PALM BEACH POST

March 15, 2006

Editorial

Yes, farmworkers exist

It is no small irony that the Legislature appears ready to make a bill protecting farmworkers one of the first new laws passed this session.

For decades, lawmakers acted as if farmworkers didn't exist and listened only to agriculture industry lobbyists whenever safety issues came up. Tallahassee stayed oblivious to the deaths, injuries and deplorable conditions of migrant laborers. Reform has come grudgingly in recent years, through the leadership of conscientious legislators such as Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach, and Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales.

Last year, Rep. Gannon introduced a bill that would require vans that carry farmworkers to the fields to have working seat belts in every seat and pass state inspections. Typically, large farms hire subcontractors to transport workers, and the leading cause of work-related deaths for Florida farmworkers is transportation accidents. Since 1992, crashes have killed at least 83 farmworkers and injured more than 400. One of the worst was in 2004, when a 15-passenger van carrying 19 workers crashed and rolled over on Interstate 95 near Fort Pierce, killing nine Mexican migrants.

Rep. Gannon came close but could not get her bill to the floor for a vote last year. Sen. Alexander, a citrus grower whose district includes parts of St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties, threw his support behind Rep. Gannon this session, and they have guided the legislation — Senate Bill 258, House Bill 255 — through committees and have it headed to the floor for likely approval. The bill even has picked up support from growers who have been on the other side. The measure would impose a $200 fine for seat-belt violations and a $100 penalty for failing to display an inspection sticker.

The next step for legislators is to approve the hiring of more state inspectors to help enforce the van regulations and monitor pesticide use. The state has about 20 inspectors to check more than 40,000 growing operations. Approval for many new inspectors would show that Florida finally is getting serious about decent treatment for farmworkers.