TWELVE The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday April 12, 1979
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SALEM Farmers are al
ready saddled with a myriad
of federal regulations, and
don't want the state to add
new burdens with laws cover
ing old territory.
That's the message repre
sentatives of the farming
industry gave a House Labor
Committee last week as it
worked on a bill to strengthen
state laws regulating farm
labor contractors.
"This is a duplication in
many ways of existing federal
law," said Beth Castro, man
ager of public affairs for the
Oregon Farm Bureau. "I don't
think we can write this to keep
the agricultural people out of
it."
The proposed legislation is
intended to protect farm
laborers against unscrupulous
farm labor contractors.
But farmers and growers,
who are exempt under current
law, fear that they will be
considered farm labor con
tractors under the proposed
legislation.
As farm labor contractors
they would be required to be
licensed by the state Labor
Commissioner and to post a
bond guaranteeing payment of
workers.
Drafters of the bill proposed
amendments last week to
dispel those fears and still put
teeth into state laws that are
respected.
Dick Ginsburg, director of
the Farm Workers Office for
the Oregon Legal Services
Corporation, a non-profit legal
aid organization, said farm
labor contractors ignore cur
rent laws because they aren't
enforced.
However, Ginsburg said the
bill isn't aimed at farmers and
he suggested changes which
would exempt "day haulers",
those people who hire farm
workers who live permanently
in the area on a day-to-day
basis, and permanent farm
employees who occasionally
recruit workers.
Packwood's call
for balanced
budget heeded
in Senate
The U.S. Senate last week
voted 93-2 to adopt an amend
ment offered by Senator Bob
Packwood which requires the
President to submit an alter
native balanced budget when
ever he submits a budget in
deficit.
The Packwood amendment
was adopted after three days
of debate on H.R. 2534, the
Public Debt Limit bill to
increase the amount the
United States can go into debt.
"The Senate has been asked
to again raise the debt limit,"
said Packwood. "Now is the
right time to change the rules
of this spendthrift game. The
President and OMB have the
resources and expertise to
make the hard choices we
must make if we are to
balance the budget. The
Senate has told them they
must. Let them send us a
budget which lays out these
choices clearly, and we will
decide if they are the right
choices."
"With this balanced budget
requirement," Packwood con
tinued, "the burden will be
shared by the Congress and
the White House. And if we
fail, we'll share the blame."
In action also taken last
week, the Senate adopted an
amendment introduced by
Senators Russell Long (D-La)
and Packwood to require the
Congressional Budget Com
mittees to submit balanced
budgets next year.
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Bob Walden, lobbyist for the
Oregon Tree Fruit Growers
Association, said proposed
changes in the definition of a
farm labor contractor would
make the bill easier to live
with. But he still has some
concerns.
"I'm still not satisfied with
some of the language in the
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penalty areas," he said. "We
still don't know what the
committee's going to do with
that part of the bill."
Under the proposal, workers
could sue a contractor for $250
to $1,000 in statutory damages
for such violations as recruit
ing without a license, failure
to post notices or provide
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written job descriptions or for
retaliatory conduct.
A farmer or grower who
hired an unlicensed contractor
would be liable for $750 in
damages under the measure.
Jim Stauffer, a reforesta
tion contractor, said allowing
workers to sue labor con
tractors for such violations
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would set up a "bounty
system."
"I think there should be
penalties," he said. "But this
encourages my workers to
watch me. If I failed to post
something they could turn me
in and collect. I think it should
go to the Bureau of Labor as
civil fines. This would encour-
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age frivilous claims."
Ginsburg said the provision
allowing the worker to sue the
contractor was intended to
give the injured worker a tool
so: "They won't be dependent
on an agency which is
under-staffed and may not
speak their language," said
Ginsburg.
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The Oregon Farm Bureau
also urged that the penalties
be reduced or designated as
maximum damages rather
than as fixed fines.
Ginsburg said he had no
objections to reducing the
penalties, but he urged the
committee to include specific
damages.
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term
"We feel this will be the
teeth in the law. This will be
the enforcement. I think we all
agree the current law is not
enforced."
The committee decided to
review the penalty section of
the law at its next work
session on HB 2419.
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