Farmworkers & Laborers, Crop

Job description

Lettuce: The Lettuce Cutters will line up in designated lettuce rows. Workers will bend over each lettuce to cut. After cutting the lettuce, workers will inspect and trim. Workers will then put the lettuce in a bag and put the bag on a stainless steel table that will be continually pushed behind the cutters as they proceed on their rows.
Romaine lettuce: The cutters (Crew of 12) will be taken to designated fields that are ready for harvest, the cuters will line up in front of the harvest machine, the machine has a conveyor belt that goes around the machine bringing in empty boxes, the cuter will bend over, cut and trim the romaine lettuce, put it inside the box or RPC, each container should have 4 lines of 6 romaine lettuce each, they will close the box and put the box on the conveyor belt to be transported to the back of the machine. On the romaine machine there is a platform were closers, stockers, strap and pallet jack person work, the crew consist of 10 to 14 workers. The workers should always keep in mind that they have to meet TKM Bengard Farms, LLC quality standards, meeting these standards is a very important part of the job. Cutters will have 5 days to train for this quality standards and quantity of work expected from them. In order to be able to keep up with the machine, workers should be able to cleanly cut: 12-13 heads per minute of Iceberg wrap lettuce heads, 16-18 heads per minute of Romaine flip top, 16-18 heads per minute of Romaine hearts, 16-20 heads per minute of any naked commodity. Only workers in possession of a CDL Drivers license or equivalent will be allowed to operate the farm equipment.
General Field Maintenance: The following task may be required: apply mulch by row mulcher or by hand; apply ground cover to beds using machine or by hand; remove debris from bed preparation process to clean growing area; finish row ends with shovels provided by employer; unload plants by hand from trucks and move plants to planting location by hand; assist in pest controls; install culverts for field drainage; remove and reinstall sprinklers during bed preparation, re-plant missing or unhealthy plants as directed; remove or pull up plants in preparation for next crop; remove blossoms (de-blossom) to improve fruit quality; remove debris, boxes, and discarded fruit from fields to keep clean growing areas; general ranch maintenance; basic irrigation maintenance; make sandbags, clean and maintenance equipment and tools, assist in applications by hand or tractor of fertilizers and or/pesticides; frost control of sprinklers, frost blanket coverings, or hoop coverings. May be necessary to assist in the use of farm equipment such as tractors, trucks and harvest machinery, etc.

The worker in order to perform this kind of work 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 cutting process rapidly, 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 workers refusal or negligence to return the tools or due to such workers willful damage or destruction of the tools.

Workers that qualify may be required to drive Agriculture Machinery or Equipment.

Employees may volunteer to work additional hours when work is available. Workers should expect occasional periods of little or no work because of weather, crop or other conditions beyond the employers control. These periods can occur any time throughout the season, if workers request a leave of absence during these periods of no work, the hours will be deducted from the hours offered under the ETA 790A.

Special Requirements

This type of work, involves working conditions that require tremendous stamina, a high level of physical activity in cold or extremely hot conditions in direct sunlight and in adverse weather such as rain. The work requires a high level of physical conditioning. Due to the type of work involved, there is a Probationary Period of five (5) days beginning with the first day of employment, to show possession of the requisite physical strength and endurance to perform this type of work.