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