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4 CapitalPress.com January 1, 2016 Farm managers need license to hire workers, Washington agency says Supreme Court to interpret Farm Labor Contractor Act The act requires business- es that recruit and transport farmworkers to obtain the L&I license and post a bond. The goal of the act is to prevent workers from being misled or stiffed out of pay By DON JENKINS E\À\E\QLJKWRSHUDWRUV Capital Press Northwest had been man- OLYMPIA — The Wash- aging Yakima Valley or- ington Department of Labor chards since 1986. Accord- and Industries has asked the ing to court records, it didn’t state Supreme Court to re- recruit or transport workers, quire farm management com- and hired employees who panies to obtain a separate came seeking work. The license to hire workers. landowners paid the workers, /, DUJXHV LQ D FRXUW ¿O- and Northwest received $150 ing that its “longstanding” a year per-acre to manage policy has been for on-site all farm operations, no mat- managers to have a license ter how many people it em- issued to farm labor contrac- ployed. tors. Northwest argued it was a The leaders of the Wash- farmer, not a labor contractor, ington Growers League and DQGZRXOGEHHDV\WR¿QGDQG ZDÀDIRUPHUO\NQRZQDVWKH hold responsible for exploit- Washington Farm Labor As- ing workers. sociation, disputed the claim. U.S. District Judge Thom- “Their brief and their posi- as O. Rice ruled that North- tion is a surprise and amazing west should have had the li- to me,” Growers League Ex- cense because its fee covered ecutive Director Mike Gem- hiring workers. pler said. “I’m really disap- He also ruled that the pointed they’re taking this landowners, John Hancock kind of position. I think it’s a and Texas Municipal Plans gross overreach.” Consortium, were liable for /,¿OHGWKHEULHILQFRQ- not making sure Northwest nection with Saucedo v. John had the license. A fourth de- Hancock Insurance Co., a fendant, California-based case the Supreme Court will Farmland Management Ser- hear Jan. 14. vices, which hired Northwest The case stems from a on behalf of the landowners, 2012 federal class-action law- also was held responsible. suit in which workers at three Rice awarded a total of $1 Yakima County orchards al- million to 722 workers, who leged they were mistreated by are represented by Columbia a gun-toting foreman. Legal Services. The lawsuit’s focus be- The defendants appealed came whether the orchards’ Rice’s decision to the 9th on-site manager, Northwest U.S. Circuit Court of Ap- Management and Realty peals. The circuit found no Services, violated the state’s court precedent addressing Farm Labor Contractor Act the issue, so it has asked the by not having an L&I license. state Supreme Court to inter- WATER The 1 Issue in the West! # # Capital Press Ag Weekly will focus on this most crucial resource in an award-winning special section. Publishes Feb. 5, 2016 This section will provide valuable background and an insightful look at the current water situation with a forecast of what may happen in the future. Reach our print and online readers by advertising in this special section. Ad space deadline is Jan. 8, 2016 pret the state’s act. L&I argues that as the sole enforcer of the labor act, the court should defer to its inter- pretation. Farm management com- panies should be required to obtain a labor contractor’s license because such busi- nesses might not own any real property for workers to claim in lieu of back wag- es, according to L&I. “If the management company goes out of business, the employ- ees are out of luck,” L&I’s brief states. Agency spokesman Mat- thew Erlich said Dec. 23 that beginning in 2008 the department became more ag- gressive in educating growers about who needs a contrac- tors license. “We’ve done extensive outreach to stakeholders, farmers,” he said. Dan Fazio, the director of ZDÀDVDLGWKDWEHIRUH5LFH¶V ruling everyone assumed that companies such as Northwest were not labor contractors. “They are in every way shape and form the employ- er,” he said. “This does noth- ing to help the farmworker, and that’s the big picture here.” Gempler said Rice’s ruling GLG QRW UHÀHFW WKH LQGXVWU\¶V understanding of the law. “That, honestly, was a sur- prise, that anybody could see it that way,” he said. L&I lists 167 farm and forestry labor contractors on its website. Farmworker la- bor contractors pay an annual licensing fee of $35 and must post a bond ranging between $5,000 and $20,000, depend- ing on the number of workers they hire out. Dan Wheat/Capital Press A crew harvests apples in Brewster, Wash., on Aug. 31. The Washington Employment Security Depart- ment says a farm employers association’s suggested answers skewed the results of a wage survey. 