Last night on NBC news Tim Brokaw had a moving story about a family business in Cambridge Maryland who just can't find enough Americans, even in this economy, to do the job of Crab Picking. The whole theme of the story is that Americans are just too lazy to do this kind of work.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
I thought it strange that Brokaw went as far as talking to Md's senator about the problem, but never mentioned how much the job pays.
"The rest of the story" over the fold ...
I found JM Claytons website, and there is no mention there that they need workers. I was surprised, given the dire straits the company is in.
There was not even a link or phone number for job hunters to call.
There was a number to call to place an order, so I called it. I asked how much the job pays. Apparently the company had not yet told employees not to answer public questions, so a very nice lady told me the terms of the job:
First, you are sent to a training course, for which you earn $6.71 per hour for two weeks.
After the training, you are paid $2.50 per pound of crab meat picked, with the expectation that you can pick 2.5 to 3 pounds per hour. This is $6.25 to $7.50 per hour. If you're paid by the pound, you don't get anything for breaks. I am thinking health coverage and 401k plans would be pretty slim.
In the history page of the company, they tell that the company founders also
invented and patented a machine in 1973 that would do the work of 25 pickers.
http://www.jmclayton.com/...
Responding to a shortage of skilled crab pickers, J. Clayton Brooks, along with business associates Calvert Tolley and Ted Reinke, invented the world’s first automatic crab picking machine. [..snip..] At one time, 25 businesses from Florida to Maryland were using the QuikPik to pick their crabs. Although the choice, high-prized lump or backfin meat must still be picked by hand, the Quik Pik is still employed at Clayton’s to efficiently remove crabmeat from the shell. This remarkable machine picks at a speed of 100 pounds of crabmeat per hour. It would take 25 workers to hand pick at the same rate.
They also are proud that they import lots of prepared Crab Meat from Indonesia under the brand name "Claytons"
As I interpret this story, this is a large profitable family business that uses automation and imports for the vast majority of their production. In order to get the most high quality, high demand meat, they must hire people to do some work. However, it can't be more than a small portion of there overall costs, and they have income as well from their patented picking machine.
What we have here is a company that wants to hire the cheapest possible labor, by bringing in immigrants who have large families and no opportunities back home. They want them to do a dangerous job, using sharp knives in hand work that looks perfect for causing Carpal Tunnel damage to the workers.
They could afford to pay the workers a decent wage, but instead, with the help of Brokaw and NBC news being silent on the issue of pay rate for labor, they paint American workers as lazy, and themselves as the victims.
Disgusting.