Lawsuit accuses Trump administration of hurting California farmworkers during coronavirus
A new federal lawsuit filed in Fresno seeks to stop the Trump Administration from making changes to a longstanding program critics say could ultimately lead to pay cuts for migrant farmworkers and undercut domestic workers already struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.
The California-based United Farm Workers union is suing to reverse a Sept. 30 order from the United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who halted the government’s collection of farm labor worker data that helps determine wages and eligibility for family assistance programs.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Fresno. The USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The UFW argues the move is an “arbitrary and capricious” attack on seasonal and migrant farmworkers that clears the way for employers to pay minimum wages.
The data, which was not collected in October and won’t be published in November, also helps calculate eligibility for programs such as the National Farmworker Jobs Program, the Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Program, and the Legal Services Corporation Migrant Program.
“USDA failed to explain its rationale for abruptly ending a century-old survey, and it failed to consider the numerous weighty interests that would be impacted by that decision,” the union says in its lawsuit.
The UFW fears the move could lead to pay cuts for California’s 23,000 guest workers, who could wind up working for minimum wage, according to the lawsuit. Minimum wage varies around the nation, and some states were already not collecting labor data, the lawsuit says.
The union estimates wages for California guest farmworkers could fall by 77 cents per hour; H2-A workers in Oregon would earn $3.83 to $4.33 less per hour. In Idaho, workers would earn $6.37 less per hour.
“Those wage decreases will send ripple effects throughout the farm labor market, ultimately resulting in many U.S. farmworkers being paid less as farms hire an increasing number of foreign laborers who can be paid lower wages than U.S. farmworkers currently receive,” the UFW argues in the lawsuit.
In a statement announcing the lawsuit Wednesday, Diana Tellefson Torres, executive director of the UFW Foundation, said the Trump administration was “making it impossible” to protect American worker wages from “being depressed by the guest worker program.”
“This is happening in the middle of a pandemic that is already devastating rural farmworker communities,” Tellefson Torres said. Farmworkers have been deemed “essential workers” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the pandemic has also wreaked havoc for farm employers, as shuttered restaurants drove many farmers to plow under crops, costing growers hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Farm Bureau estimates employers pay about $10,000 per migrant to cover transportation and housing. For that reason, many farmers support the idea of offsetting the costs of hiring guest workers.
Perdue has said the government should change farmworker wage rates. Earlier this year, Perdue told the American Farm Bureau Federation that agriculture businesses were “pricing ourselves out of business” by providing a minimum wage higher than most companies or sectors, according to news reports.
But local leaders criticized the USDA’s decision to cut off data collection, saying it hurts American workers by allowing employers to bring on cheaper foreign labor and drive down wages.
Hundreds of guest laborers come to California’s central San Joaquin Valley each year for seasonal work.
Fresno-area farmworker advocates say the move exposes fundamental systemic flaws in federal farm labor programs.
“We want to promote and support these workers, but we need to have the social safety nets and labor safety nets to make sure there is no abuse,” said Eliseo Gamiño, a councilman in Firebaugh and president of the Central Valley Leadership Roundtable. “That’s exactly what we’re seeing. Those weaknesses are showing up.”
Gamino said federal work programs should undergo significant reform, and the government should grant citizenship to undocumented farmworkers.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 12:49 PM.
