Farmworkers And Laborers

Job description

Loose Watercress Harvest
• Watercress is grown in a “bed” which is a growing area surrounded by low banks and with water about ¾ inches deep flowing through it.
• Worker will be issued a set of waterproof rubber boots, Kevlar mesh gloves, a plastic apron and a harvesting knife.
• Worker is responsible for keeping their knife sharp.
• Prior to entering the bed, the worker must wash and sanitize their hands for food safety reasons.
• Worker enters the bed with their knife, either a cardboard carton or a plastic harvest tote and a shallow plastic tray to keep water out of the harvest carton or tote and moves to an area of uncut watercress.
• Worker bends down and gathers a hand-full of watercress with one hand and cuts through the stems with the knife in their other hand.
• Individual stems must be between 2.0 and 4.0 inches in length unless specified differently for a special order.
• The cut watercress is then placed in the harvest carton or tote and the worker begins to cut the next handful of watercress.
• The cutter must pull any weeds and cut any watercress that was not harvested to leave uniform stubble in the bed after harvest.
• When the cutter has 30 pounds of cress, which will fill the carton or tote, they will bring the carton or tote to scale for weighing.
• The worker deposits their wooden stick, (“paint stirrer”) pre-numbered with their cutter number to identify it as having been cut by them, in a receptacle used for keeping track of the number of totes cut by each cutter.
• If the product is being loaded into a cardboard carton, then the worker must close the flaps of the carton.
• If the weight of the carton is less than 30 pounds, the cutter may be asked to return to the bed and complete the weight.
• The completed tote or carton is then loaded onto the harvest truck.
• The cutter will place an electronic probe against their employee badge at the counting station to confirm the number of cartons or totes cut by them.
• The cutter will then take another empty carton or tote and return to cut another tote.
• As harvest of an area is completed, the cutters in the cutting crew are responsible for cleaning out any remaining watercress or weeds from the edges of the bed that might interfere with the free flow of water.
• At all times, the worker is responsible for following directions from the cutting supervisor to ensure uniform, high-quality product.

Bunch Watercress Harvest
• Watercress is grown in a “bed” which is a growing area surrounded by low banks and with water about ¾ inches deep flowing through it.
• Worker will be issued a set of waterproof rubber boots, kevlar mesh gloves, a plastic apron, wire rubber band holders and a harvesting knife.
• Worker is responsible for keeping their knife sharp. and for preparing as many sets of exactly 100 rubber bands as they will need to complete their day’s work.
• Rubber bands are prepared by counting out exactly 100 bands and placing two sets on each wire holder, which will be slipped to the worker’s belt.
• Prior to entering the bed, the worker must wash and sanitize their hands for food safety reasons.
• Worker enters the bed with their knife, a harvest tote and a shallow plastic tray to keep water out of the harvest tote and moves to an area of uncut watercress.
• The worker must avoid harvesting poor quality product, such as areas of yellowing leaves, diseased plants, weeds, insects or snails.
• Worker bends down and gathers a bunch of watercress with one hand and cuts through the stems with the knife in their other hand.
• Bunches must be uniform in size, and the bundled stems must measure 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter.
• Worker then places one rubber band from the holder over the bunch from the top and secures it around the stems of the bunch just below the leaves.

Special Requirements

**The employer will provide a 14 day training period. At the end of the training period, the worker must produce enough to earn the production standards identified in this application at the end of the subsequent payroll period.

The employer may terminate the worker for a cause with notification to the National Processing Center if the worker fails to equal the production standards identified in this application when employed under a piece-rate system.

Bunch Watercress: $3.90/tote with 100 bunches to specifications (minimum 2.55 totes per hour) $11.99 (AL) $13.89 (TN) per hour

Loose Watercress: $3.35/tote of 30 lbs. net to specifications (minimum 2.42 totes per hour) $11.99 (AL) $13.89 (TN) per hour

Bulk Watercress for Soup: $1.50/tote of 25 - 30 lbs. net to specifications (minimum 5.18 totes per hour) $11.99 (AL) $13.89 (TN) per hour