|
|
Article: Wisconsin's Tight Labor Market Has Opened the Door to Migrant Workers.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- August 22, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Aug. 22--For nearly four decades, Fernando Samaniego has traveled from Eagle Pass, Texas, to Wisconsin, to work in the fields picking vegetables. The pilgrimage used to mean leaving his family behind for up to 10 months.
Samaniego, 62, started working as one of the state's migrant laborers in 1956, handling fields in Chilton, Brillion, Jackson and Sussex.
In 1967, he took a year-round job in Milwaukee. "But I didn't like the foundry," he said.
Samaniego's been traveling to Wisconsin alone since 1970, when he re-entered the migrant stream.
He's been a migrant camp leader -- including the last four years at Great Lakes Kraut Co. in Bear ...