Nov 17, 2007 - 04:04:44 CST
GRAFTON (AP) - A newspaper advertising manager was surprised to see the wording of an ad seeking truck drivers in his paper. It was entirely in Spanish."I've never had a full Spanish ad before," said Tim Martin, the advertising manager for the weekly Walsh County Record. The ad placed by Transystems Inc., a sugar beet trucking company, ran in the Nov. 7 edition of the newspaper.
"I can understand it. There's a need for the workers," Martin said.
Transystems shift manager Rob Mims said the ad is aimed at Hispanic workers who travel to eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota in the spring for farm work.
"Maybe they would stay a little longer if we can offer them a job," he said. "They can continue working through the year if they want to."
Mims, who is from Texas, said it is not unusual to see ads there written entirely in Spanish.
"It may be the first of its kind here, but I'd venture to say you'll see a lot more (Spanish-only advertisements) in other area companies," he said.
Grafton City Councilman Juan "Rudy" Lopez said the ad alone likely will not persuade many workers. He said it would be more helpful to have North Dakota driver's license exams written in Spanish or read to workers who may have the skills needed to drive but are not fully fluent in English.
"I hear from different drivers the classes you take are hard," said Lopez, 62, whose family migrated to the Grafton area for work when he was a child. He has lived in Grafton about 40 years and has been on the City Council the past 12 years.
Lopez said he has a driver's license and a Highway Patrol trooper read the test questions to him. He drives semi-trucks for area farmers.
Lopez estimated that 80 percent of the migrant workers who come to work during the harvest leave before winter. Many of them left even before the newspaper ad was published, he said.
"They leave because there are no jobs in winter here," he said. "When the work is done, they go."
Transystems Inc. drivers haul sugar beets from piles up and down the Red River Valley to processing plants. The work lasts from Aug. 1 to the end of May, Mims said.
The advertisement in Spanish tells Hispanic workers that even though they might not speak perfect English, as long as they have the right qualifications and can communicate with other drivers in English, they still can be hired, Mims said.
Steve L Stillman wrote on Nov 21, 2007 1:46 AM:
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