TRI CITY HERALD

July 14, 2005

Workers claim recruiter violated laws

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer

In February 2004, Ricardo Betancourt went to WorkSource in Yakima in search of a job.

He left, believing he'd been successful. During a telephone interview with labor recruiter Global Horizons, he was told he had been hired as an orchard worker, according to papers filed in Yakima federal court.

All he needed to do was wait for a phone call telling him when to start.

But the call never came, he told his attorney.

Instead, Global Horizons brought in workers from Thailand under the federal H-2A guest-worker program, according to claims in a class action suit filed this week by Columbia Legal Services in Yakima.

Under the H-2A program, a foreigner can work in the United States doing temporary or seasonal agricultural work, then return to his country. But the program requires that an employer try to find local workers before bringing new workers into the country.

The suit, filed Tuesday, but not posted electronically so that it widely was available until Wednesday, claims two Yakima Valley growers and the labor recruiter "systematically and intentionally preferred H-2A laborers from Thailand in violation of federal and state law."

Most of the estimated 490 plaintiffs in the class action suit are expected to be of Mexican or other Hispanic origin and speak Spanish, according to court documents.

"This is a case about the future of agriculture in our valley," said Lori Isley of Columbia Legal Services, in a prepared statement. "Will some employers be able to discriminate against local workers and import even more vulnerable workers from other countries?"

Columbia Legal Services said that Global Horizons, based in California, sought 150 workers for Green Acre Farms in 2004 through Yakima WorkSource, and told the state Jan. 21that it had filled all the jobs.

On Feb. 27, it notified the state only seven of the 150 workers remained on the job, and that it wanted to bring in H-2A workers. It said 98 workers had failed to report to work, 22 had been fired and 19 had quit after working briefly, according to plaintiff's court filing.

In March, the state agreed to let Global Horizons bring in 131 foreign workers, all of whom were recruited from Thailand, according to Columbia Legal Services.

Global Horizons reported similar problems to the state in recruiting and retaining workers for Valley Fruit in 2004 and again won permission to hire workers from Thailand, according to court documents.

State documents show that WorkSource referred 1,026 potential workers, but only 166 were hired, according to the plaintiffs' claim. The suit claims the workers were discriminated against based on their national origin.

The suit also claims that employers imposed work production standards that were never given to workers in writing, as required by law.

"The workers believe these actions were taken to discourage local workers from applying for work or to force them out of their jobs in order to create the false impression of a shortage of local workers so that Thai workers could be hired instead," according to a statement from Columbia Legal Services.

In one instance, a work order to pick pears at Valley Fruit said the piece rate would be $19 a bin, according to court documents. When U.S. workers objected to the $13.50 a bin offered instead, the entire crew was fired, according to court documents. A supervisor for Global said the company had another group of workers to pick the pears, according to court documents.

Neither Global Horizons, Valley Fruit nor Green Acre Farms responded to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon after the court filing became available.

But Tuesday evening, Global Horizon vice president Joseph Knoller said the company followed Washington law and is sensitive to local employees.

In 2004, Global Horizons President Mordechai Orian said the company wanted to hire anybody locally who is able to do the work, but that locals didn't want to come to work. He praised the work ethic of Thai workers.

Valley Fruit has been running television commercials urging viewers to contact Gov. Christine Gregoire to request H-2A workers be allowed.

The state has fined Global Horizons for wage and hour violations, including deducting a nonexistent state income tax from workers' paychecks, according to Columbia Legal Services. The state also has refused to renew Global Horizon's farm labor contractor's license or to recruit for the firm through WorkSource because it has not met basic employment laws, say plaintiff attorneys.

Global Horizons is appealing.