Season of Sacrifice: Guest workers send money back home

Va. draws thousands of guest workers

In 2007, Ramon and Martin Alvarez Avalos were among 10,100 seasonal workers in Virginia and 255,000 nationwide who came to the U.S. under a federal guest-worker program called H2B.

Only Florida, Texas, Colorado and Louisiana had more H2B workers last year than Virginia. About 240 of those workers were in the Lynchburg area earning an average hourly wage of about $7.75, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Along with construction, the job descriptions of guest workers in the H2B program include: construction, shuckers, material handlers, housekeepers and forest and landscape workers.

The Avalos brothers work for May Bros. Inc., a Forest construction company. David St. John, the company’s president, turned to the program because he could not find enough workers locally to fill the positions.

To participate, St. John is required to pay a “prevailing rate” in the area, which means the workers have to make at least minimum wage.

That’s to ensure he isn’t undercutting the local employment market and giving jobs to seasonal workers for less pay.

He’s also required to advertise the positions locally first, to ensure that American workers have a chance to respond.

Elizabeth Whitley, whose firm in Nelson County handles applications for seasonal workers from local companies like May Bros., said the majority of jobs filled by Mexicans are not sought by Americans.

“They are here to do the jobs Americans won’t do,” she said.

--Justin Faulconer

Ramon Alvarez Avalos is knee-deep in a ditch, installing pipe at a construction site in Bedford County.

It’s 90-plus-degrees on this September afternoon; Ramon hasn’t had a drop of water to drink in the past hour.

The 53-year-old construction worker from Mexico has dirtied his boots at building sites throughout Central Virginia since April. He has dug ditches, poured concrete and hauled heavy equipment for just over $8 an hour.

On this day, the sound of heavy machinery blasts through the 14-acre site as Ramon and more than a dozen other seasonal workers pace themselves.

There is no loud music. No horseplay. No complaining.

The work ethic impresses their supervisors at May Bros. Inc. in Forest, which hires the seasonal workers through a federal program.

“They never call in sick,” said Steve Canter, a crew leader who speaks some Spanish. “These guys you can count on to be here.”

They prefer working overtime to being off, he said.

They have no pets, cell phones or transportation aside from what is provided through the construction company. And their wives, sons and daughters are roughly 2,000 miles away in their Mexican village.

So the job is something to look forward to.

“They’ll jump in the truck and be ready to go,” said Canter.

“You got to make them stay home,” said Thomas Jones, a crew leader, who drives the men to and from the work site.

David St. John, president of May Bros., said they are among the best workers he’s had.

This is the fourth year he has enlisted their help for jobs he said he has a hard time filling among Americans. He was at first concerned about the language barrier, but he said it hasn’t turned out to be much of an issue.

Many friendships have grown between the seasonal workers and his regular employees.

“When you first get here, you feel a little strange or nervous, like being in a new house,” said Ramon. “Once you get to know that person and trust them a little bit, then it’s OK.”

He is grateful for the job, and called St. John “much a friend.”

Ramon and his younger brother Martin, among the first seasonal workers hired by St. John, have had a ripple effect in his company. St. John said they have referred several friends and family who now work there, too. A dozen from the brothers’ town of Abasolo are with the firm, strengthening their dependency on each other.

The work includes land grading, retaining walls, irrigating, landscaping and underground installation, among other physically demanding tasks.

The workers always are eager to learn new skills, Canter said.

Martin has used the experience for his own home improvements, including buying a truck and building an addition to his house in Central Mexico.

He is also using some of the money he has earned to remodel another home in his village.

“We have learned much and it has served us well,” Martin said. “I don’t have to pay someone for the work I want done.”

“You can’t say we’ve come over here and made a fortune,” said Ramon. “But we developed and have bettered ourselves and our families.”

There have been times, they said, that they’ve thought about quitting, but the hope they have for making better lives for their families is what kept them going.

“Every now and then, you get nostalgic,” said Ismael Martinez, a worker in his 20s and Martin’s brother-in-law.

“But you’ve got to get that idea out of your head and work.”

The payoff is the weekly paycheck each Friday.

When Martin cashes his check, the first order of business is to spend $5 or so on a calling card so he can talk for up to an hour with his family.

They make $8.19 an hour, earning from $290 to $310 a week, depending on the volume of work, and they send about $200 of that home. After 34 straight weeks of work, they have sent roughly $6,400 home through money orders.

In previous years they often worked 60 hours or more each week. But this year, the slumping economy cut back the company’s workload and the standard workweek was 40 hours with rare and welcome opportunities for overtime.

Martin said his first year he worked virtually every single day he was here — not just for the extra pay, he said, but because the work was available.

“There’s good years and there are bad years,” said Martin. “You get used to it.”

Part 2 of 4 in a series. Click here for more stories in this series.