Farmworkers under attack

and testimony by farmworker union president

by Wanda Ballentine

Conditions faced by farm workers in Oregon are in many ways typical of those in agribusiness throughout the U.S. Not satisfied with the present level of exploitation, growers are using their considerable lobbying power in an attempt to roll back -- even further! -- the weak protections currently available to those who put the food on our tables. In Oregon and elsewhere, farm workers are fighting back. The Oregon farm worker union PCUN is organizing statewide resistance to this latest anti-worker effort by growers.

The 1999 Oregon Legislature started off with four bills trying to gut farm worker rights. At the request of the Oregon Farm Bureau, Rep Jeff Kruse (a grower from Roseburg, Oregon) introduced the following bills:

HB 2401 exempts agricultural employers with 10 or fewer employees from requirements to have workplace safety committee.

  HB 2402 exempts corporate farm officers and members from occupational safety and heath requirements.

  HB 2403 excludes seasonal farmworkers when determining need for workplace safety committee.

  HB 2405 prohibits Oregon-OHSA from issuing citation and notice of civil penalty to employers for non-serious violations discovered during first inspection or investigation during a calendar year.

At a legislative hearing a week after these bills were introduced, Ramon Ramirez, President of Oregon's farm worker union PCUN testified:

"On behalf of our membership, composed of 4,500 Willamette Valley farm workers, tree planters and nursery workers, PCUN, Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United, strongly urges the House Committee on Business and Consumer Affairs to oppose the passage of HB 2401, HB 2402, HB 2403 and HB 2405.

"The living and working conditions farm workers currently have to endure in the State of Oregon are horrible.

"Farm workers today continue to live in sub-standard housing and work in piece rate crops, while violations of state minimum wage laws continue rampantly, field sanitation is non-existent in many farms, children continue to work in the fields, and the health and well-being of farm workers in Oregon continue to decline. A study done several years ago by the GAO, the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, concluded the following:

300,000 farm workers suffer acute illness or injury each year;

31% of farm workers work without drinking water or toilets;

over 100,000 children under the age of fourteen work in the fields;

health care facilities only serve 15% of the farm workers;

growers are three times more likely to omit or under-report workers' earnings which qualify them for Social Security benefits; and

currently housing is only available to 30% of the farm worker workforce. Alex Pulaski, a reporter with the Oregonian, recently completed a series of articles which examined these conditions in Oregon, confirming many of the GAO conclusions.

"Agricultural work is one of most hazardous occupations in this state. The Legislature must recognize the importance of having safeguards to protect workers from injuries and conditions which may lead to long term health problems. We feel adoption of HB 2405 would significantly hurt the enforcement of health and safety protection for farm workers.

"We feel that given the conditions facing farm workers in agriculture, enforcement laws and resources need to be strengthened, not gutted. HB 2405 sends the wrong message to the agricultural community. To the growers, it removes an incentive for them to comply with state health and safety regulations. To the farm workers, the message is that we don't care about you.

"Farm workers have made Oregon agriculture into a strong, productive industry nationally and internationally. It's about time that we recognize this contribution and start treating farm workers with respect and work towards ending the Apartheid conditions in our state."