the agricultural industry is dominated by large corporations. Whether this is true is essentially irrelevant to the economic (Continued on Page 15| & SON manheim, pa.