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Commercial & Residential Lawn Mowing Lawn Care Business Owners Discuss Techniques, Ideas, Walk Behind Mowers, ZTR Mowers, Line Trimmers, Backpack Blowers, etc.

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  #1  
Old 07-05-2000, 10:29 PM
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JB1 JB1 is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: From the hills of beautiful Southern Indiana
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thinking a lot about hispanic laborers. who uses them and how are they working out. Gettin to the point where i need more reliable workers than i got.
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Old 07-05-2000, 10:59 PM
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little green guy little green guy is offline
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Location: Somerset County, New Jersey,
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Most off the companys around here use them, aucually and 60% off the companies around here a owned by hispanics. Any way I worked with a company that had a couple of spanish guy and those guys are awsome. For the most part they are reliable but just like anyone you have to find the right guys. They are realy hard workers. Most don't have theere lisence though and most speak little or no english. Did i mention they are realy hardd workers and funny too. So have attitudes though but just like us everyone is different. Most of the guys I worked with though are real nice and have a good attitude, plus there work realy hard.
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Old 07-06-2000, 02:13 AM
lawnsurfer lawnsurfer is offline
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Hey JB I live part time in Costa Rica. I am a small one man operation so I don't need any help. Next year I plan growing larger and hiring Laborers from out of the country(Costa Rica) I think they have a better attitude about work then most american workers you would hire in the U.S.(the ones that are going to work lawn care) There education is better.(at least in Costa Rica 90percent literacy,very high) I feel this way not only from witnessing how hard they work but, listening to people who are American whine about the work they are doing. I am in a great situation so my labor source is pretty secure. If you make a effort to learn some Spanish, it will go a long way. I think people have had it way too good here for way too long. They(people from other countries) seem to appreciate the oppurtunity more. If you have plans to hire someone so you can pay less, well then I wish you the worst of luck. Treat them right and they will treat you great. Tim
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Old 07-06-2000, 08:41 AM
southside southside is offline
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Seems sad that a country like the US has to<br>import people to perform manual labour.<br>I believe it's happened before,but at least now you pay them.History repeats.<br>Don't the people in the US want to work?<br>If your economy crashes you are going to have<br>a major surplus of unemployed Hispanic labour<br>around.<br>(Before you get upset at my reference to slavery,bear in mind that here in Australia<br>we had slavery right up until the begining<br>of the 1900's).<p>Karl<br>
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Old 07-06-2000, 11:57 AM
greenlawncare greenlawncare is offline
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but Karl, we also have really low unemployment and jobless rates. It's not that Americans (on the most part) don't want to work, we just don't want to work manual labor. <p><p>
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Old 07-06-2000, 08:00 PM
kenneybros kenneybros is offline
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I just got back from visiting my uncle in ohio. He is a construction superintendant. I went to work for a couple of days to just basically hang out(seemed like all he did was drive around and talk on the phone, but i know it still takes skills to schedule the jobs and stuff)So anyways the mason had a bunch of mexicans working for them. They spoke spanglish at best. They seemed like really hard workers, they where stong and tough. In massachusetts we use a lot of Brazilians. Seems like every line of work from cooking to cleaning to landscaping has brazilians working for them. I work with 3 of them. They are very very hard workers, so good infact that when u tell them you are going home (at like 6) they say &quot;already&quot;. My experience has been really good except that it seems like things have been breaking a lot more then usual(like the pickup trucks steering wheel) One of the guys didnt know how to drive an automatic.. so he put it in park while he was still going at a pretty good speed. I also learned a little portuguese as well.... some of it I cant say LOL but Yo no falo bien o portuguese. that means i dont speak very good portuguese. I said it to one of the cleaning ladys at an account and she corrected me... she said &quot;ya u do&quot; IT was pretty funny. she doesnt know that that is the only phrase i know.
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Old 07-06-2000, 10:08 PM
Toddppm Toddppm is offline
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My work force is all spanish, all 4 from El Salvador, In fact they are all friends, which could work out bad sometimes (like the guy i fired for stealing work). These guys are always on time, never miss a day unless they tell me ahead of time, and work hard as hell, at least when i'm around! I pay them pretty damn good to try to keep them happy. The only bad thing is i can't really send them to a job without going there myself and showing them exactly what needs to be done.2 of them speak pretty good english but sometimes they say ok when they have no idea what i'm saying? If i ever need extra help they can round up people no problem. I had an american guy who said he wanted to learn everything couple months ago, never worked a full week, gone within a month. About the 6th white guy i tried since last year, all gone now.
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Old 07-06-2000, 10:41 PM
lawnsurfer lawnsurfer is offline
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Let's not get personal with the slavery reference. No one ever said that they wanted to hire someone for cheap labor. The labor shortage is extremely bad in the U.S. I have had friends that have worked with me in the past but, it was until something better comes along(i.e. cooler conditions.)My decision to &quot;import&quot; labor is not based on cheap labor. I live in U.S. I know the situation here very well.We have a major labor shortage and a bad attitude amongst those who should work regardless. I woudn't jump to slavery conclusions if you (south side) had stated you had an oppurtunity to hire people from Indo or Phillipines. These are my friends as far as my situation is concerned. I work with them in Costa Rica they want to work with me here in Florida it works out good. As far as my oppion of good workers in the U.S. they are hard to find when they don't see the opportunity. This I hope clarifies my position and is nothing personal towards you(south side)
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  #9  
Old 07-07-2000, 03:45 PM
Guido Guido is offline
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Mexican and hispanic workers have definetly earned my respect. Some of the hardest workers I've ever seen. You guys should not hessitate to at least look into this.<p>Talk to Lisa from WorkForce International and tell her I sent you there. She'll give you all the info you need to make a decision. It is a firm that imports workers and takes care of all the behind the scenes stuff so its less stress in your life. There is a link to her site on my sit, just click my blue signature.<p>Hope this helped!<p><p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti
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Old 07-07-2000, 03:53 PM
WorkForce Intl WorkForce Intl is offline
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What makes a Hispanic laborer different from an American worker? Well...(1)Imported workers are often just happy for the opportunity to work. In most Latin American countries the economy is so bad they earn in one month what we make here in one day. Remember they have families too. (2)Most Latin American countries are rural. They are used to having to work hard, and not depend so much on technology. Which is also why they sometimes need a little extra training on computerized machinery. (3)Hispanics, at least the imported ones, are more loyal to the people that surround them, including the boss, than they are to their salaries. This sounds strange to us, but Hispanic culture is much more community oriented, so they value people more than money.<br>Why do I say this? Because I am of Mexican descent. My dad was a migrant worker, and I was brought up this way, although I was born in Ft.Worth, Texas. Believe it or not, what you like about them is their cultural values.<p>Elisama
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