FROM THE HARVESTER, FEBRUARY 1967

LARGE LABOR LAG LOOMS

Good, legal workers were no easier to find in the 1960s than they are today.

With production of Florida’s record-high citrus and vegetable crop now in full swing, the labor supply outlook remains unchanged.

Employment service officials have advised FFVA that the industry cannot expect any increase in the overall number of workers from the dozen or so southern states that provide the usual source of Florida seasonal workers.

For the past two years, the industry has carried out an exhaustive pre-season and in-season recruitment campaign but failed to increase the total volume of workers that could be moved to Florida.

Employment service officials in the supply states also have reported that no additional workers can be expected over last season’s level.

FFVA maintains recruiters and a fleet of buses on the road throughout the season in an effort to aid members in obtaining ample labor forces.

A case in point shows that one grower recruited 62 men from several neighboring states. Almost half of these laborers left after the first day in Florida at the labor camp. And after only 11 days in Florida, out of the original 62 men recruited and brought to camp at the cost of $140 per worker by the grower, just five are still working.

As a spokesman for the grower summed it up: “The need for labor is certainly well-established, and the need to hire bona fide unemployed U.S. citizens creates no arguments.

“However, there is no justification in hauling about the country those who have never worked, who have no intension of working or who will not work if there is the slightest chance of being compensated by any government agency for not working.”