THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 25, 1995 TAG: 9510240128
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JODY R. SNIDER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Long : 146 lines
PETE RODRIGUEZ'S SON cried last month when his daddy left home in Taft, Texas, to report for work in Virginia.
Work was 1,700 miles away, at the Commonwealth Gin in Windsor. And Rodriguez wasn't expected to return until Dec. 24, a day late for his son's ninth birthday.
But that's nothing new for Rodriguez. His life is one of missed birthdays and other special occasions.
At 39, Rodriguez is one of about 70 Hispanic migrant workers from Texas and Mexico who in September began trickling into the Windsor cotton gin and the Southampton Commonwealth Gin in Franklin to work a three-month stint.
Some bring families. Most make the trip alone.
As a professional cotton ginner, Rodriguez has traveled the circuit without his family for seven years - moving from gin to gin in Texas, Georgia and now Virginia.
When his journey ends, Rodriguez says, he will have caravanned 6,400 miles to make a living.
``The bills have to be paid,'' he said in an interview earlier this month. ``I have to work. And jobs are slow in Texas. There's no way that I could get the hours there that I'm getting here.''
Rodriguez says he sends about $500 home to his wife each week. He keeps $100 for himself.
Migrant workers started coming to Windsor in 1992, when the gin opened and owners say they had a hard time finding local labor skilled in gin operations. That is likely to continue as Virginia farmers, including many in Western Tidewater, turn more and more acreage over to cotton and ginning operations increase.
Ginning in the Isle of Wight County region typically begins in late September and runs through December, sometimes into January.
The cotton-gin migrants usually work an 84-hour week, gin managers say. No siestas. Lunch on the job. The gins never stop. They're still building the Franklin gin.
Both are owned by the G. Thomas Alphin family of Windsor. The Windsor gin operates two, 12-hour shifts that produce about 500 bales of cotton a day - about one bale of cotton every 2 1/2 minutes. The Southampton County gin made its debut this month with migrant workers at the helm.
First-time ginners, like Jorge Gonzalez, 20, of McAllen, Texas, sweep the floor. They later graduate to running various pieces of machinery. Once a worker learns the machinery, he steps into the position of gin helper and, finally, ginner.
Windsor superintendent David Castillo, a 30-year veteran of the trade, hires migrant labor for both the Windsor and Southampton sites. He knew many of them from having worked in Texas himself.
Many migrant workers work at gins in south, central or west Texas before coming east to work in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, Castillo said.
``You're trained by work. Ginners react to any problems that might occur, and they watch the equipment.''
Bearings go out and have to be replaced. Sometimes a gin has to be turned by hand crank until repairs can be made.
``Ginners are scarce,'' Castillo says. ``You gotta have the skills and know what you're doing.''
Ginners have to know a little bit of everything to keep their machines running. An experienced ginner knows the equipment inside and out, and needs strong trouble-shooting skills. He has to be the equivalent of electrician, welder, mechanic - a variety of skills.
Castillo says it's no surprise that few people want to go into the business because of the long hours and miles between jobs.
First-year ginner Gonzalez says he doesn't plan on becoming a circuit rider.
``If I don't like the job, I'll forget about it and look for something else. I like working with my hands and brain. It's good for me and my body. I like lifting.''
Gonzalez, who is single, dreams of working on a Texas horse ranch one day.
``I've visited many horse ranches in Texas. There's a lot of space to run in. It relaxes my mind. I'm a different person there.''
But right now, Gonzalez says, ginning ``brings money to my house.''
How much money? That varies, but the migrants say nothing they can do back home, in Texas or Mexico, compares with how much they can earn up here.
Thirty years ago, when Windsor superintendent Castillo began ginning in Texas, there was no future there.
``Pay was low, and there was no such thing as overtime,'' he says. ``That's all changed.''
Today, the typical ginner is paid $5 an hour plus time-and-a-half overtime above a 48-hour week.
``It's still a tough life,'' Castillo says. ``The hours are long. You have to cook and clean for yourself while working 12-hour shifts seven days a week. There's no such thing as being sick.''
At the end of the day, workers retreat to several trailers that stand outside the Windsor gin or to a huge, dormitory-style house near the Franklin location.
It's a respite, where they can feast on homemade Mexican food and relax until the work day begins again.
Ildefonso Mendiola is typical of many of the Hispanic workers who work the Western Tidewater gins. From Tamps, Mexico, he is 22, speaks little English and is willing to travel thousands of miles to earn money.
``We communicate with hand signals and hammers,'' says Southampton Gin Superintendent Roy Rogers. ``They understand what we want, most of the time.''
The youngest of six children, Mendiola works in Florida's sugar cane fields when he's not working cotton gins. In Mexico, Mendiola says, he would earn about $100 a week in the fields. At the Southampton gin, he makes $400 a week.
``It good money,'' he says, smiling. ``I carry pipes, tighten bulbs. Help build gin.''
But sometimes there are misunderstandings, and the job ends.
Rodriquez, whose son cried when he left Texas to follow the cotton to Windsor, is on his way back home with his brother, who made the 1,700-mile trek with him.
``Things just didn't work out like we planned,'' he said on his last on the job, as he and his brother waited for their final paychecks.
``I'll have to go back to Texas and look for work again. I hope to find another welding job.
``But this year, I'll be home for my son's birthday.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
The cotton gypsies
[Color Photo]
Migrant workers like Ildefonso Mendiola work the cotton-gin trail up
from Mexico and Texas all the way to Western Tidewater. Theirs is a
tough, long-distance life.
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Jorge Gonzalez, 20, of McAllen, Texas, is a first-time cotton
ginner.
Staff photos, including cover, by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Ildefonso Mendiola, from Mexico, is willing to travel thousands of
miles to earn money.
Francisco Gonzalez, 30, has been doing migrant work since he was 13
years old.
Tags keep track of the ownership of newly baled cotton.
Jorge Gonzalez says lifting bales of cotton is good for his body.
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Working the night shift, Jorge Gonzalez gets up at 5 p.m. to do
laundry before his 7 p.m. shift. Francisco Gonzalez is just
awakening on a nearby bunk.
by CNB