positive spin on an ugly situation

[handmade34]

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/07/09/vidalia-farmers-turn-to-prison-system-for-harvest-help-after-immigration-crackdown/?hpt=hp_c2

"For the past few months, the issue of farm labor has been front and center in Georgia. That's because last year, the state passed HB 87 - a tough immigration law modeled after Arizona's HB 1070. As a result, many farmers complained they had issues finding the farm labor they needed after HB 87 passed. It seemed that migrant workers didn’t even bother looking for jobs in the Peach State, and farmers were already having a difficult time filling positions with laborers on guest worker visas because of their cost and paperwork.

The farmers commissioned a study from the University of Georgia’s Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development to determine the extent of damage the shortage had done. The study examined seven staple Georgia crops, Vidalia onions included. The findings were shocking: 18 Vidalia-producing farms lost an estimated $16,312,345 and 835 jobs. In total, the seven crops studied lost almost $75 million and more than 5,200 jobs because of the labor shortage.

The state stepped in, with the suggestion of using probationers to do the work. The plan has helped. Farmers were able to save some of their crops, and a section of society that often struggles to find work was given the opportunity to play a small role in solving a statewide problem...."

[Scuba]

1. Right, 'cause they wouldn't want to pay a living wage...

... might as well let the State house and feed them, provide their care, even their transportation.

Much cheaper than hiring real workers. In fact, just take a cut of the savings and use it to lobby for continuing the drug war. That'll insure a ready supply of prison workers.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. "What we have here is a failure to communicate."

[Junkdrawer]

2. Give mainstream acceptance to the idea of prison labor, and soon we'll all be prisoners...

Kind of a corollary to the Iron Law of Wages

[Aerows]

3. I love Vidalia onions

I have mixed emotions about this story. If they are hiring people at fair wages that otherwise wouldn't get hired elsewhere, I don't see it as a problem. If this is straight up prison chain-gang labor, it's just slavery by another name.