ORLANDO SENTINEL

November 29, 2005

State legislator talks to Volusia farmworkers

Jeff Libby | Sentinel Staff Writer

PIERSON -- As rain came down on a trio of women cutting fern Monday, state Rep. John Quinones approached in a white dress shirt and polished wingtip shoes, asking them in Spanish whether their employer had told them about the dangers of pesticides.

At another fernery, she had had a class, one woman said. But here, no.

Another woman, Diega Aguirre, who was pregnant, shrugged when asked whether she knew the potential dangers to her baby.

"Yes," she said, "But I have to work."

In an afternoon tour of the migrant community of northwest Volusia County, Quinones, a Kissimmee Republican, heard from workers and community leaders about issues ranging from health concerns to low wages for fern cutters to college-tuition inequities for migrant children and a lack of affordable housing.

Quinones was making his first visit to the fern fields as the only Hispanic representative on a six-member legislative commission formed last year to investigate living conditions for migrant and seasonal laborers. He was joined by the Florida Catholic Conference, a group that often works alongside the Farmworkers Association of Florida.

"Nobody has come to this area before," said Marcos Crisanto, a Pierson coordinator for the Farmworkers Association, which represents about 6,000 workers in Volusia and Putnam counties. "This is the first time someone has come here speaking Spanish and English. I think the community is happy."

Quinones told students at Taylor Middle-High School and a group of migrant advocates about two initiatives that his commission has been fine-tuning during the past several months with plans to make recommendations to the Legislature this spring.

One proposal, which has failed three times in three years, would allow undocumented migrant children to pay in-state tuition rates if they can show they have attended Florida high schools for at least three years. Current law requires them to pay the same rates as out-of-state students, which is more expensive.

"We're talking about children who want to continue their education, but can't because they can't get the Florida-state rate," Quinones said.

The other proposal, still in its draft stages, could ask fern growers to take on some of the responsibility of providing affordable housing for their workers, Quinones said. The growers would work in a partnership with government officials, he said.

"There's not so much growers' housing as in the past," said Tirso Moreno, executive director of the Farmworkers Association of Florida in Apopka. "Instead of fixing housing, they're tearing it down, making the situation worse."

The damage caused to the fields by hurricanes in 2004 has only added to problems for migrant workers, said Sheila Hopkins, a coordinator for the Florida Catholic Conference who traveled from Tallahassee on Monday.

Not only have the smaller remaining fields meant less available work for migrant laborers, Hopkins said, but workers signing on to help with debris pickup in north Florida have been cheated of wages, she said.

"These are human beings who contribute to the economy. Just because they're undocumented people shouldn't be able to take advantage of them. There is a dignity in all work," Hopkins said.

Basiliz Salarez of Emporia, one of a handful of fern cutters who put down their blades to meet Quinones, told him that even after 19 years cutting fern, she is struggling to make $50 a day.

"Someone is listening," she said of Quinones' visit. "It opens up hope."

Quinones, for his part, was looking for some students willing to testify before the Legislature this spring on behalf of legislation that would allow undocumented students with three years in Florida high schools to pay in-state tuition rates.

Sergio Garcia, 15, a sophomore at Taylor-Middle High School who listened to Quinones, said he might be willing to speak. Garcia is working towards becoming the first in his family to graduate from high school, and hopes to continue on to college.

"They should allow immigrants that opportunity," Sergio said. "We've got as much rights as anyone."