CHARLOTTE OBSERVER October 21, 2006
Workers on Spratt farm part of federal program
For a couple of years, U.S. Rep. John Spratt, a York County, S.C., Democrat, has rented a small part of his Fort Mill farm tract to the neighboring Springs Farm. The farm company grows strawberries on Spratt's land. "It never occurred to me who might be harvesting them," Spratt said. Property owners aren't ethically responsible for tenants' activity if they can't reasonably know the renters are doing wrong, said Virginia ethics consultant Jack Marshall. But he questioned how anyone could fail to consider that farmhands might be illegal immigrants. "If you just don't ask that question, that's an ethics dodge," he said. Turns out the Mexican farm crew came to the country legally under a temporary worker program of which Spratt is generally supportive. They work for Springs Farm, tending strawberries and peaches. Miller Coggins, the general manager, provided documents from the recruiting company that placed the men through the federal guest-worker program. Spratt said a cousin also keeps horses on the land, and a friend rents land to train dogs. The H-2A guest-worker program legally allows an unlimited number of temporary farmworkers every year. Critics of the little-used program say it makes workers beholden to employers to remain in the country legally. Farmers say it's too expensive because they must pay well above minimum wage and provide housing and transportation. Last year, H-2A employment plunged nearly 70 percent to 7,000 workers. An estimated 1.2 million illegal immigrants toil in U.S. farm fields. President Bush has said he wants to greatly expand the guest-worker program. Coggins says the H-2A program works for Springs Farm, which shares family roots with Springs Global, the big S.C. textile mill. The farm has used the program for about 16 years, he said. This year, Springs had 15 guest workers. They work six to nine months, then return home. "It's one of the best things we've done as far as our labor requirements," Coggins said. On a cool October afternoon, four workers spent their final day setting fence posts in a peach orchard. They talked happily about going home to the state of Sonora, south of Arizona. This was a fourth season for José Lopez, 28, who looked forward to seeing his second son, born two months ago. Alejo Vega, 25, has two years with Springs. He said he likes being able to work legally and that he makes up to $600 a week, compared with $85 in Mexico. "I like working here, but I need to go back to Mexico because my family is there," he said.
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