Report on Farm Workers Finds Services Inefficient

SACRAMENTO —  Government services for California’s farm workers are hamstrung by inefficiency and red tape, according to a Wilson Administration report, but farm workers advocates said the official account has little merit.

The 77-page document called for coordination of a score of state and federal services worth an estimated $352 million annually.

The report by the Farm Workers Coordinating Council said government agencies should cooperate with each other to help the state’s 900,000 agricultural workers, most of them seasonal employees.

But supporters of farm workers rights said the report was of no value to farm workers.

“The report is just a (public relations) exercise,” said Mark Schacht, an attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance, a farm workers advocacy group. “It talks about coordination and says solutions don’t rest with new laws or more government, but that’s exactly what farm workers need. The core problem is that if you’re a farm worker in this state and you complain about your conditions, you’ll be fired,” Schacht said.

Indeed, the study emphasized the need not to propose dramatic changes. “Most of the issues reported in testimony by farm workers and others are not new and have not improved significantly over the year,” the report stated. “To rush to conclusions and solutions would run the risk of making serious misjudgments and would be a disservice to farm workers.”

The 10-member council, which held half a dozen hearings around the state and heard testimony from more than 300 people, was appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson and was made up of key members of his Administration.

Among other things, the council recommended setting up local farm worker committees, establishing a farm labor contractor referral system, holding farm worker job fairs, offering training in pesticide safety and developing high school credits for migrant students.

The report did not discuss Wilson’s recent veto of a major farm worker bill. That measure, by Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Los Angeles) would have required the state Industrial Relations Department to monitor farm workers job sites to make sure they are safe and to ensure that laborers are fairly treated.