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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Farmers, labor clash over foreign workers
Higher wages touted as alternative to importing help
By SHANNON DININNY
YAKIMA -- John Wyss had just been hired at Gebbers Farms, one of the
nation's largest apple growers, when the company couldn't find enough
workers in 2005. Fruit went unpicked, and much of what was picked came
off the trees too late.
Hail and harsh winter freezes have shrunk the crops in the years since,
reducing the need for workers. But if the weather had cooperated, he
said, "We would have had severe labor problems."
It's become an annual argument -- farmers nationally complain about a
shortage of workers, while labor groups counter that higher wages will
secure field hands.
This year, new rules enacted by the Bush administration shortly before
the president left office may make it easier for farmers to bring in
foreign workers. Congress faces another push to potentially legalize
undocumented farmworkers already in the country. And in Washington
state, farm groups are driving lawmakers to make it just the second
state in the nation to create its own guest-worker program.
At the same time, thousands of U.S. workers are losing their jobs in the
economic crisis.
How problematic does that make any talk of bringing in foreign workers?
"Too many people think of farm work as unskilled, undifferentiated work.
Agriculture has a great variety of jobs, and every single one of them
requires some set of skills," said Howard Rosenberg, an agricultural
economist with the University of California-Berkeley.
"A worker is not a worker. If I were laid off from my job, I don't know
that I'd have the skills," he said.
As many as 1 million people labor in America's farm fields each year,
pruning trees and harvesting fruits and vegetables. The Labor Department
has estimated more than half are in the country illegally. Federal
efforts to crack down on illegal immigration in recent years have left
many growers fearing fines for employing undocumented workers, and more
are showing interest in a federal guest-worker program long criticized
as cumbersome and expensive.
Farmers brought in nearly 77,000 foreign farmworkers in 2007, the most
recent year for which numbers are available. In Washington state, the
number of workers brought into the country nearly doubled in 2008 to
2,094, up from 1,140 a year earlier.
That's far fewer than the thousands working in Washington fields each
year.
An estimated 15 billion individual apples are picked in Washington in an
average year, and the state grows plenty of other highly labor-intensive
crops. Fruit trees require hand-pruning and thinning, and the many
varieties of pears, peaches and cherries are selectively picked by hand
for ripeness and to avoid bruising.
Some of Washington's row crops, such as asparagus, also have
traditionally required hand labor.
The Washington Farm Bureau has proposed that the state push Congress for
a new, nonimmigrant visa class for "essential workers." Under the bill
in the Legislature, the state would then create its own essential worker
program to bring in foreign workers during times of peak need.
Colorado last year approved its own pilot program, which goes into
effect this year.
"Even with the economic downturn, I don't see people long-term getting
into the migrant farmworker trade. That sounds brutal, but I just don't
see it," said Dan Fazio, director of employer services for the
Washington Farm Bureau. "This work force is going to have to come from
somewhere else."
Erik Nicholson of the United Farmworkers of America calls the bill
"political theater."
"It's an extremely poorly crafted bill that runs counter to existing
immigration law in a number of ways," he said.
Labor groups also support a separate bill that would more strictly
regulate contractors that bring foreign workers into the country. But
they have filed suit against recent changes to the federal guest-worker
program, saying they will lower wages in the fields, erode labor
protections and make it easier for contractors to avoid hiring legal
U.S. workers.
"Domestic workers are going to be looking over their shoulders,"
Nicholson said. "They are fully aware that if they start asserting their
rights -- for hand-washing facilities, bathrooms facilities or heaven
forbid, union representation -- they can be more easily replaced by
foreign workers."
United Farmworkers previously supported some agricultural labor bills
that included comprehensive immigration reform, such as the AgJobs
legislation, which has been proposed in various forms since the late
1990s.
How likely immigration reform is in the coming days given other pressing
issues, such as the economy, remains to be seen.
"I'd like to see some of these people who've been here and been a good
part of society and don't have papers be able to obtain legal status,"
said Jon Warling, an Othello apple grower and labor contractor.
"But I have a hard time believing that with this climate, people in this
country will approve that."
Warling supports efforts to create a state guest-worker program, largely
because he's experienced the labor shortage firsthand.
Last year, he requested 35 workers from the state WorkSource office, but
got no referrals.
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