New migrants vs. old migrants: alternative labor market structures in the California citrus industry
Mines, R.; Anzaldua, R.
Monographs in US Mexican Studies, University of California 9: 119
1982
Document Number: 261495
Based on fieldwork conducted during 1981 in Ventura County, California, the study aims to explain the relationship between the relative abundance of Mexican nationals willing to pick citrus crops and the institutional forms which US unions, employers, and governments have created to deal with Mexicans in California agriculture. The citrus industry in Venture County combined several factors, unusual in agriculture, that would allow for improved conditions of employment -- a long picking season, a predominantly settled labour force, and institutional arrangements aimed at stabilization. The entrance of new subgroups of Mexican migrants with distinct characteristics, however, has resulted in the fragmentation of the labour market into distinct sectors with different working conditions and employee benefits. The analysis thus reveals that underlying historical forces -- especially a persistently abundant supply of labour -- have tended to reverse the progress earlier achieved through the creation of institutions to improve the quality of life for harvest workers in the citrus industry.