Farmworker Salvador Huerta’s Sept. 15 testimony before the Agriculture Labor Relations Board (ALRB) at the Santa Maria Inn included allegations of mistreatment by employers.
He told the ALRB that he and his coworkers had been “treated like slaves.” They’d been illegally denied breaks, he said, intimidated by supervisors, and retaliated against for asserting their rights.
“It’s necessary that you come into the fields and educate people,” he exhorted the board in Spanish. “Because the people are afraid.”
Guillermo Gonzales, who’d come to the United States from El Salvador more than 15 years ago, said he was denied pay if the machinery he operated at the celery farm didn’t work properly. He was also deprived of breaks and made to walk long distances to get a drink of water.
“Come and see for yourselves,” he told the board. “Come and see how the farmworkers suffer.”
Gonzales, Huerta, and dozens of others spent more than six hours testifying before the ALRB Sept. 15. The hearing comes as the board considers a new rule—one that would allow ALRB educators access to private worksites to educate workers about their rights under the Agricultural Labor Relations Act.
The ALRB formed a committee to consider the rule in June and visited Santa Maria after similar hearings in Salinas and Fresno.
At the meeting the board weighed its options while listening to farmworker testimony and quizzing them on what strategies would work best. Are worksite visits necessary? Can education be done through the Internet and local media instead? If the ALRB were to visit worksites, would it be better for them to do so at the beginning or the end of the day?
“It was inspiring to see the good turnout and farmworkers speaking about their concerns,” said Hazel Davalos with Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE).
Local organizations that advocate for farmworkers took note of the meeting. CAUSE marked the occasion by releasing a report on the types of conditions that farmworkers labor under in Santa Barbara County.
The report, based on some 300 interviews, paints a bleak picture. Farmworkers, CAUSE says, are subject to a culture of extreme overwork and fear. They’re often subject to wage theft and have few protections in place for their health and safety, according to the report.
“We saw some alarming trends,” Davalos said. “Despite all these different issues, there’s a fear around speaking up. Farmworkers are a vulnerable workforce. But seeing that turnout was encouraging.”
One in four of the farmworkers surveyed by CAUSE said they’d been injured at work; of those injured, three of four received no benefits or compensation. One in 10 didn’t have access to drinking water, and four in 10 suffered from exposure to pesticides.
Seven out of 10 farmworkers reported working conditions that were dangerous or harmful to their health.
Many of the allegations reported to CAUSE indicate illegal working conditions within the county. State agencies, however, have limited resources to educate farmworkers on their rights under the Agricultural Labor Relations Act. And those who need to be educated on their rights face serious barriers. According to the data provided by CAUSE, many farmworkers never made it to high school. Some are indigenous and speak limited Spanish. Several of those who testified said they didn’t know how to use a computer.
Stories about intimidation and retaliation came up repeatedly at the hearing. And grievances are rare. Fewer than 4 percent of those surveyed by CAUSE had filed a complaint against their employer. One in five have been fired, sent home early, or given fewer hours “for an unfair reason.”
Alma Hernandez-Wilson, program coordinator for Thrive! Guadalupe, worked with CAUSE during the lead-up to the ALRB hearing. The biggest challenge in the fight ahead, she thinks, is “the fear.” Farmworkers can be fired for speaking out, and even if they successfully file a grievance for unfair termination, the lost wages from a period of unemployment can devastate their families’ livelihoods.
She stressed that her organization wants the push to be community led. “We’re not directing this, we’re facilitating and supporting—everything has to be farmworker led. We just gather the information and we’re sharing it with them.”
That’s easier said than done. Francisco Lozano, a Mixteco who switched to landscaping after years of fieldwork, told the board he could only read or write a little bit. “But there’s people who can’t do either,” he stressed. “It’s important that this information is shared, but people are afraid to bring this into their place of work.”
Eventually, Lozano found himself in a strange position—it was he, having learned the basics of his rights, who was going house to house for the union and telling his neighbors about the ALRA.
A question from the board: Do you think you know enough about your rights under that law to be educating others?
“No,” Lozano said. “I only know a little, nothing more.”
If we came onto your worksite, the board asked, would you take the time to listen, given that it was voluntary?
Lozano didn’t have to think. “Yes,” he said decisively.
Staff Writer Sean McNulty can be reached at smcnulty@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 24 – Oct 1, 2015.