Recently, Alabama passed what is being called the toughest immigration law anywhere in the United States.  It targets illegal immigrants and anyone who dares to hire them.  This has caused a mass exodus of cheap labor to the surrounding states, and a major outcry from farmers in Alabama.

It seems that crops are withering on the vine because the migrant workers who usually do those types of jobs are afraid to be caught in Alabama.  The farmers, for their part, are bemoaning their loss of cheap labor, and claim that regular Americans don’t want to work such a difficult job.  Basically, they are saying, Americans are lazy.

But I beg to differ.  Americans are willing to work, it’s just that no one wants to pay them what they are worth.  The farmers in Alabama are a prime example.

Farmers are exempt from minimum wage laws.  They expect workers to work for pennies, and put in fourteen hour days.  They don’t pay overtime.  And rather than pay Americans a living wage, or even minimum wage with overtime, they are willing to let their crops die in the sun.  Pathetic, isn’t it?  Are they trying to prove a point?  The illegal workers were just that; illegal.  They shouldn’t have been hired in the first place.  And to top it off, those farmers are almost to a man Republicans, the party that passed the law in the first place.  Some of them are rethinking that affiliation.

We hear it all the time, Americans are lazy and don’t want to work.  But who wants to work for minimum wage or less?  I believe Americans are willing to work, they just want to be reimbursed commensurate to their time and energy.  Just because a job doesn’t require a college degree doesn’t mean it is not worth paying a decent wage for.  The illegal immigrants usually work for less than minimum, and often work under the table.  Sometimes, this untaxed money is sent back home, where it is spent to support another economy instead of our own.  We don’t just need to buy American, as some have put forth, we also need to hire American, and pay them what they are worth.  This will go a long way towards righting many wrongs.

We are taught from a young age about the work ethic.  It is ingrained on our brains through repetition and slogan.  But why is a good days work good?  Unless companies are willing to loose the purse strings, money will remain in short supply.  Working for minimum wage will only keep the companies rich and ourselves poor.  The status quo, simply put.  People need to make a living wage.

The farmers in Alabama need someone to harvest their crops, but would rather let them die on the vine than pay workers a living wage.  What does that tell you?  They are willing to take a total loss on the year, instead of paying to harvest their crop and break even, or possibly make a small profit.  If they can afford such a loss, then they have money and can pay workers what they are worth.  But to prove a point they are going to plow the rotting fruits and vegetables back into the ground and try again next year, when they will hopefully have their illegal workers back, and business can continue as usual.  This is just wrong.

Buy American and hire American.  It is the only way.