Beet Harvest in Montana for Couples Only

[Canine]

Found out earlier today that I'm disallowed from working at the beet harvest in Montana because I'm single and not a couple; due to limited spaces at the campgrounds, they have to maximize the limited amount of spaces available. I told her all I have is a truck and 12 foot trailer, but I still couldn't get in one of the campgrounds with that. OK. That's fine. I truly understand that, but I have an ace up my sleeve: I don't need hookups, a vault toilet, a shower, a laundry mat, or a place with the label "campground".

Finally! All the money (About $15,000) and hard work (about 8 months worth over an 11 month period) I put into my trailer is about to pay off!

I told her I didn't need hookups as I have all the solar I need and all the heat I need, so I can park anywhere there is sun. Which, if you aren't familiar with Eastern Montana, is most anywhere. She said no, that they hire only couples because of the limited space at the campgrounds. The area around Sidney is one of the most remote, least populated areas of the contingent United States, yet there is no place for me to park? I looked on a map and I couldn't go 4 miles before I found public land I could stay on during the duration of the harvest. Now I'm confused. I will concede that the distance might be a little longer depending on exactly where the actual site is, but any distance looks to be very, very short. Heck, I bet it wouldn't be hard at all to find a farmer that would be kind enough to let me stay on a corner of his land for 2-3 weeks.

I went all out to make my trailer not only suitable, but comfortable and inexpensive for the worst winter could throw at me so I could do work that few people could. I live in my trailer full time and do so comfortably. It was 15 below today and I was walking around in my bare feet, so, yeah, this trailer can handle the winter. So far this trailer has barely made a lick of difference in me being able to work. I do have a campground host position summer (which is awesome!), so there is that. Apparently, it's not so much about being able to do a job and do it well, but it's about conforming to arbitrary rules that harm not only potential employees, but the employers themselves. I hate that. This is supposed to be a fun thing and I'm getting a surprising amount nonsensical reasons why I can't work which is sucking the fun out of it. I wonder if they will now offer me only an overnight shift after refusing me a day shift for no corollary reason?

 

[user 423]

How about other harvest locations? Minnesota and ND?

 

[Canine]

I don't know about Minnesota, but ND takes singles. Lots of campground space there. My application has been forwarded to ND.

 

[SoulRaven]

it would be interesting if you told her that you will arrange your own accomodation and that they can pay you whatever per diem they are paying the couples.

they have said only the lowest position is available but because i have enough skills to drive a farm tractor, forklift, skip loader, i turned them down.

 

[Canine]

the_wanderer, If I am offered an overnight position at ND, I will ask the lady in Montana about that. It might be too late by then as they may have all the positions filled, but it is an option. I'm not going to work an overnight position. I've done enough of those in my life and I'm done suffering through those shifts. That's a young person's game and I will let them do it. Fortunately, I am pretty athletic and can still do the physical stuff, so that doesn't bother me a particle.

 

[WanderingCanuck]

I don't know about the laws in Montana, but where I live that's discrimination and there are legal remedies.

 

[Netter]

I love this song! (short video)

 

[Canine]

Yeah, it's discrimination, but legal discrimination. They aren't saying married people get preference, but two or more people living in an RV get preference which isn't a protected status. Being a qualified, hard worker that is able to show up to work everyday isn't enough for the Montana beet harvest. Maybe I should go to the dark side and get a boyfriend to crowd together in my trailer so I can get a job. Then when the job is over, I'll dump him.

I wish I knew if they would take one person living in a van, because space would be a non-issue; two vans fit in the same space as a long, Class A RV.

I really, really have a problem with the beet harvest requiring me to live with someone and, furthermore, requiring that I live in their designated campground(s). Seems to me they would save money not having to pay to put me up for a couple weeks. Neither would they have to pay for my electric use. You could say I'm a cheap date.

 

[WanderingCanuck]

I'm not a lawyer, but having recently completed training on the subject I'm pretty confident in saying that it qualifies as discrimination (in the province of Ontario, Canada).

But clearly they get away with it, so it's either legal there or unenforced. Move on. There's no sense getting worked up about something you can't change. There's something better waiting for you to come knocking.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

 . . . recently completed training on the subject I'm pretty confident in saying that it qualifies as discrimination (in the province of Ontario, Canada).

Just curious, what in his description qualifies for discrimination?

 

[WanderingCanuck]

Just curious, what in his description qualifies for discrimination?

