Attempting to Rationalize Agricultural Labor Markets: A Review of Experiences with Citrus Harvesting in the Lower Rio Grande Valley
Author: Glover, Robert W.
Date Published: 1981
This report attempts to present an overview of the Citrus Labor Demonstration Project in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas--its objectives, activities, accomplishments and failures. It was written by the author on the basis of previous published and unpublished reports from the project as well as interviews with various individuals associated with the project. Almost every industry official who cooperated with the project in South Texas was favorably impressed with the systematic, centralized approach to harvest labor management used by Coastal Growers in Ventura County, California. Yet South Texas industry leaders wanted the benefits of the Coastal Growers' approach without the costs, the advantages without the liabilities. They were impressed with the stability and greater certainty regarding the availability of labor which Coastal Growers had obtained. They were encouraged by the higher rates of worker productivity which resulted. But they also noted that the Coastal Growers operation with its fringe benefit package, transportation and other features cost more than South Texas currently paid. Further, South Texas citrus industry officials felt that centralization of harvest operations and elimination of the labor contractor as a middleman between themselves and workers made them a more vulnerable target for utilization. They preferred to remain with a more decentralized network of labor contractors which were more difficult to manage but also more difficult for union organizers to deal with. In the final analysis, the Citrus Labor Market Demonstration Project was doomed to failure because there was insufficient employer motivation to undertake it and maintain it. As long as the door to illegal immigrants from Mexico remains partially open and adequate supplies of labor willing to work at or below the minimum wage are available in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, employer incentives to upgrade labor management practices will be undercut.
Date Published: 1981
This report attempts to present an overview of the Citrus Labor Demonstration Project in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas--its objectives, activities, accomplishments and failures. It was written by the author on the basis of previous published and unpublished reports from the project as well as interviews with various individuals associated with the project. Almost every industry official who cooperated with the project in South Texas was favorably impressed with the systematic, centralized approach to harvest labor management used by Coastal Growers in Ventura County, California. Yet South Texas industry leaders wanted the benefits of the Coastal Growers' approach without the costs, the advantages without the liabilities. They were impressed with the stability and greater certainty regarding the availability of labor which Coastal Growers had obtained. They were encouraged by the higher rates of worker productivity which resulted. But they also noted that the Coastal Growers operation with its fringe benefit package, transportation and other features cost more than South Texas currently paid. Further, South Texas citrus industry officials felt that centralization of harvest operations and elimination of the labor contractor as a middleman between themselves and workers made them a more vulnerable target for utilization. They preferred to remain with a more decentralized network of labor contractors which were more difficult to manage but also more difficult for union organizers to deal with. In the final analysis, the Citrus Labor Market Demonstration Project was doomed to failure because there was insufficient employer motivation to undertake it and maintain it. As long as the door to illegal immigrants from Mexico remains partially open and adequate supplies of labor willing to work at or below the minimum wage are available in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, employer incentives to upgrade labor management practices will be undercut.
