General Farm Labor

Job description

Workers will perform assigned duties as instructed by their supervisor. Duties may vary from time to time. Following the Supervisors instructions, the worker will place a picking sack over their shoulder and carry an 18' to 20' ladder from the field truck to the particular area of the grove to be harvested. The picking sack is a canvas bag equipped with a shoulder strap for support, an opening for the insertion of fruit, and an opening to remove the fruit. A fully loaded sack weighs between approximately 80 and 100 pounds, depending upon the size, condition, and variety of fruit. Worker positions ladder against the tree and within reach of the fruit in a leaning position, taking care not to break limbs, damage the tree, knock off fruit, or interfere with other workers, in a secure position to prevent slipping or falling and possible injury to themselves or other workers. The worker will remove the fruit from the tree and place it into a picking sack. When the pick sack is full take the full sack to the fruit tub located in the grove and drop the fruit from pick sack into the tub. In order to perform this kind of work, the worker 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, working quickly and skillfully with their hands, and carrying a large number of sacks of fruit from the area in which the fruit is being harvested to the location of the tub.

Tree Maintenance: Workers may help with applying the new greening treatment via trunk injections, by drilling a hole in the trunk 30 cm below the first branch to a depth of 2 to 3 cm using a 7.14 mm drill bit. The worker will place an arbor plug into each hole for proper seal with an arbor plug seter, and a rubber hammer.

General Farm Labor / Clean-up of Grove Property, and Housing for Harvesting Workers: Workers on physical work restrictions or when harvesting work is not available may be required to perform miscellaneous clean-up work on grove property, on structures utilized in the grove 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; and general grove clean-up as required. Workers will be paid the highest of the adverse effect wage rate, the prevailing wage rate, or the applicable minimum wage rate for time spent performing such clean-up work. 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.

Special Requirements

The employer may conduct a drug/alcohol screening post-employment at the employers expense.