Migrant Workers Part of Economy But at Risk For Abuse

Some officials say landlords ignore housing regulations, charge higher rent when it comes to renting to migrant workers.
Story by Beth Gorczyca Email | Bio

RAVENSWOOD -- For the past eight years, Shirley Spencer has made his living selling fruits and vegetables at a roadside vegetable stand in Elkview.

But the retired construction worker said he needs one thing to make a living -- migrant workers.

"I wouldn't have anything if not for them," he said as he stood outside of a van loaded with tomatoes. "If they don't have anything, then I don't have anything."

Several times a week, Spencer drives from Elkview to a produce farm in Meigs County, Ohio, where he picks up boxes of tomatoes picked by migrant laborers. The farm workers travel the nation from Florida to Georgia to West Virginia and Ohio, following the growing season.

Spencer doesn't know whether workers on the crew are in the country legally or illegally. He didn't hire them, nor does he supervise them. He just picks tomatoes with them and buys their extras. And he knows that without them, not only couldn't he afford to sell produce, most Americans couldn't afford to buy produce.

In fact, according to Rose Poole, a Hispanic advocate in Jackson County, migrant workers pick 95 percent of the fresh, frozen or canned fruits and vegetables Americans eat.

More and more, the country is depending on these workers. And so are businesses -- from the largest corporation to the smallest mom-and-pop store.

But hand in hand with that dependence is a worry that the workers are being mistreated, taken advantage of or even discriminated against. It's a concern even in West Virginia, which the U.S. Census Bureau recently said has the lowest percentage of Hispanics of any state.

Many of the migrant workers who were picking tomatoes in Meigs County actually live across the Ohio River in Ravenswood during the growing season, Poole said. They live in West Virginia because it is where the grocery stores, banks and shops are. It is also where available housing is.

But Poole said some of the people who rent apartments, mobile homes or sleeping rooms to migrant workers take advantage of them. Sometimes they make them live in substandard dwellings. Other times, the workers are charged higher rent.

"A trailer that typically would rent to a local for $200 a month, when a migrant worker moves in the price goes up to $50 per person per week. That means if five people live there, the rent is equal to $1,000 a month. That's against the law," Poole said.

Migrant workers must have housing. It's a basic essential. But to cut down on expenses, workers will try to share rent expenses as much as possible. As a result, five or more people often share the same house or apartment.

"Migrants want to live as cheaply as they can," Poole said. "It's an economics thing."

But there are rules and regulations relating to housing for migrant workers -- standards that landlords are supposed to abide by. Poole worries that sometimes those standards are simply ignored.

"Workers aren't going to complain about it. They don't rock the boat," she said, "because if they do complain, they could get kicked out. And then where are they going to stay? Where will they stay next season? It's a big catch-22 for them."

The city of Ravenswood is investigating a complaint filed against a local woman who some people allege is housing as many as 19 migrant workers in her home near the city's downtown. Ravenswood mayor Lucy Habert said she doesn't have a problem with the woman renting to migrant workers, but Harbert said the woman failed to file the proper paperwork with the city to change the zoning on the house. Harbert also said certain safety codes need to be met.

Harbert said several summons were issued against the woman, but the woman never responded to them. Finally, an arrest warrant was issued against the woman this week.

However, members of the woman's family, who did not want to be identified, said the city's complaints are bogus. They said the woman rents out her large home to five Hispanic men. The house has plenty of room for each of them and even has a swimming pool, foosball table, surround-sound TV and bar-style pool table the men can use.

It's hardly the slum dwelling that pops to mind when someone mentions migrant worker housing.

Spencer, the produce stand operator, said he thinks the workers who pick the vegetables he sells deserve quality housing and to be treated fairly. He said the nation is made up of immigrants who came here -- both legally and illegally -- to find a better life. Taking advantage of them isn't right, he said.

"If they aren't here, then I can't be here, either," he said.

http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?f ... ryid=14097