Strawberry And Raspberry Trimmer

Job description

Strawberry Plant and Raspberry Plant Trimmer: Trim Shed: Worker will sort, trim and bundle strawberry plants in trimming shed or container plant nursery to prepare plants for packing and shipment and will be paid on a piecework basis. Worker also may be assigned to fill a support role for trim operations during harvest. In a support role, workers will perform duties associated with and directly related to trimming, including but not limited to packing plants, closing/stacking boxes in and around the trim shed, distributing plants, and clean-up functions in and around the trim shed and will be paid on an hourly basis. (See Wage section of this job order).

Workers may trim a small amount of raspberry rootstock which consists of separating, sorting and cutting roots and canes and will be paid on a team piecework basis. Work production and quality will be monitored and reviewed for accuracy by the Supervisor.

This position requires a good understanding of the strawberry trimming occupation. Must have 3 months of general strawberry crop production work experience within the previous 2 years.

Strawberry regular trim: Worker stands at assigned station at trim table; takes harvested strawberry plants from pile on table; inspects and discards plants that do not meet specifications of trim shed supervisor, taking care not to discard marketable plants; creates “hand” of marketable plants, arranged so that all crowns are together, and all roots are aligned in the same direction; grasps root ends with other hand and passes roots over sickle blade on table to trim roots to uniform length; grasps stem end and passes stem end over sickle blade to trim stem end to uniform length; places “hand” of plants on table; repeats process to create a bundle of exactly 100 marketable plants, uniformly trimmed, bundled with crowns together, and roots aligned in same direction. Lays completed bundle on table to be removed by packer.

Green trim: Same as regular trim, except only root ends are trimmed, and not leafy ends.

Quality Control for Trimmers

A quality control inspection of each worker’s daily production for regular strawberry and green trim only will be performed by a quality control worker and the worker will receive a quality control score for the purpose of controlling quality and calculating the worker’s bonus for each day’s work. The worker’s quality control score will be determined by randomly selecting and examining one or more bundles from the worker’s production during the work day. The quality control worker will examine the selected bundle(s) and assign a score based on the number of plants in the bundle (perfect score = 100), the number of bad plants in the bundle (perfect score = 0), and the appearance of the bundle based on uniformity of trim of roots and stems, alignment of roots and stems, and all crowns together (perfect score = 100). In the event that each worker’s work cannot be sampled during a work day because of a short day or for any other reason, the worker will be assigned the quality score earned the preceding day for that day’s work.

Minimum daily productivity standard for regular and green plant trim: 950 plants trimmed and bundled per hour. May be subject to change based on industry standard.

Minimum quality standard: 70%

*This Quality Control does not apply to field work.

Special Requirements

This position requires a good understanding of the strawberry trimming occupation. Must have 3 months of general strawberry crop production work experience within the previous 2 years.
Workers must stand, sit, crouch, bend, reach, lift and carry items weighing up to 50 pounds in the course of performing required activities. Workers must listen to, understand and follow instructions of company supervisors and managers.
Workers are expected to assist in maintaining work areas and company property in a neat and clean condition by not littering. Meals must be eaten in the assigned area(s) away from the employees work station.