This week, one family who has worked nights digging
clams on Puget Sound shores for ten years, showed me their records of hours
worked and how many pounds of clams per shift. As I did the math, knowing
that they get paid 30 cents per pound, I realized that on some of the coldest
nights in December, one elderly woman worked 11.5 hours, picked 6 boxes which
weighed 211.50 pounds to accrue a whopping $5.52/hour. Another night, she
worked 10 hours from 6pm-4am, picking 2 boxes for 75 pounds and thus $2.25 hour.
Fear and economic desperation keeps them from reporting this violation of labor
rights. Even right now in warmer weather, her fit adult son (father of 5
kids), is making between $8.60 and $14/hour. Since they get paid per pound,
this amount doesn’t include the hour-plus time they spend in the boat, waiting
for the tidewater to come in so they can return.
It seems slightly ironic, that as floods of
tourists come to visit our Skagit Valley tulips this Spring, tended to mainly
by newer immigrant workers (documented and undocumented), the anti-immigrant
sentiment is on the rise nationwide. As you see tulips in stores, enjoy tasty
berries this summer, and maybe eat clams, will join with me in thinking of the
farmworkers who labor long backbreaking hours to bring these treats to your
table?
