http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/284297816723074

Published on Thursday, September 22, 2005

Ag union seeks ban on labor contractor
By LEAH BETH WARD
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC


Farm-worker advocates are criticizing Gov. Christine Gregoire for trying to settle charges of wage and working-condition violations against a California labor contractor that has brought temporary Thai agricultural workers to the Yakima Valley.

The United Farm Workers of America union said Wednesday that Global Horizons of Los Angeles should be banned from the state. For the second summer, the company has imported more than 100 Thai workers under a federal guest-worker program designed to help with what employers say is a local labor shortage.

"They violated just about every regulation in the book," Erik Nicholson, the union's Pacific Northwest regional director, said in a telephone interview.

For the state to reach a financial settlement with Global Horizons would "send the wrong message to workers that their rights are not going to be protected," Nicholson said.

While settlement talks are under way in advance of a hearing on the company's case next week, a spokesman for the governor's office said no agreement has been reached.

"If we reach a settlement, I think it will address the issues and concerns out there," said Steve Pierce of the Department of Labor & Industries.

Last March, Gregoire, in a strongly worded letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, said implementation of the federal H-2A guest-worker program in the state "has resulted in the mistreatment of both our domestic and foreign workers, and should raise questions by your department."

L&I and the Employment Security Department both have actions pending against Global Horizons, which has appealed all of the charges to a state hearings board. A combined hearing is tentatively set for Wednesday.

Mordechai Orian, president of the company, said the settlement talks are a positive development.

"I believe we can come to an agreement and resolve the issues of the past," Orian said.

He added that there were "some things the company didn't know that we needed to do," but declined to elaborate.

L&I, which was seeking to deny a renewal of the company's license, assessed Global $216,650 in back wages it said are owed to 136 Thai workers. The company was also accused of violating 11 state codes for a total of $10,250 in fines, and not paying industrial insurance taxes of $57,423.

Employment Security officials said the company didn't comply with "basic requirements of state laws designed to protect workers," such as providing adequate housing. Gregoire previously described the housing as overcrowded and without cooking or laundry facilities.

The agency also said sufficient numbers of local workers were available through its job-referral system.

The U.S. Department of Labor is also investigating complaints against the company but has declined comment, saying the probe is still pending.

In July, three Yakima Valley farm workers sued Global and two local growers in federal court, alleging they violated state and federal laws by illegally and intentionally displacing them last year with workers from Thailand.