Poultry And Pears

Here's a followup to my post A Drama Queen In A Pear Tree. It's the story of the Crider Corporation, a global supplier of fresh and processed poultry products. Federal authorities recently cracked down on the employment of illegal aliens at the Crider plant in Stillmore, Georgia. Crider cooperated and most of the illegal aliens were arrested or fled.

Now, how did the Crider Corporation deal with the issue? Did they just let the chickens die and rot and threaten to all but close their doors like Nick Ivicevich - the pear farmer in California? Nope.

Instead, Crider raised their wages by $1.00 to $7.75 per hour to attract new workers. Their pay scale beats Wal-Mart by over $2.00 per hour. It worked. Local residents have flocked to the new jobs, and the plant is also offering opportunities to homeless Americans from the local shelter and felons on probation; two groups that often have trouble finding work but for whom employment and the confidence it brings is so important to their reintegration into society.

So, Mr. Ivicevich, stop your bitching. Get creative. Innovate. Find a way to compete. If you can't or don't want to, then I honestly don't care if you chop down every damn tree in your orchard. Someone else will take your place and grow pears and employ American workers to do it effectively and economically. If you insist on employing Mexican labor, I hear Oaxaca is lovely this time of year.

ht: American Daughter