- Mood:
- What's for Dinner: Chicken parmesan and broccoli
Every once in a while I hear something in the news that makes me shake my head in bewilderment. From spring to fall, crab processing plants are normally busy on the Eastern Shore, picking the meat from blue crabs and packaging it for restaurants and retail markets. The crab meat is used for crab cakes, soups, dips, etc., all across the country. Unfortunately, most of the plants were unable to open this season due to a lack of workers. That's right, even with unemployment numbers at record highs, apparently nobody wants to work there.
Roughly twenty years ago the number of workers got so low, the plants had to turn to hiring temporary foreign workers through a visa program. However, the government caps the number of foreign workers to 66,000 annually, and the businesses cannot file requests for the workers more than 120 days before they're needed. So this year, before the crabbing season started, other businesses like construction, landscaping, and tourism snapped up all the foreign workers, leaving the crab processing plants high and dry.
The plants have held recruiting events and job fairs, but only a handful of people showed up. They've also tried temp agencies, but the folks quit soon after being trained. It seems it's a dirty job, and nobody wants to do it. As a result, lots of people are hurting. Many of the plants think being closed this season will cause them to go out of business permanently. Restaurants and stores can't get the local crab meat they need for their customers. Watermen aren't sure what's going to happen if the picking houses are still closed when crabs are at their peak in a couple months.
This whole situation seems really messed up to me and makes me sad for my country.
0 total comments.
and landed in your neck of the woods. Nice place you have here. Will visit again soon. Wishing you a spiffy Tuesday! 
Happy New Year AD. 
Merry Christmas, Francine. 
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