Farmworkers And Laborers, Crop

Job description

Harvesting Watermelon by hand, the worker will walk down the watermelon field rows where the watermelon will be harvested. The worker will first cut the vine off the watermelon with a small knife and turn the watermelon over. The worker will bend over harvesting the ripe watermelon which can vary in weight from 20 to 60 lbs. from the ground and tossing the watermelon to the worker next to him and this worker will toss the watermelon to the next worker and so on, until the watermelon is then tossed to the person inside the bus who will place the watermelon on the floor. Packing: When the bus is full, it will be taken to the packing house where the workers will unload the watermelon and put it in a conveyor belt that will transport the watermelon into the packing house where it will be separated by size, labeled and packed.

Note: The packing house is located inside the Farm and more than 50% of the product processed is produced by the Fixed Site Employer.
General Maintenance: Workers on physical work restrictions or when harvesting work is not available may be required to perform miscellaneous clean-up work on work site property, on structures utilized in the work site operation, and on housing for harvesting workers. Such clean-up activities include the sprouting, pruning, and painting of trees; debris, weed, and vine removal; irrigation repair; housing and structure cleaning and repair.

The worker in order to perform this kind of work must be able to work outside for at least 6 hours a day in all kinds of weather and be in possession of the requisite physical strength and endurance to repeat the picking process rapidly, the employer will provide the tools necessary to perform the described job duties without charge to the worker. The employer will charge the worker for reasonable costs related to the worker?s refusal or negligent failure to return the tools or due to such worker?s willful damage or destruction of the tools.

Employees may volunteer to work additional hours when work is available. Workers should expect occasional periods of little or no work because of weather, crop or other conditions beyond the employer?s control. These periods can occur any time throughout the season. If workers request a leave of absence during the contract period, the hours will be deducted from the hours offered under the ETA 790A for the purposes of the three-quarter guarantee.

A copy of the work contract or a copy of the ETA 790 in lieu of a work contract, and any modifications, will be provided to the H-2A worker no later than the time at which the worker applies for the Visa, or to a worker in corresponding employment, no later than on the day work commences. For an H-2A worker going from an H-2A employer to a subsequent H-2A employer, a copy of the contract will be provided no later than the time an offer of employment is made by the subsequent H-2A employer.

Special Requirements

This type of work, involves working conditions that require tremendous stamina, a high level of physical activity in cold or extremely hot conditions in direct sunlight and in adverse weather such as rain. The work requires a high level of physical conditioning.