Nursery / Greenhouse Workers

Job description

Workers will perform assigned duties as instructed by their supervisor. Duties may vary from time to time. Applicants must be 18 years or older. Following the Supervisors instructions, the workers will perform field maintenance, greenhouse work, nursey work, and crop harvesting/maintenance.

Workers will perform any of the following duties: pulling weeds, picking up stones and roots, removal of reflective tarps that are in the rows, cleaning equipment, removal of strings and wire from trellises, and other hand tasks. Workers may be required to engage in tasks involved with caring for young non-producing fruit trees, such as weeding, tree trunk painting, and hand clipping. Instructions and overall supervision and direction of the workers will be provided by a company supervisor.

All workers hired pursuant to this Labor Certification must be able to comprehend and follow the instructions of a company supervisor and communicate effectively with supervisors. Unusual, complex, or non-routine activities will be supervised. The employer retains full discretion to make work assignments, considering unforeseen circumstances such as weather or other unscheduled/unexpected interruptions in regular work. All workers must perform the work assigned by the company supervisor. Without specific authorization by the company supervisor, workers may not perform duties that are not provided for in this Job Order, or work in areas not assigned. Workers will be expected to perform any of the listed duties as assigned by his/her supervisor. Workers may not leave their job assignment area unless authorized. Leaving a job area or farm without permission will be considered as voluntary resignation. Prior to beginning work on or after the date of need, workers will be required to attend an orientation on workplace rules, policies, and safety information. Workers must be able to perform repetitive movements, engage in extensive walking, and work on their feet while in bent positions for extended periods of time.

Allergies to items such as ragweed, goldenrod, insect spray, and related chemicals, may affect workers ability to perform this job. Workers should be physically able to do the work required with or without reasonable accommodation. Work is to be done for long periods of time.

Temperatures may range from below freezing to 105 F. Workers may be required to work outside when trees or other agricultural products are wet with dew/rain and should have suitable clothing for variable weather conditions. Workers may be required to work during occasional showers not severe enough to stop field operations. Saturday work is required of all workers. All workers must be able to lift/carry 60 lbs. throughout the day.

Transplanting/Production Duties:
• Transplanting - the planting of small plants into the container where they will be grown.
• Labeling- placing labels in the planted container with the plants information tag as it comes down the production line, or label pulled products for sorters.
• Transplant line loader- loads product onto production carts.
• Production unloaders- take the product from the production line to the greenhouse area to be grown.

Greenhouse Labor
• Relocation – workers will pick up the product and load it onto carts, move it to locations within the complex, after unloading it they will then stack or hang it in designated locations. This is typically done for growing purposes, or to consolidate and create space.
• Spacing - making a space between each tray or pot for growing purposes.
• Direct Sticking - the sticking of unrooted cuttings into trays of soil.
• Sowing seed - assisting in the sowing of seeds into small plug trays to be grown until they are transplanted.
• Sorting product - workers take the product that has been labeled and sort it onto the cart it will be shipped out on.
• Loading Trucks - loaders will manually push the carts onto the semi-trailer after ensuring each order is accurate.

Special Requirements

The employer may conduct a drug test post-hire at the employer's expense upon reasonable suspicion after a worker has been involved in an accident while working. Workers must have three (3) months in tasks associated with farm experience. Applicants must be able to furnish job references establishing acceptable prior experience or a notarized statement describing the specific prior experience. Six (6) hours per day, Monday through Saturday, is normal. However, the worker may be requested but not required to work additional hours per day and the Sabbath and/or federal holidays and Sunday depending upon the conditions of the crop, weather, maturity of the crop and market conditions.