LewistonT of Lewiston, ME SunShine000 Fair wage for fair work. Min wage laws protect people from getting paid what they are really worth. If a person is working for Min Wage then they should be 16 years old. Anyone I have ever known that works hard has always been paid more than Min Wage, and I am in a seasonal business and it is hard to find a local person who works harder than Minimum. Sorry to tell you the truth. I am also sorry that you were on the wrong end and you should have been treated better by the welfare office for trying to get ahead but that is what is wrong with this Statereport abuse

Hermann Munster of AmishLand, PA LewistonT - the kid who does not pay into SS typically does not see anything from SS. Oh, and welfare is not paid from SS either.

Here's something happening down here:

A large tomato grower pays the local Americans $16 an hour to tend and pick his tomatoes. This is a fairly large operation, btw.

But the migrant workers are paid about $8 an hour. The grower has hired fewer and fewer locals but more and more migrants. Well, the migrants wised up. And so few are returning this year that he's forced to hire more locals. But the locals aren't too happy with him not hiring them for so long that they won't work for him this year.

And so his tomato operation is shut down for the year. He's not even planting.

And local tomato prices are going up.

It's interesting to watch this all unfold.report abuse

Geez106 of Skowhegan, ME Do any of you people who are making these comments ever prof-read what you have written, or know how to use a spell checker?report abuse

SunShine000 of Skowhegan, ME Back in the 80's I found myself on welfare for a couple years. Didn't like it. So I found a part time job..OK...Went to the welfare office and told my State worker that I wanted to work full time. She told me that my child support payments that my X husband was sending to them and then they sent to me would stop. I asked WHY? She said my child support payments would be sent to another person on the welfare program that would need it more than me. And my food stamps would be lowered. She ran the numbers and I would have lost in the end. I hated being on welfare, but I hated hungry children more. I liked having a roof over our heads also. There are good people that want to work that feel stuck on welfare. And there are some people that take advantage of welfare. Don't blame welfare recipients for the problem. The seasonal employers don't want to pay a fair wage.report abuse