Street Roots • May 27-June 2, 2016
News
Page 7
Forest worker abuse
prompts special
hearing in Salem
Sen. Michael Dembrow convenes
Senate Workforce Committee for
testimony on im m igrant and
guest worker exploitation
BY EMILY GREEN
STAFF W R ITER
orker abuse and exploitation in
Oregon’s forests was the focus
Tuesday morning at a special
hearing before lawmakers in Salem.
Sen. Michael Dembrow (D-Portland),
chair of the Oregon Senate Workforce
Committee, invited workers, their advocates,
state regulators and land managers, industry
leaders and employers to answer questions
about the oversight of contractors and the
treatment of the reforestation workers they
employ.
These laborers are primarily Latino
immigrants or foreign guest workers,
brought to the U.S. legally under a
temporary work visa program known as
H2-B.
They labor for long hours, performing
some of the most grueling work in Oregon’s
forests. They are the workers planting
saplings in the wake of logging operations,
thinning stands and brush with chainsaws to
reduce fuels, fighting forest fires and
spraying herbicides.
Dembrow said it was Street Roots’
in-depth series of reports on the exploitation
of these workers that motivated him to hold
the informational hearing.
As Street Roots reported in February,
extensive research and surveys of workers in
Southern Oregon show they’re often denied
rest breaks, drinking water and basic
sanitation, and that
supervisors are
known to discourage
them from reporting
"W hether we're ta lk in g about
serious and
safety tra in in g , exposure to
debilitating on-the-job
pesticides or a va rie ty of thing s injuries as being
— it sounds as IS we re a lly have work related.
They’re frequently
w o rk to do la the area
w ork
er T p ro te ctio - n SEN.
s/' MICHAEL DEMBROW housed in motel
rooms where the
D -P O R T L A N D
bodies outnumber
the beds, and are
pressured to work
dangerously fast,
sometimes with inadequate equipment In
some cases they aren’t paid overtime or the
wages they were promised, but widespread
fear of retaliation and language barriers keep
them from speaking up or reporting their
employers for violating labor and safety laws.
“We talk here all the time about the need
to restore forest health,” Dembrow said,
shortly after the hearing. “If we don’t take
good care of our forests, they’re going to
■
bum, they’re going to be diseased. We owe
fair treatment to these workers.”
Through a translator, Ramon Gutierrez
and Andrés Cortez relayed their experiences
working for reforestation contractors.
“I’m here asking for your help,” Gutierrez
told the committee. “I’ve come to tell you
that in this type of work, we are mistreated
very much, almost like animals, and we are
not animals.”
Cortez said over the past 13 years he’s
worked for several companies in Oregon’s
forests, and he’s never seen a safety
inspection take place.
“They give us bad equipment, that’s part
of the reason that we have accidents, and we
are under too much pressure to do more
work than we can,” Cortez said, adding that
he suffered a fractured foot on the job.
Gutierrez said he’s been injured too - he
broke his arm while working for an Oregon-
based company on California land and had to
have surgery in three places.
“They don’t treat us like we’re people. In
the whole year I worked with a company, I
never had a rest break, and they never paid
my overtime,” Cortez said. “They bully us
and they always threaten us that they will
fire us, and that’s part of the reason that
many of us don’t speak o u t That’s why we
are here today. So you can hear us and you
can help us, because we feel that you are the
ones that can help us.”
Gutierrez told the committee a fellow
worker committed suicide because he
couldn’t live with a work related injury. After
the hearing he told Street Roots that man
was his best friend.
“His life was ruined,” said Gutierrez. “He
was bullied at work for not being able to do
the job as fast He was slower, he wasn’t the
same since the injury.”
He said his friend was just 21 years old
when he huijg himself in April.
Dembrow said he was struck by the
workers’ testimony, and walked away from
the hearing with the impression that
legislature needs to focus on finding more
resources to enable regulators to enforce
the labor and safety laws that already exist
He said there are a few things he still
needs to explore further, such as how
extensively workers are made aware of their
rights, how many inspectors it would take to
get the job done, and what it would co st But
he’s committed to finding answers and plans Members o f the
to introduce legislation in 2017 to combat
Oregon Senate
the exploitation of this workforce, which may Workforce Committee
include the Bureau of Labor and Industries.
hear testimony about
“The wage theft bill that we passed earlier working conditions
in the year is going to create three new wage from forestry workers,
May 24, in Salem.
theft inspectors for BOLI,” Dembrow said,
adding that one of those inspectors will
P H O T O B Y JO E G L O D E
likely be dedicated to agriculture and
forestry, so the amount of work he or she is
able to get done would
be a good indication of
bow many more
inspectors might be
needed.
Michael Wood,
Administrator of
Oregon Occupational
Safety and Health
Division, told the
committee a business
in Oregon has the
likelihood of being
visited by his safety
inspectors once every
32 years. He said in
1992, it would have
been once every 15
years.
He also told the
committee that OSHA
To learn more about the controversy
behind the treatment and oversight
of immigrant workers in our state's
timber industry, read Timber’s fallen,
at news.streetroots.org
||
is looking into some of
the issues raised by Street Roots reporting,
such as the way it determines which
contractors to inspect.
Dembrow said while the Senate Workforce
Committee has not worked much with OSHA
in the past, “I’m very motivated to now.
Whether we’re talking about safety training,
exposure to pesticides or a variety of things
- it sounds as if we really have work to do in
the area of worker protections.”
Carl Wilmsen, director of the Northwest
Forest Worker Center, also gave testimony at
the hearing. He’s been advocating for
reforestation workers for decades.
He said Dembrow’s move to hold a
hearing and the concern demonstrated by
members of the committee made him
optimistic, and he hopes it will result in
meaningful action.
“I’ve done this before,” he said.
“Sometimes you get a lot of talk and nothing
happens.”