Cutting Cane in Colombia

Desi1 (Moderator) says on Oct 3, 2008, 08:02:

Yes, the canecutters of the Valle del Cauca are on strike. Among the things they demand is better salary and better job security...they are not hired directly by the ingenios but by an intermediary. But their job is one that is disappearing fast as the cutting is becoming more and more automated.

A fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi

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rhydewithdis says on Oct 3, 2008, 08:15:

I was gonna say... usually the cain isn't cut until it gets out of Colombia....

They said I couldn't play football I was too small / They say I couldn't play basketball I wasn't tall / They say I couldn't play baseball at all / And now everyday of my life I ball.

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tomtom33 says on Oct 3, 2008, 08:36:

30K per day is not below the minimum wage. My novia was earning 20K per day as a social worker. On that she supported herself, six kids, and her abuela.

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Desi1 (Moderator) says on Oct 3, 2008, 08:41:

No, it isn't, but its backbreaking hard work. These people deserve much more than that. Your novia too...those salaries are horriblle. I don't know how these people manage to live on that in Colombia.

A fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi

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dwmte7 says on Oct 3, 2008, 09:15:

back in the 80's & early 90's, the average daily wage was 14 to 16,000 col. i doubled that to all my workers in 12 workshops...how could they raise their families on that. i still ended up making money on our products. too i helped them out by paying for medical and other things they needed but couldn't afford.

the wages there are horrible...even for professionals. my secretary had her masters, was fluent in english and she was only paid 18,000 at her previous job. i paid her 40,000. plus other ammenities.

previously, we manufactured in mexico and everything, all expenses, labor, materials, etc was at least double and often triple. so even with the transportational differences, we still came out good and i slept well.
douglas

dwmte

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Sam Salmon says on Oct 3, 2008, 09:56:

I remember seeing Cane Cutters in Fiji-they looked like slaves, gaunt/ exhausted and covered with ash and soot.

' a la orden!'

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tomtom33 says on Oct 3, 2008, 11:47:

My novia did what she had to do, moved to el campo. I think her rent was around 80K per month. They ate a lot of those big bags of produce and very little, if any, meat.

There is no hand-harvest labor that is a lot of fun except for cherry picking. When I was a kid, I picked cherries for $0.10 per bucket. On my best day, I picked around 5 or 6 buckets. One for the mouth. One for the bucket.

I spent 9 harvests in the fields in the US enforcing US Labor Laws. In those fields the Mexican migrant workers picked tomatoes, beans, pickles, and peppers. I never saw too many having fun or getting rich. But they all got at least minimum wage.

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Tinto (Moderator) says on Oct 3, 2008, 11:52:

They're having similar problems in Brazil - moving to self-propelled harvesting machinery is displacing thousands of workers. What do the workers do now?

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tomtom33 says on Oct 3, 2008, 11:55:

That is exactly it, T. Most of the tomatoes in the US are machine-harvested now. There are none of those jobs to complain about now.

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Desi1 (Moderator) says on Oct 3, 2008, 11:58:

That is a good question.
Sugar cane has always been very labour-intensive and as these people will be losing their jobs what are they going to do? There are no jobs for them in the cities and they have no other skills. There's an urgent need of agrarian reform and giving the stolen lands back to displaced people and perhaps canecutters could also be allotted some paraco or guerrilla-seized lands? There's plenty of uninhabited, uncultivated land out in the llanos, for example, but it may not be suited for much more than subsitence farming.

A fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi

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Mononoke28 says on Oct 3, 2008, 14:18:

I feel so bad for these people. I never saw them until I visited my husband's family in Tuluá and they are dirt poor. Plus it's such a hard job to do and under really bad conditions. I really feel for them.

Diana

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Desi1 (Moderator) says on Oct 3, 2008, 14:25:

I do too. I'm with the corteros on this. They need their jobs guaranteed and be hired directly by the Ingenios. They have been treated like dirt.

A fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi

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dwmte7 says on Oct 3, 2008, 16:43:

how many of us stop, take inventory, look around at the lot of others less fortunate, and thank GOD for the blessings we have received?

i was allowed in this life to travel much of this globe in mostly impoverished places and what we in the so called 'first world' think of as poor, is livin high, compared to the destitution i have witnessed in my travells.

so many of us, even those of us who are not "rich", are so economically better off than 99% of humanity alive today. we should all be very thankful.

dwmte

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Monita Linda says on Oct 4, 2008, 20:22:

30k is way above minimum (around 12-13 I think).

MANY jobs are not forever. Even though many corteros might not be fit for a lot of jobs, I don't believe in the "socially responsible" (e.g. european) thing to do. Sometimes, things need to change. For example, in the old times there are no calculators or computers and all the counting had to be done by hand. Then, calculators and computers came. Should companies have kept their counters out of left-liberal social concern?

Yes, corteros should be hired by the ingenios directly, and I doubt all of the work at the caña fields will ever be taken over by machines. Seriously.

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Monita Linda says on Oct 4, 2008, 20:25:

Also, 30K is quite a lot a day, most people don't make more than 15K. There are also many people working for way less than 15.

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kalder says on Oct 5, 2008, 05:24:

I see what you mean. I've just done a quick calculation and 30k a day comes to about 700k a month (depending on days worked).

And the minimum's 12-13? Scandalous.

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon

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elmodefoque says on Oct 5, 2008, 05:40:

and still many here think colombianos wanna return to colombia or they would rather stay home earning 12 mil pesos a day. LET'S GET REAL
as a 100% costeno, i would had NEVER NEVER NEVRER left colombia NO MATTER MY CIRCUMSTANCES , my dad got me outta there screaming and kicking into that KLM first class seat back in the 50's. But then again staying in colombia is a costeno thang same can;t be said about my cachaco brothers. If given a chance EVERY EVERY EVERY SINGLE one of the modefoques would migrate outta there in a heartbeat.

I'll get there, when I get there!

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elmodefoque says on Oct 5, 2008, 05:52:

now i go back to colombia, NOT to cut canes but to try and survive on a measely 6 millones a month for a family of ONE (me) income.
for some that might be OK but for the way i spend money i'm not too shure.
I like to drink and chase hookers almost every day and want the same for my broke ass barranquillero relatives and friends. who pays for them? ME

I'll get there, when I get there!

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elmodefoque says on Oct 5, 2008, 06:01:

one time i had 3 hookers my hotel room. my nephew was also in the room but as always, he was BROKE.
i was doing my thing with 2 of them while my nephew watched from the sofa with the other girl, all sad and chit.
He kept interupting "tio please i need 100 mil, i wanna get down too, she needs the money upfront!"
I says "fok you, go drive the taxi around until you make the 100 mil, she'll be waiting for you"
ofcourse i was kidding, i gave him the 100 mi

thank you!

I'll get there, when I get there!

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kalder says on Oct 5, 2008, 10:57:

100mil? That's quite steep. Hope she was worth it.

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon

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Robert Jorge says on Oct 5, 2008, 13:54:

Pretty damn funny Elmo.

He who farts in church, sits in his own pew.

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tomtom33 says on Oct 5, 2008, 14:19:

Elmo, you lying POS. What happened to those cinco mil putas that you were bragging about?

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elmodefoque says on Oct 5, 2008, 14:30:

i have them 5 mil toothless pros too, but that's in the south
i like them in all prices.
remember, during carnaval the prices double all over curramba
too bad i can't post a pic of a 100 mil barranquillera , just to get an idea ?

I'll get there, when I get there!

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tomtom33 says on Oct 5, 2008, 14:36:

Yeah, I never paid that much in BAQ. But I saw some in Lusitania that wanted a lot more than 100K.

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