Ever been busted for handweeding

primroselane · #1 09/27/04, 01:05 AM

This does not involve bondage.

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Field workers pick weeds in a baby lettuce field in Salinas, Calif., Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004. California became the first state Thursday to ban weeding by hand on most farms, saying the work is too backbreaking for laborers. Under a rule approved by the California Occupational Safety and Health Division, farmworkers, in most cases, will not have to stoop to pull weeds, but will instead be given long-handled tools that will allow them to work without bending over. The rule takes effect within two weeks. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California became the first state Thursday to ban weeding by hand on most farms, saying the work is too backbreaking for laborers.

Under a rule approved by the California Occupational Safety and Health Division, farmworkers, in most cases, will not have to stoop to pull weeds, but will instead be given long-handled tools that will allow them to work without bending over. The rule takes effect within two weeks.

The regulation aims to prevent the "real and substantial risk of back injury" caused by stooping to weed or thin plants by hand, Cal-OSHA said. The workplace-safety agency had no estimate of how many California field hands hurt their backs.

Agriculture is one of California's top industries, supporting over 1 million jobs and contributing nearly $28 billion to the state's economy. There is little data on the prevalence of hand-weeding on California farms. But crops such as lettuce, carrots, celery and strawberries are considered so delicate that they are weeded by hand.

"The same kind of crops we have here are grown in other nations, other states. The crops aren't unique to California," said Mike Webb of the Western Growers Association, which represents farms. Yet, he said, "we're going to be the only place on the face of the Earth that has a regulation or law that outlaws hand-weeding."

uncle Will in In. · #2 09/27/04, 04:06 AM

DANG, If it has to be a law, I sure would have liked to seen it take effect in 1934 right here in Indiana.

tinknal · #3 09/27/04, 04:11 AM

Don't worry Will, I'm sure daddy can still send the kids out to stoop and pull....

margo · #4 09/27/04, 05:52 AM

Well, at least it isn't as far to the ground for them. and a good way to learn, if you don't work, you don't eat.

rambler · #5 09/27/04, 06:31 AM

California will be the biggest reason _for_ genetically modified veggies - Round-Up Ready everything.

--->Paul

Lt. Wombat · #6 09/27/04, 06:34 AM

It's a misdemeanor for pulling weeds but only an infraction for smoking weed ....California: it's not just a state; it's a mental illness!!

John_in_Houston · #7 09/27/04, 06:37 AM

Looking on the bright side, there is now going to be a huge market for inexpensive, ergonomic, manually operated weeding tools. That ought to bring prices down and make life easier for homesteading gardeners.

Probably too much to hope that they will be made in the US, though

DayBird · #8 09/27/04, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by primroselane

This does not involve bondage.

I've got to ask. I just gotta. Why was this included? I'm just much too nosey and deviant to overlook this.

DaleK · #9 09/27/04, 09:36 PM

Isn't there an exemption for certified organic farms? If that isn't the height of hypocrisy I don't know what is. Of course, no California government would ever want to stop the treehuggers from worshipping at the altar of the organic cult.

primroselane · #10 09/27/04, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DayBird

I've got to ask. I just gotta. Why was this included? I'm just much too nosey and deviant to overlook this.

Clarification for General Chat readers.

JennDBass · #11 09/28/04, 01:44 PM

I am sure you are wondering why this law was passed... I live in Calif. and my sister-in-law works for our wonderful govenor. (hey... he's the best one we've had in 20 years)

Farmers must pay $1 workers comp for ever $1 they spend on payroll. Then the illegal immagrant workers hurt their back, sue and the state/workers comp pays them 2/3 of their salary for their lifetime and they get to become citizens... After they become citizens... they are concidered low-income and get Medical, dental, 1/2 housing, and 1/2 utilities paid... all by the state. The govenor can't stop the lawer crazy situation or the workers comp fiasco but he can stop some of the cycle. The last 20 years of insurance comissioners who allowed this... should be run out of the country.

breezynosacek · #12 09/28/04, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JennDBass

I am sure you are wondering why this law was passed... I live in Calif. and my sister-in-law works for our wonderful govenor. (hey... he's the best one we've had in 20 years)

Farmers must pay $1 workers comp for ever $1 they spend on payroll. Then the illegal immagrant workers hurt their back, sue and the state/workers comp pays them 2/3 of their salary for their lifetime and they get to become citizens... After they become citizens... they are concidered low-income and get Medical, dental, 1/2 housing, and 1/2 utilities paid... all by the state. The govenor can't stop the lawer crazy situation or the workers comp fiasco but he can stop some of the cycle. The last 20 years of insurance comissioners who allowed this... should be run out of the country.

Wouldn't it have been easier and less controlling for them to pass a law that exempts illegal farm workers from getting anything??? I mean come on! They are here illegally!

I injure my back and I don't get nothing for life but a hard time and a bunch of friggin lawyers trying to turn 'frivolous' laws (including a right to medical treatment and pay for lost income) into every law ever made to protect people from abuse or negligence.

Not only will this stuff cost the farmer more money (he has to buy equipment which they will probably break anyway), it will also raise the costs to produce these crops.

Leay · #13 09/28/04, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lt. Wombat

It's a misdemeanor for pulling weeds but only an infraction for smoking weed ....California: it's not just a state; it's a mental illness!!

I'm still laughing about that one! :haha:

Leay

tallpines · #14 09/28/04, 03:15 PM

""This does not involve bondage.""
:haha:

JennDBass · #15 09/28/04, 04:56 PM

The "pictsweet" company (Thier previous owners) went down to mexico and hauled in Slave labor to Oxnard, CA and made them work in their mushroom factories. Dark, wet barns full of steer poo. All of them eventually died of pneumonia from having to live in the barns. Then the Company went and got some more... Workers comp was there for the few who survived. Some illegals deserve assistance. But it is too time consuming to try to determine through the law who is and who isn't. Sorry... touchy subject... my great grandmother was an legal-illegal who had no paperwork or birth certificate or anything to tell anyone who she was. Few countries have records. It is too easy to just deport people and ask questions later.

Don Armstrong · #16 09/28/04, 06:05 PM

California: it's not just a state of mind, it's a mindless sta... Actually, using tools to do a job smarter, faster, easier ain't all that stoopid. The shape my back is in, anything that reduces stoop(id) labour is a GOOD thing.

southerngurl · #17 09/28/04, 06:12 PM

Pretty soon they won't let you pull weeds in your own garden. Too "dangerous" (*GASP* pull weeds? by hand?, Kind of like not wearing your seat belt, or jumping off skull rock at Buffalo River...

DayBird · #18 09/28/04, 07:41 PM

I'm still confused. Maybe I should get my mind out of the gutter.

southerngurl · #19 09/28/04, 08:13 PM

At General Chat there is a thread about members being kicked out of the chat room. Read it, and you will get it then.

primroselane · #20 09/29/04, 03:52 AM

Is making children hand weed the garden and flower beds child abuse?