SONOMA (California) INDEX-TRIBUNE

February 10, 2009

Growers respond to human trafficking

By Emily Charrier-Botts INDEX-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

While it may not be widely acknowledged or recognized, according to some sources involved in farmworker services, the state's widespread plague of human trafficking is even present in some Sonoma Valley vineyards.

"We have ... people getting exploited," said Mario Castillo, outreach manager for Vineyard Worker Services, in a previous interview with the I-T. "The (wine industry) system is well placed to take advantage of people."

But while many organizations and growers are doing what they can to avoid it, others say it's an issue they never imagined could occur here.

"I'm completely surprised that this is going on," said Grant Raeside, executive director of the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Alliance, who added it's an issue the alliance has never discussed in the three years he's been on board. "This is something we take very seriously. We're very concerned."

The secretive nature of human trafficking makes it difficult for some employers to spot. There are thousands of workers, specifically from Mexico, who come to California every year to work the agriculture fields. And every year some percent of those workers have been coerced by traffickers who keep them in labor rings by intimidation, threat and even force.

"We have a lot of foreign nationals that are trafficked into Sonoma County for labor," said Kathy Hargitt, a Valley resident and consultant on the issue of human trafficking. "With our poor economy ... there's a lot of people who will be looking for cheap labor."

The scheme is simple. A trafficker will attract a group of laborers with the promise of work in California, and may even offer to smuggle the laborers into the country. Once in America, the laborers are told they will have to reimburse the trafficker for every expense, including the cost of transportation, lodging, food and water. The debt quickly becomes more money than the worker can make, even after months of work. The trafficker will refuse to release the worker until it is paid off, often threatening violence against the worker or the worker's family to coerce the worker to stay.

The trafficker will seek to contract with growers and wineries to provide agricultural labor. In many cases, the winery owner doesn't realize that the money given to the contractor will never make it into the hands of workers. However unintentional, wineries can still be unwitting participants in human trafficking.

"I think it's astonishing that there are contractors that are not paying their workers," Raeside said. "I can't imagine growers being that naive, but I can see it being a problem."

Accurate statistics on the number of cases of human trafficking for forced labor do not exist, although the FBI states forced labor is a $9.5 billion industry in America. Not only is the practice secretive in nature, but a recent report on the status of human trafficking in California conducted by the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery Task Force found that state agencies tend to classify the issue differently, calling it anything from human smuggling to forced labor, making it even more difficult to pin down precise figures.

"It's this thing that goes on that everyone thinks only happens in third world countries," said Jeff Hoffman, an attorney with California Rural Legal Assistance in Santa Rosa. While not their usual focus, CRLA does aid workers trapped in labor rings.

In Sonoma Valley, it is an issue that has not been discussed at any length. Although Castillo said he has dealt with cases of human trafficking, the board of directors at Vineyard Worker Services said the subject was never brought to their attention.

"It totally blindsided us. We weren't aware," said Elizabeth Kemp, president of the board, who said she is planning to hold a meeting to further investigate the issue. "There may be more that we're not aware of, and we need to be."

While law enforcement, staff at Vineyard Worker Services and elected officials like 1st District Supervisor Valerie Brown all say trafficking exists in the county, the extent of the problem in the Sonoma Valley is impossible to determine. Of the dozen wineries the Index-Tribune contacted, the vast majority said they work with the same crew every year or contract with a vineyard management service. Only a small fraction could not verify the workers' status.

"I contract with (vineyard manager) Ned Hill, where I assume they (the workers) are checked out," said Ramona Nicholson, of Nicholson Ranch Winery. She said finding legal labor takes diligence, especially when so many workers have forged documents. "I just want to make sure I support workers who are here legally."

As of now, agricultural field owners are not typically held responsible for ensuring their workforce is paid appropriately. There are only a handful of cases where farmers have been required to pay restitution to workers, and those typically include gross negligence on the farmer's part. But some wineries in the Valley take it upon themselves to be an example of ethical hiring practices.

"The wineries that farm their own vineyards are under the public eye. There's such social pressure on doing things right," said Jim Bundschu, director of viticulture at Gundlach-Bundschu Winery, who said he works with the same crew fulltime and makes sure each employee is paid.

Raeside said the Vintners and Growers Alliance would immediately begin to tackle the issue of human trafficking in the Valley. The board plans to meet next week with representatives from Vineyard Worker Services to get more details. Raeside said the alliance will likely discuss human trafficking at the next members meeting in March.

"We're going to make this one of our top priorities," Raeside said. "We want to bring this out in the open and make sure workers are getting paid. We want to determine what we can do to prevent this."