Farmers say labor changing amid shortage; laborers call shortage claims bogus

The Associated Press, Sept. 3, 2005

WAPATO, Wash.


The Gala apples clinging to the trees in John Verbrugge's orchards are ripe and ready to be picked, but the people plucking them from branches look vastly different than years past.

For the second year in a row, Verbrugge has hired farm workers from Thailand under a federal guest-worker program to help harvest his crop of apples, cherries, peaches and pears.

Up the road, 79-year-old Robert McMahan propped up a large red-lettered sign blown down by the wind outside his fruit stand: "Apple Pickers Wanted." He's had no takers.

Farmers across the state this year are bemoaning a worker shortage they say makes their jobs _ already precarious in some places due to the severe drought _ even more difficult. In eastern Washington's Columbia River valley, an asparagus grower halted a second cutting in June after farm workers abandoned his fields to pick cherries for more money. Berry growers West of the Cascades also complained about a lack of workers.

Labor groups, however, call claims of a worker shortage bogus. Only the growers who refuse to pay good wages or treat workers well have trouble finding farm workers, they contend.

The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle. Finding it is nearly impossible.

Worker shortages _ like storm damage _ can be difficult to assess, said Jim Hazen, executive director of the Washington State Horticultural Association.

"There are pockets of individual disasters. Is it an industry disaster?" Hazen said. "No. But for those folks who are hit by the hail storm, yes, it's a disaster for them."

In recent decades, farmers have come to rely on Mexican farm workers. But more of those workers are finding better jobs outside of agriculture. In California, farm groups complain that too many farm laborers have turned to construction and retail work.

A border crackdown since the terrorist attacks also has slowed the migration of workers _ both legal and undocumented _ from south of the border.

In Washington, insiders from both agriculture and labor estimate that as many as 70 or 80 percent of agricultural workers may be undocumented, which makes a border crackdown all the more pressing.

The state Employment Security Department can't prove _ or disprove _ whether a shortage exists. The agency's WorkSource office matches farm workers seeking employment with growers who need the help.

Between January and July, the agency's Yakima office had listings for 1,528 job openings, roughly the same amount as the previous year. Only about 819 workers were referred to those openings, said Larry Sanchez, WorkSource director in Yakima.

But growers often inflate their job orders to ensure they get the number of workers they need, Sanchez said, and both tend to bypass the Worksource office.

It all depends on your definition of a shortage, said Guadalupe Gamboa of Grupo Mexico, an advocacy group for farm workers. Unless farmers see 10 people looking for a job, they consider it a shortage, he said.

"They have become so used to an oversupply, that when they have to actually compete for workers, they consider that a shortage," Gamboa said. "There hasn't been any documentation of a shortage or any crops that haven't been picked."

Lali Menchaca, who also works for the state WorkSource agency, agreed. The state has had no reports of crops withering on the trees, she said.

"Workers right now have a situation where they can pick and choose where they're going to work and demand more money, because there are less workers in some areas," Menchaca said.

For small farmers like McMahan, that can prove difficult.

"It's a struggle," said McMahan, who has owned his orchards since 1964. "I don't think it's been the shortage of help as much as people are looking for longer-term jobs."

Surrounded by larger orchards that can hire workers for weeks at a time, McMahan has had to offer higher wages to attract workers for jobs that only require a few days' work.

"I put that sign out this morning. Didn't get a soul," he said. "When you look at labor, this seems to be the worst year I've had."

On the flip side, Fortunato Tapio, 55, of Sunnyside was jobless for two weeks earlier this summer when he was laid off by the vineyard where he has found long-term work.

"There used to be a lot of work," Tapio said through a translator. "In the last four or five years, we've had to really think twice before leaving the job because there's no guarantee that we'll find the next one."

To the dismay of Tapio and other Hispanic farm workers in the valley, Verbrugge has turned to the federal H-2A visa guest-worker program, which allows farmers to hire foreign workers if they can prove a shortage exists. Verbrugge hired about 30 workers from Thailand through a labor contractor last year, and requested an additional 90 this summer to harvest his large orchards.

Farm labor groups raised concerns that the new workers would be mistreated. Three Yakima Valley farm workers sued, claiming they were intentionally displaced by the Thai workers.

In addition, the state cited the contractor, Global Horizons of San Mateo, Calif., for violating state labor laws. The company has appealed.

Using the guest worker program is more expensive, because the farmer pays for the contractor to provide housing and transportation for the workers, Verbrugge said. But it offers what Verbrugge says he seeks most _ a stable and legal work force.

"I have undocumented workers because I have no choice. You have to get your crop picked," Verbrugge said. "But it's wrong."

Farmers have been relying on undocumented workers for years _ they created the situation by luring them north for jobs, said Erik Nicholson of the United Farm workers.

"If employers keep wanting to turn to the H-2A program, I think it really threatens the economic viability of Eastern Washington," Nicholson said. "You have tens of thousands of farm workers there who rely on farm labor who are going to be displaced."

Others support the so-called AgJobs bill proposed in Congress, which would make hiring farm workers less cumbersome by reforming the H-2A program. The proposal also would allow many undocumented immigrant agricultural workers already in the country to apply for temporary legal status.

The bill has been stalled for months. In the meantime, farm industries continue to seek new ways to mechanize to lower labor costs, from an asparagus harvester to moving platforms that also reduce safety risks from ladders.

They also hope to create jobs of longer duration, alleviating the sharp peaks in the labor demand curve and thereby reducing the number of people who work for only short times, said Mike Gempler, executive director of the Washington

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