Thread: Wa - Farmers, labor clash over foreign workers

Last updated February 8, 2009 10:32 p.m. PT

Farmers, labor clash over foreign workers
Higher wages touted as alternative to importing help
By SHANNON DININNY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

YAKIMA -- John Wyss had just been hired at Gebbers Farms, one of the nation's largest apple growers, when the company couldn't find enough workers in 2005. Fruit went unpicked, and much of what was picked came off the trees too late.


STATE NUMBERS
Number of foreign workers in Washington state

2,094

in 2008

1,140

in 2007
Hail and harsh winter freezes have shrunk the crops in the years since, reducing the need for workers. But if the weather had cooperated, he said, "We would have had severe labor problems."

It's become an annual argument -- farmers nationally complain about a shortage of workers, while labor groups counter that higher wages will secure field hands.

This year, new rules enacted by the Bush administration shortly before the president left office may make it easier for farmers to bring in foreign workers. Congress faces another push to potentially legalize undocumented farmworkers already in the country. And in Washington state, farm groups are driving lawmakers to make it just the second state in the nation to create its own guest-worker program.

At the same time, thousands of U.S. workers are losing their jobs in the economic crisis.

How problematic does that make any talk of bringing in foreign workers?

"Too many people think of farm work as unskilled, undifferentiated work. Agriculture has a great variety of jobs, and every single one of them requires some set of skills," said Howard Rosenberg, an agricultural economist with the University of California-Berkeley.

"A worker is not a worker. If I were laid off from my job, I don't know that I'd have the skills," he said.

As many as 1 million people labor in America's farm fields each year, pruning trees and harvesting fruits and vegetables. The Labor Department has estimated more than half are in the country illegally. Federal efforts to crack down on illegal immigration in recent years have left many growers fearing fines for employing undocumented workers, and more are showing interest in a federal guest-worker program long criticized as cumbersome and expensive.

Farmers brought in nearly 77,000 foreign farmworkers in 2007, the most recent year for which numbers are available. In Washington state, the number of workers brought into the country nearly doubled in 2008 to 2,094, up from 1,140 a year earlier.

That's far fewer than the thousands working in Washington fields each year.

An estimated 15 billion individual apples are picked in Washington in an average year, and the state grows plenty of other highly labor-intensive crops. Fruit trees require hand-pruning and thinning, and the many varieties of pears, peaches and cherries are selectively picked by hand for ripeness and to avoid bruising.

Some of Washington's row crops, such as asparagus, also have traditionally required hand labor.

The Washington Farm Bureau has proposed that the state push Congress for a new, nonimmigrant visa class for "essential workers." Under the bill in the Legislature, the state would then create its own essential worker program to bring in foreign workers during times of peak need.

Colorado last year approved its own pilot program, which goes into effect this year.

"Even with the economic downturn, I don't see people long-term getting into the migrant farmworker trade. That sounds brutal, but I just don't see it," said Dan Fazio, director of employer services for the Washington Farm Bureau. "This work force is going to have to come from somewhere else."

Erik Nicholson of the United Farmworkers of America calls the bill "political theater."

"It's an extremely poorly crafted bill that runs counter to existing immigration law in a number of ways," he said.

Labor groups also support a separate bill that would more strictly regulate contractors that bring foreign workers into the country. But they have filed suit against recent changes to the federal guest-worker program, saying they will lower wages in the fields, erode labor protections and make it easier for contractors to avoid hiring legal U.S. workers.

"Domestic workers are going to be looking over their shoulders," Nicholson said. "They are fully aware that if they start asserting their rights -- for hand-washing facilities, bathrooms facilities or heaven forbid, union representation -- they can be more easily replaced by foreign workers."

United Farmworkers previously supported some agricultural labor bills that included comprehensive immigration reform, such as the AgJobs legislation, which has been proposed in various forms since the late 1990s.

How likely immigration reform is in the coming days given other pressing issues, such as the economy, remains to be seen.

"I'd like to see some of these people who've been here and been a good part of society and don't have papers be able to obtain legal status," said Jon Warling, an Othello apple grower and labor contractor.

"But I have a hard time believing that with this climate, people in this country will approve that."

Warling supports efforts to create a state guest-worker program, largely because he's experienced the labor shortage firsthand.

Last year, he requested 35 workers from the state WorkSource office, but got no referrals.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/399 ... bor09.html

Originally Posted by FedUpinFarmersBranch

Last updated February 8, 2009 10:32 p.m. PT

Last year, he requested 35 workers from the state WorkSource office, but got no referrals.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/399 ... bor09.html

That doesn't seem true. Since many of these state employment offices do a very poor job of placing people, this becomes a convenient cover for claiming there are no workers.

I do not think these farmers would have a problem if the farm workers would have obeyed the laws to begin with. Most of the migrant workers were going back to their countries after work was done here on the farms. BUT NO they had to start bringing families and overstaying visas. Just figuring they had a right to just stay without regards to our laws.

LIKE their countries DO NOT HAVE IMMIGRATION LAWS!!!!