The World of Wine and Immigration

Sometimes in life there are tiny turns and bumps in the road that, though they seem minor at the time, have a profound affect on our everyday existence. Call them ripples in a pond that spread further and further outward until the once glassy water is disrupted as far as the eye can see. Micro and Macroeconomics majors will tell you that these ripples happen on an everyday basis and it is we the public who are oblivious to them.

But this is not solely about economics. These turns in the road happen everywhere and to every facet of our lives -- from our health to our wealth, to politics, to religion, to the weather and to the cars we drive and the clothes we wear. Change is constant, but it can be difficult to notice change until it is already too late.

America is a reactionary society. We like to get fired up about things after they happen, as opposed to preventing them before they occur. Call it gas prices, even though Exxon has been raking in the dough for years, or the amount of complaints to the FCC about excessive smut on television after a certain wardrobe malfunction occurred at the Super Bowl. Whatever the issue may be we work together as a society with great force and vigor against that which we feel is unjust. It is our calling card, and there are ample examples of greatness throughout history that have been spurred by a little good ole U.S. ingenuity and know how.

It is in this same vein that I appeal to the masses on one particular issue- Immigration. You may feel that an Op-Ed piece from a wine website about a great problem that has caused a rift in our society may seem shallow and insignificant. Perhaps, but the message is one that should be heard, no matter what the source.

There is great debate back and forth as to what course of action should be taken in regards to the torrent of men, women and children that flows through our southern borders into the U.S. looking for work and the promise of a better life. One thing that is not debatable is this: They are an integral and vital part of our workforce and have been for quite some time.

During my travels and my time in the American workforce I have met many individuals who made their journey into the United States by “illegal” and sometimes dangerous means. There are many individuals whom I would call friends and co-workers who were neither born here nor invited to come. Several have gone on to become U.S. citizens. Others are trying to do so. Some have neither the interest nor the motivation to bother.

Either way I can tell you this: Many are good, hardworking souls who are trying to scratch out a living just like the rest of us. Some work unreasonable hours doing jobs that the rest of us wouldn’t wish on our worst enemy, and they do so at a rate of pay that can sometimes border on criminal. Regardless of the situation in the country they left, they are here. Many send money home to support their families. Others save so that they can bring brothers and sisters and cousins and moms and dads into this country in hopes that they too can have a better life.

Anyone who has spent a considerable amount of time in the restaurant industry, or the construction industry, or the farming industry will tell you that immigrants and migrant workers are an invaluable cog in the wheels that turn the American economy. They often make your salads, build your homes and pick your grapes.

This is neither the time nor the place to discuss the causes, cures and options regarding immigration. Individuals much smarter than my self will spend countless hours arguing about what should or should not be done. I am not an advocate for amnesty, but I can say with one hundred percent certainty that deporting the whole of the illegal immigrants in our society will have tangible and irrevocable affects on many communities. Treating these people as criminals is criminal.

The wine industry is based upon a large migrant work force. There are scores of individuals that help with many aspects from harvest to distribution. In some parts of the world wine production has dropped because of the lack of a labor force. That has not been the case in the United States. Our industry has grown by leaps and bounds each and every year. What was the production of California thirty years ago when compared with that of today?

Every time I meander through the vineyards oogling over the spring buds and shoots growing wildly above the vines, I notice scores of Latino workers crouching between the vines with half-bent knees quickly tying down the shoots, clipping the vines and dropping clusters to the ground. They arrive before dawn and continue to perform the same job, shoot to shoot, vine to vine, row to row, and will pass through the same row of vines 10 times each season. No one I personally know is capable or willing to do these jobs, yet these workers stop and smile as I pass or wave with a yell of Hola! from a few rows away. They immediately return to their job without a break, and are simply grateful to have the opportunity to earn enough money to send to their children back home.

Harvesting grapes for a respected California winery sounds fun and glamorous right? Maybe for the first ten minutes, but after that it is grueling back-breaking work done under the hot sun in dry conditions. Who will pick the grapes if the labor force is gone? Prices will skyrocket. Production will drop. Small mom and pop wineries, the kind that we winegeeks love to praise, will be forced out of business because they cannot get enough people to harvest the grapes and they can’t compete with the gigantic companies who harvest by machine. This is but one aspect of our society that has become increasingly dependent upon the work of those who are foreign to our soil.

Let us for once not be a reactionary society. Let us solve these problems before they become the entire country’s problem. Let us throw our voices and hats into the ring before certain factions within a political party that controls the White House, the Senate and Congress decide what is best for the American workforce and our society as a whole. Shall we wait for the ripples of change to become waves that threaten to capsize our communities, businesses and friends?

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Seven words coined by Adam Smith and put to paper by Thomas Jefferson. The must if you will, of the American dream. So many illegal immigrants are in search of these same basic and unalienable rights. Shall we deny them that all the while denying ourselves the efforts and changes they bring to our lives in the process? Seems like a simple answer to me.

E.S. Brown
Senior Editor
Winegeeks.com

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