7KHDVVRFLDWLRQ¶VGLUHFWRUVD\VWKHVXUYH\ZDVELDVHGWRZDUGLQÀDWLQJSUHYDLOLQJZDJHV Washington farm employers JURXSLQÀDSRYHUZDJHVXUYH\ Labor will use the informa- tion to set minimum wages and employment standards for The head of a farm em- H-2A foreign workers. ployers association Tuesday In written instructions and responded to complaints by a ,QWHUQHWYLGHRVZDÀDHQFRXU- Washington state agency that aged farmers to return the he interfered with a pay sur- survey and answer truthfully, vey, saying he offered honest but also cautioned that their advice to growers on how to responses could unwittingly answer questions rigged to raise wages, make bonuses DUWL¿FLDOO\ LQÀDWH SUHYDLOLQJ mandatory and force farmers wages. to provide free housing to “The survey has a bias to workers’ families. it,” said Dan Fazio, director Fazio said in an interview RI ZDÀD IRUPHUO\ NQRZQ DV WKDWZDÀDZDVWU\LQJWRNHHS the Washington Farm Labor the survey from leading to Association. “There’s nothing false conclusions about indus- that we did that was wrong.” try standards. The Employment Security ESD, however, took ex- Department surveyed growers FHSWLRQ WR ZDÀD VXJJHVWLQJ in September about wages, VSHFL¿F DQVZHUV WR VRPH bonuses and housing. questions. The U.S. Department of In a report last week, ESD By DON JENKINS Capital Press VDLG ZDÀD¶V LQÀXHQFH DSSDU- ently distorted how much do- mestic seasonal workers were paid for picking Fuji, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples. The survey said workers received the state’s minimum wage, $9.47 an hour, for pick- ing those varieties. ESD said a statistical analysis suggests workers actually received piece-rates of $28 a bin for Fujis and $23 a bin for the other two varieties. An ESD spokeswoman said the department, which compared survey answers to a 2013 survey, could not ex- SODLQ ZK\ ZDÀD¶V LQÀXHQFH was limited to pay for three YDULHWLHVEXWQRWWR¿YHRWKHU major varieties listed on the survey. Cattle markets get good news for holidays By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press Tighter than expected fed cattle supplies and moderat- ing carcass weights have in- dustry analysts seeing a more bullish market for fed cattle heading into the new year. USDA’s latest cattle on feed report showed November marketings of fed cattle at the high end of expectations and November placements into feedlots 5 percent lower than anticipated. Marketings, at 1.53 million head, were up 4 percent year over year, according to the re- port released Dec. 18. Placements, at 1.60 mil- lion head, were down 11 per- cent and the lowest November placements since the tracking series began in 1996. That combination of good PDUNHWLQJ UDWH DQG VLJQL¿- cantly lower placements than expected is bullish for fed cat- tle markets, said Derrell Peel, livestock marketing specialist Cattle on feed, placements, marketing and other disappearances, November producers to keep feeder cattle longer, delaying their entry into feedlots, but Peel (Feedlots with 1,000-head capacity or more) doesn’t think those supplies (1,000 head) Percent are particularly burdensome. Item 2014 2015 change Industry analyst John On feed Dec. 1 10,816 10,794 0 Nalivka, owner of Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore., said Placed on feed, Nov. 1,794 1,601 -11 feeder cattle are still out Fed cattle marketed, Nov. 1,475 1,532 4 there, but with feedlots los- Other disappearance, Nov.* 74 74 0 ing nearly $700 a head right *Includes death loss, movement from feedlots to pasture, and shipments to other feedlots now based on the cash mar- for further feeding. ket, they have plenty of mo- Source: USDA NASS Capital Press graphic tivation to pressure feeder cattle prices downward. That’s why placements with Oklahoma State Univer- down, he said. sity. High feeder cattle prices were down 11 percent, he Dec. 1 on-feed numbers gave feedlots incentive to said. He estimates feedlots (on a were slightly lower year over hold cattle longer to put on year at 10.8 million head, extra weight, which slowed cash basis) will be in the red NASS reported. turnover. But it also result- $629 per head in December A fractionally lower on- ed in a backlog of heavy fed and $492 a head in January feed number is also bullish, cattle, which caused a price and said they’ve been losing reminding folks there’s not drop and volatility this fall, money all year, with an aver- age loss of $245 a head for the a big increase in feeder cat- he said. tle supplies. Cattle on feed The bulge is still working entire year. “I don’t think there’s any have been at or above year- its way through retail but the ago levels for most of the JOXWKDVVRPHZKDWEHHQ¿[HG opportunity to turn that red ink in the feedlot to black ink year, not because there were on feedlots, he said. any more cattle but because Analysts are saying lower until we get into May,” he feedlots were slowing them feeder cattle prices have led said. ROP-51-3-2/#13 1-2/#13
