I would like to see us at least get a raise and some benefits. Workers also contend that plants are unsafe, and they point to a recent carbon monoxide leak at a packing house in the small town of Brewster, north of here. The leak sent nearly 100 people to a hospital. After 10 years at the same fruit-packing plant in Wenatchee, Jorja Starr said she made only 90 cents an hour more than someone hired this year. Not a lot to look forward to.
Growers say the increase is due to more farmers growing more apples.
The profit margin has not increased in most years, they say. The big money being made in the apple industry, both sides agree, is by retailers, whose share is better than 50 percent of the consumer price of an apple. Washington provides 60 percent of the nation's apples. Granting apple packers a 50 percent raise, said a Teamster spokesman, Patrick Lacefield, would add only 2.4 cents per pound to the price of apples to consumers. Growers say wage increases would come from their revenues, forcing many of them to lose money.