Citrus Harvesters

Job description

Harvesters to perform the following duties:

Workers will harvest citrus by hand and by mechanical aid. Workers will also net, plant, prune, and irrigate. Weeding by hand is occasional/intermittent (less than 20% of weekly work time). Employer complies with the California health and safety rules applicable to hand weeding.

Row Boss: Worker is responsible for citrus row quality and row cleanliness. The Row Boss is the Foreman’s assistant. The Row Boss ensures that the workers are doing their exercises, washing their hands and carrying out their work. The Row Boss assists the Foreman with the scanning of the workers for start and end times and lunch and break time and also scans the individual bins of each worker. The Row Boss fills out documentation for Food Safety, Production and Quality Control. Over the course of the day the Row Boss does quality control reviews and constantly checks that the workers are using the sack and ladder properly. The Row Boss checks the bins with product, so people do not damage the product during the harvesting. In general, the Row Boss assists the Foreman with all of its responsibilities.

Agricultural equipment operator (forklift) loading and unloading citrus bins from trailer and place bins throughout orchard for harvest. Employee must conduct daily maintenance check prior to operating tractor/machine. Required to have basic knowledge of driving a forklift, must pass forklift safety training and demonstrate ability to operate tractor/machine/forklift in a safe manner.

The employer will provide training, the forklift driver certification, and all costs will be responsibility of the employer. Training will be provided by the area supervisor who holds a forklift trainer certificate. The supervisor will conduct training at the worksites on the first day of work. Once the training is completed, the employer will issue the certificate to the employees.

Workers may occasionally and/or sporadically perform duties associated with and directly related to the primary duties. Such work will be temporary and unsubstantial agricultural labor.

Special Requirements

Requirements: 1 month of citrus harvest experience. Cannot be color blind due to the need to distinguish colors of crops for proper ripeness and maturity, able to use shears, clippers and other agricultural tools, no smoking, illegal drugs, alcohol, or weapons of any sort in the housing or work fields. Ability to communicate in English or Spanish is required for training and safety purposes. Work is performed outdoors in open fields and can involve exposure to sun, wind, mud, dust, heat, cold and other elements of the normal field environment. Temperatures can range from 20 degrees F to over 100 degrees F during the period of employment. Workers should come prepared with appropriate clothing and footwear for the work and working conditions described.