Arnulfo Solorio’s desperate mission to recruit farmworkers for the Napa Valley took him far from the pastoral vineyards to a raggedy parking lot in Stockton, in the heart of the Central Valley.

Carrying a fat stack of business cards for his company, Silverado Farming, Solorio approached one prospect, a man with only his bottom set of teeth. He told Solorio that farm work in Stockton pays $11 to $12 an hour. Solorio countered: “Look, we are paying $14.50 now, but we are going up to $16.” The man nodded skeptically.

Workers prune grapevines at the Napa Valley vineyard of Silverado Farming. Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in Napa go for nearly $6,900 per ton, 10 times more than in San Joaquin County. (Credit: Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Solorio moved on to two men huddled nearby, and returned quickly. “They were drug addicts,” he said. “And, they didn’t have a car.”

Before the day was through, Solorio would make the same pitch to dozens of men and women, approaching a taco truck, a restaurant and a homeless encampment. Time was short: He needed to find 100 workers to fill his ranks by April 1, when grapevines begin to grow and need constant attention..........................


Not quite sure about the 'drug addict' remarks as being anything more than subjective, but why won't they take the jobs???

Any idea's?

When Trump cuts welfare .... They will get their asses back to work .

When Trump cuts welfare .... They will get their asses back to work .

This is how is works .... Guy knocks up girl , they have baby . Mother does not put fathers name on BC , they move in together . Mother and child collect welfare while father works . If they need some extra cash they sell their foodstamp card . They live in section 8 housing and pay about $60 a month in rent .
They don't pay any taxes and receive thousands of dollars back as an Earned Income Tax Rebate every year.

WHY ????? Would they change a thing ????

Yep. And working becomes a foreign concept to people who have no idea of any structure in their life. They can't imagine it, like those of us who work all the time can't imagine staying home any more.

I have no idea what that means.

Why won't they take the jobs? Because Alf went to the streets where junkies, wh*res and dealers spend their time. They're not looking for a job. He should be camped out near a temp agency, where people are looking for work.

You could have a 'junkie' drilling on your teeth.

The difference between your dentist and the so called street junkie is one has money, one maybe didn't have that structure in his/her life someone else talked about.

Many 'working' junkies buddy.

Why wouldn't anyone want out of the cycle of poverty?

This is how is works .... Guy knocks up girl , they have baby . Mother does not put fathers name on BC , they move in together . Mother and child collect welfare while father works . If they need some extra cash they sell their foodstamp card . They live in section 8 housing and pay about $60 a month in rent .
They don't pay any taxes and receive thousands of dollars back as an Earned Income Tax Rebate every year.

WHY ????? Would they change a thing ????

Because it pays well in the long run ....

It's NOT the " poverty " you think it is ...

They live in nice homes , drive nice cars , eat whatever they want , and really don't have to do anything for it .

Um...because what you described sucks. Do you think that you're the only one who can see that? Really?

This is exactly the dehumanization of people on government assistance that helps to keep us divided. Let me tell you something that you might not want to hear: no one plans to be on public assistance. No loving parent prepares their daughter/son to follow in their shoes of poverty so completely that they are able to navigate the system in their early-to-mid twenties. This is an implicit bias that should be recognized and acknowledged. Thankfully, it's getting more attention than it use to.

If you know anyone like that who (face to face) told you their master plan to bilk the government, and you didn't turn them in for their crimes (and what you describe is indeed CRIMINAL), than you're not their friend.

If you don't know someone personally who engaged in this matter, than...

I think you have to look outside the USA for the REAL definition ..... Of poverty !

King, it might seem to suck to you and me but it's a big deal with a lot of people to make it onto welfare or disability or foodstamps or whatever, they're proud as hell. It's money in the mailbox, they love it.

And if they don't?

Do you truly believe that there's a politician alive that is willing to say - on camera: let the chronically poor and sick/addicted die?

That attack ad write's itself so well that even the lowest IQ voter can read and understand it.

But, they will still vote against their own intersets.

You could have a 'junkie' drilling on your teeth.

The difference between your dentist and the so called street junkie is one has money, one maybe didn't have that structure in his/her life someone else talked about.

Many 'working' junkies buddy.

Why wouldn't anyone want out of the cycle of poverty?

This is how is works .... Guy knocks up girl , they have baby . Mother does not put fathers name on BC , they move in together . Mother and child collect welfare while father works . If they need some extra cash they sell their foodstamp card . They live in section 8 housing and pay about $60 a month in rent .
They don't pay any taxes and receive thousands of dollars back as an Earned Income Tax Rebate every year.

WHY ????? Would they change a thing ????

I feel no pity for Arny the farmer in this story. IF he has the ability to pay 16/hour now, why didn't he before??? It was labor for free - people like that, you know

An industry run on wage slavery, YET our neighbors over the border that have been so viciously attacked as 'stealing' American jobs have been willing to do it, look outside and beyond the box.

Consider the work itself, long, hot and unless acclimated to it would wipe someone out if they could last a day, drudgery...There are reasons certain 'jobs' were given to unskilled laborers, slave picking cotton jobs takes on the same scenario, long, hot drudgery....manual physical jobs requiring a physical capability.

We do not have a society that supports human capabilities and encourages them either.

Why does the most labor intensive job automatically align with the poor? Privileged education perhaps?

There is a detest in this country for the poor, a blame placed on them for being poor, a dislike that borders on hatred that they haven't entered into YOUR realm of a definition of a deserving job, the most meager of jobs that have offered peanuts in exchange for difficult and unfair working conditions. Perhaps we should ask of them to model after the child laborers that our corporations have shipped jobs to overseas.

OR, nursing and social workers. A much better idea I believe!! We could use persons with empathy (quite different than sympathy) that understands their culture without discriminating and judgement in who is deserving and undeserving within the population of the poor.

lengthy, I know. but let the grapes die on the vine, it really is a sign of the times.

Arnulfo Solorio’s desperate mission to recruit farmworkers for the Napa Valley took him far from the pastoral vineyards to a raggedy parking lot in Stockton, in the heart of the Central Valley.

Carrying a fat stack of business cards for his company, Silverado Farming, Solorio approached one prospect, a man with only his bottom set of teeth. He told Solorio that farm work in Stockton pays $11 to $12 an hour. Solorio countered: “Look, we are paying $14.50 now, but we are going up to $16.” The man nodded skeptically.

Workers prune grapevines at the Napa Valley vineyard of Silverado Farming. Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in Napa go for nearly $6,900 per ton, 10 times more than in San Joaquin County. (Credit: Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Solorio moved on to two men huddled nearby, and returned quickly. “They were drug addicts,” he said. “And, they didn’t have a car.”

Before the day was through, Solorio would make the same pitch to dozens of men and women, approaching a taco truck, a restaurant and a homeless encampment. Time was short: He needed to find 100 workers to fill his ranks by April 1, when grapevines begin to grow and need constant attention..........................


Not quite sure about the 'drug addict' remarks as being anything more than subjective, but why won't they take the jobs???

Any idea's?