Harvesters And Machine Operators

Job description

Duties include harvesting blueberry by hand and by machine. Other duties include grading, stacking and loading, packing in the shed on the farm, operating tractor, operating forklift, and general farm labor such as, but not limited to, weeding, pruning, cleanup, and performing maintenance on the farm. This will be done under extreme weather conditions such as heat, direct sunlight, possible rain, wind, and exposure to pollen. Heavy bending, stooping and lifting will be involved on a daily basis.

Workers will perform assigned duties as instructed by their supervisor. Duties may vary from time to time. In order to perform this kind of work, the worker must be able to work outside for at least 8 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. The first week of employment is considered as an introductory period of employment to acclimate the worker to the physical demands of the work and to familiarize workers with job specifications and to demonstrate proper methods and specific issues. On the first work day, the employer will provide specific instructions in the proper way to perform the crop activity. Thereafter, the worker will be expected to perform the task with diligence as instructed. By the beginning of the second work week, workers will be expected to perform the work in a manner specified by the employer and described herein. After the one-week acclimation period, workers who fail to meet the standard and/or fail to perform the work in the manner specified may be terminated.

Blueberry Hand Harvesting: Workers will move down assigned rows picking all ripe berries, placing them in buckets. Once full, each bucket weights approximately 6 lbs. When buckets are filled, the worker will immediately carry the bucket to the picking wagon. At the picking wagon, workers will dump each filled bucket into a lug where the worker will sort through the harvested berries and remove any berries that do not meet the company's quality/food safety standards. Each lug will then be inspected by the worker's supervisor. Each worker will receive credit for each harvested lug when the supervisor has inspected and approved the lug. Any lug not approved will be returned to the worker to be re-graded.

Blueberry Machine Harvesting: Workers will work in teams to machine harvest and stack blueberries. Workers who operate the machine harvester must be careful to avoid damaging blueberry bushes. Workers will load empty lugs onto machine harvester, monitor lugs on belt line as blueberries come in, and unload and stack filled lugs on pallet or wagon. Workers may also operate a forklift to load and unload the blueberry pallets, or operate a tractor while pulling a wagon or two wagons full of blueberry lugs to field packing shed or truck for loading. Tractor drivers should be able to properly back tractors while pulling wagons. Forklift and tractor operators must take care to not drop lugs, which may be empty or full of blueberries. All workers must always follow safety rules.

General Farm Labor: Some of the work required from the worker to be performed that is incidental to farming crops listed in this application may be described as performing hand cultivation duties, weeding or hoeing crops, cleaning, repairing seed beds and racks, setting up and moving irrigation pipes and equipment.

The employer will provide the tools necessary to perform the described job duties without charge to the worker. The employer will charge the workers for reasonable costs related to the worker's refusal or negligent failure to return the tools or due to such worker's willful damage to or destruction of the tools.

Special Requirements

Workers must adhere to all safety rules as instructed by the supervisor and practice safety in all aspects of work. Employer is a drug-free workplace.