Field Workers Need This Shield

No one could disagree that agricultural labor is hard work compounded by low pay. But it is necessary and must be made tolerable for the men and women who do it, picking grapes, strawberries and other produce that requires harvesting by hand. Higher pay and better benefits would help, and labor unions have pushed in that direction with some success.

Now there is a proposal before the Legislature that would draw clearer lines of legal responsibility between farmers and the labor contractors who often hire workers for them. A bill by Assemblywoman Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) would require all growers who use farm workers, whether hiring them directly or through labor contractors, to share responsibility for meeting basic state labor regulations regarding child labor and wage protections, pesticide exposure and other agricultural safety rules. The measure, AB 2468, has passed the Assembly Labor and Judiciary committees and now goes before the full Assembly, where its prospects are uncertain. The measure also faces rough going in the state Senate and the governor’s office, but it should become law because of the prevalence of contractors who recruit, transport, supervise and pay workers. Unlike most industrial contract workers, farm laborers work on the farmers’ lands, not in a contractor’s factory. If growers face no legal responsibility for what their subcontractors do, they have no incentive to police them.

There are fewer abuses of California farm workers than in years past, but problems remain. There are still pay violations, illegal deductions for food or transportation and instances where workers are not paid at all, according to a detailed report written by the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation and filed with the Assembly committees that approved the bill.

These abuses would be reduced further if the ultimate employers, the farmers, were made even partially liable for violations of labor regulations. The Romero bill would accomplish this goal.