Link to the Ontario Human Rights Commission:

http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/iii-princi...scrimination-definitions-and-scope-protection

Excerpt from above page:
g) Marital status

Marital status is defined in section 10(1) of the Code as the status of being married, single, widowed, divorced or separated and includes the status of living with a person in a conjugal relationship outside of marriage (that is, in a “common-law relationship”). The courts have clearly stated that equal protections apply to common-law, same-sex and opposite-sex relationships.
This is to make sure that marital status is an irrelevant factor to consider in relation to any of the social areas in the Code. Take care to make sure that policies and actions are not based on, and do not perpetuate, the stereotype that a marriage between a man and woman is of greater value than other types of marital status.

Example: An organization provides living quarters for its married employees but not for others. Such a policy discriminates on the basis of marital status.

 

[Canine]

I think the way they are getting around that is they aren't saying you have to be married, just that you need to have two people with you. If I were married and wanted to work there alone, I would not be hired because I would be only one person. Then if I went with a friend, then they would consider me. I'm going to follow up on this, though. I'm mad. I want to work. I'm a good worker. This is BS.

 

[user 13531]

Park services have similar restrictions on camp hosting gigs in various locations of the country. It's a cost/space/need calc nothing more.. You'll find it also oilfield gate guard jobs as well, 2 people 1 rv... I don't know that they care if its a married couple, two friends, two strangers, who knows...

 

[Canine]

Deal Breaker, but there is no issue of cost, inconvenience, or space. None. Like I originally posted the beet harvest takes place in one of the most remote places in the U.S. in one of the least populated areas of the U.S. There are dozens of square miles where I can park for two weeks at no cost to the employer. I understand that in some places with Park Services they need a couple because there simply isn't the space. That isn't the case here. Even if I were a couple, I can't understand why I would be forced to stay where they tell me to. I'm trying to get away from all the BS this world throws at me, but it seems it's everywhere. All I want to do is work. Is that really so much to expect? Too much to ask? For too many places it is.

 

[user 423]

Maybe the companies figure that couples will give each other support and are less apt to up and quit. I'd bet they have quite a turnover because of the long hours and less than ideal working conditions.

 

[John61CT]

> Link to the Ontario Human Rights Commission

You want to compare human rights in **Montana** to **Canada**???

ROFL !!!Rights only exist where resources exist to effectively enforce them.

Many developing countries have better protections than many American states, where the rights of the business take priority.

We should be grateful I suppose they're not abusing illegal immigrant labor.

 

[John61CT]

> There are dozens of square miles where I can park for two weeks at no cost to the employer.

Except that then they have less control over you.

If they allowed workers to live offsite there would likely be blowback from the behaviour of irresponsible campers.

Having to worry about that is a cost to management.

I'm not saying it's not exploitative abuse, just that our political-economic system is set up to allow, even encourage that.

If you really are serious about escaping that reality, you need skills that are in high demand, that pay over $20-30 an hour, or maybe a union job.

And that situation will just get more extreme as we continue on the current trends timeline we've set for ourselves, looking out for the lower 75% of the population hasn't been a priority for a very long time.

 

[ZoNiE]

They probably think couples are more stable. Like insurance companies. When you get married, rates drop. As if a pissed off spouse yelling at you while driving is somehow safer... :dodgy:

 

[waldenbound]

Well, reading this thread now I'm getting fired up, lol. Serious, I'm with Canine, they're harvesting vegetables in the most remote part of the continental US, but they don't have any space! Miles from the middle of nowhere, but "oh, we don't have any space." (World's smallest violin playing My Heart Bleeds.)
You want to see no space? Work on an Alaskan fish processing barge, that's no space for you. Cramped bunks, tiny gallery to eat, cramped working conditions, working shoulder to shoulder in the middle of the Bering Sea. And the work is done by SINGLE people. I worked for a land-based processor in SE Alaska, and there was a tent city with pads above the muskeg. That's where people camped, we got up every morning and went to work. Simple as that.

There ought to be a lawsuit against one big employer to serve as a test case. Discrimination for being single. In most of the world of work, a person, (singular) is hired to do a job. I don't go to my employer and have them say, "You have to be a couple."

Yeah, and these other crops. Strawberries, melons, citrus, almonds, soybeans, cotton, ect. Instead of hiring illegals, hire the American nomads and give them a job.

 

[jacks18614]

If you do not have an employment contract (aka union) you are "at will" and can be denied or terminated for ANY reason except for what is listed in the federal discrimination law.