They'll start showing up next month on farms across New Jersey. Thousands of seasonal workers will plant fields and trim trees, then tend and harvest crops during the spring and summer. Up to 180 work at Joe Marino's Sun Valley Orchards in Swedesboro, Gloucester County, and many - including migrant farm hands from Mexico - earn $7.25 an hour, the state and federal minimum wage. They would see their paychecks increase under a proposal by Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D., Essex) to boost the state minimum rate to $8.50 and to tie it to the consumer price index, which measures the cost of living. Oliver says the move would provide "livable wages for the lowest-income earners," while helping the economy by increasing consumer spending. About 40,000 New Jersey residents currently earn the $7.25 rate. http://bit.ly/yhxQOR
Nearly $17 million in federal funds will be allocated by the Army Corps of Engineers to continue deepening of the Delaware River shipping channel by five feet. U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews said Tuesday he has been advised by the Army Corps the money will be released as part of this year’s allocation to the agency. While the funds are not designated for any specific purpose, Andrews, D-Haddon Heights, said the “Army Corps’ plan is to spend it on the Delaware.” The money, if allocated, would go toward deepening the river channel from 40 to 45 feet in an area between Penns Grove and the Beckett Street Marine Terminal in Camden, said Ed Voight, chief of public and legislative affairs for the Corps’ Philadelphia regional office. http://bit.ly/x0Qggd
Merchantville Online
Where Community Begins...
