Friday, June 24, 2011

UPDATE: Georgia experiment in having probationers work in the fields was a bust

AP reports Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s idea of putting probationers in the fields to replace migrate workers, who are avoiding the state because of Georgia’s new immigration law, didn’t turn out so well.  Seems the probationers couldn’t take the 90+ degree heat and backbreaking work.  "Those guys out here weren't out there 30 minutes and they got the bucket and just threw them in the air and say, `Bonk this, I ain't with this, I can't do this,'" said Jermond Powell, a 33-year-old probationer. "They just left, took off across the field walking."

Benito Mendez , a crew leader on a farm owned by Dick Minor, president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, “put the probationers to the test…assigning them to fill one truck and a Latino crew to a second truck. The Latinos picked six truckloads of cucumbers compared to one truckload and four bins for the probationers.”

Looks like Deal is going to have to go back to the drawing board on this one.  

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