Cost of living, wage increases highlighted in first farmworker conditions committee meeting

Santa Barbara County 1st District Supervisor Das Williams and 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann stepped out of their seats in the Santa Maria hearing room and gave the dais to local farmworker advocates and growers.

The two supervisors held the first ad hoc advisory committee meeting on Nov. 12 to better understand the working conditions in agriculture—a discussion that bloomed out of a $26-an-hour minimum wage request from farmworkers and advocacy groups in August.

“We’re concerned about wages, but we’re also concerned about availability of housing, benefits, safety, and other factors that can affect both the mobility, prosperity, and sustainability of our communities,” Williams said.

During the five-hour meeting, supervisors heard from several panels that discussed both the farmworker and grower perspective on the $26 per hour wage; H-2A visa working conditions; access to health care; cost of housing; and grower setbacks. Forty-eight people came to speak during public comment, and dozens of people filled the chamber with others standing outside of the building.

Williams and Hartmann—who represent the growing regions of Cuyama Valley and Santa Ynez and Lompoc valleys, respectively—couldn’t make any decisions; rather they will present a report to their fellow supervisors in order to guide future decisions.

“I hope that answer includes a wage increase, but I also don’t think it’s the only solution that is out there in the community,” Williams said.

During the first panel, Daniel Segura, the associate organizing director for the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), said that full-time workers in Santa Barbara County earn roughly $36,000 a year, “well below what is needed to meet basic living costs.”

Despite concerns from growers about the ripple effects a wage increase could have in production costs or consumer price increases, Segura said, citing a study from UC Davis, that a 40 percent increase in wages would lead to a 4 percent increase in consumer prices ($25 per year per household, he said) and larger corporations can absorb these costs.

“We recognize that there will be concerns, especially for small growers, which is why policymakers should discuss phased adjustments or differentials based on company size,” Segura said, adding that this would allow for time to adjust to the change in costs.

Worker advocacy groups like CAUSE compared the recent $20 per hour wage increase for California fast food workers. While critics forecasted job losses, research shows that businesses have managed the changes, and Segura added that something similar could occur in the local ag industry.

Third District Supervisor Hartmann countered this comparison by saying that fast food companies have an “even playing field” because the wage increase was set at a statewide level.

“Say I’m Driscoll’s. I could buy from Santa Barbara County, I could buy from our neighboring counties, I could buy perhaps from Georgia, or from Mexico,” Hartmann said. “I’m going to go where I’m going to get it cheapest because it’s not a local market. It’s an international market, and that to me seems like a really important difference to address as we think about: What are the impacts of setting a minimum wage?”

Segura responded by saying it’s important to acknowledge that workers are leaving the county to work in other jurisdictions, and the county needs to do what it can to retain its employees.

“What we are doing is to sustain their ability to remain here to work. If we don’t have workers, we don’t even have a discussion to talk about,” Segura said.

Local growers shared worries about small farms going out of business, added overhead costs to an already highly regulated industry, and losses due to international competition.

Claire Wineman, the president of the Grower-Shipper Association for Santa Barbara and SLO Counties, cited an agriculture economic study and said that $26 an hour wage could put 72 percent of growers out of business and lose more than 16,000 local jobs, including more than 12,000 farmworker jobs.

“The proposal is promoted under the guise of fairness but leaves out many workers, including employees of the county and city—who not only won’t benefit but will be forced to pay higher food costs,” Wineman said.

This article appears in Nov 21 – Dec 1, 2024.