YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC January 24, 2006
Sparks fly over state farm-labor bills
Organized labor and employer groups clashed Monday in Olympia over two legislative proposals designed to increase pay and protections for farm laborers and other types of employees. The state would have immediate authority to revoke the license of farm-labor contractors who violate the law under Senate Bill 6352 and House Bill 2623. But opponents said existing law is sufficient to rein in violators and that the bill is aimed unfairly at one company. Under the other proposal, House Bill 2725 and Senate Bill 6434, workers who are on call, from shepherds to night watchmen, would earn minimum wage for time on the job when they are not actually working. The farm-labor contractor proposal was drawn up by the Department of Labor and Industries and farm-worker advocates in the aftermath of a struggle over the activities of a Los Angeles-based contractor, Global Horizons. "Global had violated numerous state laws but continued to operate because of loopholes," Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney, D-Seattle, a prime sponsor, testified. The hearing before the House Labor & Commerce Committee was broadcast over the Internet by TVW, a cable public-access program based in Olympia. Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, said the bill is a major rewrite of the law designed to go after one company. He also said the state has successfully punished Global Horizons, so the current law must be working. "This was a contractor who is being dealt with through existing law and departmental action. So the real question is, I do not understand how you feel the law has failed?" Global Horizons brought Thai workers to the Yakima Valley the past two seasons. The company reached a settlement with the state this fall over several violations, including failure to pay taxes to the state and improperly deducting state and federal income taxes from workers' paychecks. The violations occurred in 2004. L&I said the company corrected all but one of the problems by a late December deadline, which resulted in the revocation of its license. The lone outstanding problem, failure to file an audit report on taxes owed, has since been fixed. Global Horizons has said it intends to seek a license for the 2006 season. Patrick Woods, assistant director of L&I, said the department needs more authority to protect farm workers. Current law, he said, allows companies to commit abuses and then appeal disciplinary action for a seemingly endless period of time. Instead, L&I wants contractors to demonstrate up front that they are in compliance with regulations. If they are not, the state wants the power to immediately revoke the contractor's license. "There are high stakes involved in this and we want to make sure we're doing a good job," Woods said. Dan Fazio, director of employer services for the Washington Farm Bureau, objected that his organization was left out of discussions that led to the bill. He also said the current law works. After the violations were discovered, the state was able to raise Global's bond from $10,000 to $160,000. "In 2004, Global Horizons did a lot of things wrong. I called the CEO and we sat down with L&I and there were no violations in 2005. To me that shows the system is working," Fazio said. "Their audit report was filed one week late. We have the toughest and best workplace standards in the nation," Fazio said. Organized labor testified in support of the bill. Other employer groups, such as the Yakima-based Washington Growers League, testified against it. Labor and employers also sparred over legislation that would end an exemption from paying the minimum wage to "on-call" workers. Opposing the bills were representatives of the dairy, cattle, fishing and logging industries as well as Moxee-area rancher Carol Martinez and Klickitat County sheep rancher Max Fernandez. He recently won a long court battle in which it was determined that on-call workers are exempt from the minimum wage. Supporting the bills were organized labor and Columbia Legal Services of Yakima, which sued Fernandez.
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