that North Carolina needs to hire more inspectors to ensure that farmworkers live and work in safe conditions.

Many of us enjoy the fresh vegetables of summer, but few of us probably know about the working conditions of the immigrant farm workers who pick those vegetables. North Carolina farmers employ over 10,000 "guestworkers," most of whom come from Mexico.¹ Guestworkers are employed thorough the H2A program which allows farmers to hire guestworkers when there are not enough domestic workers to do the work. The H2A program is named for the section of US immigration law that created it in 1952.² As the leading employer of H2A workers, our state employs one third of all such workers in the US.³

The experience of H2A workers is less than idyllic. Guestworkers labor in 90 degree temperatures for 12 to 14 hours a day—conditions that can be deadly. In July 1998, a guestworker fell into a coma after a heat stroke.⁴ A year later, another migrant farmworker died of heat stroke on a farm near Smithfield.⁵ Guestworkers endure these conditions for wages that are minimal by US standards, but are better than those they would receive in Mexico.

Problems with the H2A Program

The lure of money and the lack of English-speaking skills make guestworkers an easy target for exploitation. And unfortunately, the regulations for the H2A program provide too much opportunity for exploitation to occur. For example, guestworkers have no say about their wages or contract of employment. The contract is negotiated by the US Department of Labor and the employer. Workers are bound by the conditions of the contract—a contract they have no right to see prior to its approval.

In order to stay in the program, workers may work only for the employer who requests their visa. Thus, guestworkers who experience problems have no option of changing employers. In addition, guestworkers often can not quit their job and return to their home countries because they cannot afford the travel expenses. In order to receive free travel home, they must work for the entire season or to the end of their contract.⁶ Sometimes this is hard because fewer workers are needed at the end of the season than at the beginning or because employers design unnecessarily long contracts.⁷ These stipulations mean that guestworkers have few options for escaping exploitative conditions.

Workers in North Carolina have even fewer options since there is only one principal employer of H2A workers in this state—the North Carolina Growers Association (NCGA). The NCGA manages the H2A program in North Carolina by recruiting workers and dealing with the Department of Labor paperwork and other bureaucratic aspects of the program. Approximately 1,100 growers pay $200 a year in membership dues to belong to the NCGA, and they pay about $500 per worker that NCGA provides them.⁸ The guestworkers pay an entry fee of approximately $300 to NCGA recruiters.⁹ Recruiting H2A workers is a lucrative business: NCGA grossed over $5 million in 1999.¹⁰

In contrast to the millions of dollars that NCGA makes, guestworkers make slightly above minimum wage. In 1999, the average wage for H2A workers was $6.59.¹¹ Contracts also require employers to provide housing for H2A workers, but like their wages, the lodging is minimal. Employers must provide beds and stoves. There is no requirement that housing have air conditioning or heat. There are only minimal washing facilities: 1 washtub for 30 people meets the standard.¹² In a 1992 study of sanitation, 44 percent of camps had contaminated water, and 86 percent of farmworkers tested positive for intestinal parasites.¹³

Just as the housing conditions are often substandard, the working conditions in the field can also prove unhealthy. For example, exposure to pesticides threatens many farmworkers’ health. Long-term health effects of pesticide exposure include allergies, respiratory problems, nervous system disorders, and cancer.¹⁴ Workers are often not educated about the pesticides to which they are exposed.¹⁵ In addition, the lack of available handwashing facilities contributes to the spread of pesticide contamination. Farmers with ten or fewer employees are exempted from OSHA requirements of fresh water and handwashing facilities in the field.¹⁶

Our state does not have enough government inspectors to make sure that housing and working conditions are safe for guestworkers. North Carolina has only 4 full-time housing inspectors to inspect all farmworker housing. Only one of those housing inspectors speaks Spanish.¹⁷ There are 10-12 pesticide inspectors, one of whom is bilingual.¹⁸ These few inspectors must cover thousands of farms that either house workers or use pesticides. With so few inspectors, farms can go for long periods of time without having an inspection.

Infrequent inspections are particularly problematic because only government inspectors can see the living conditions of workers.¹⁹ Farms are usually remote and workers do not usually have cars or telephones with which to contact government agencies or other services. Part of the contract negotiated between the US Department of Labor and employers like NCGA is that guestworkers have no tenancy rights. The waiver of tenancy rights allows employers to prohibit visitors from coming onto the property.²⁰ Without the right to visitors, workers often have no way to contact health professionals, legal aid, or other services. And unless a government inspector pays a visit, no one sees the conditions in which guestworkers live and work.

Recommendations

North Carolina should hire more wage and hour, housing, and pesticide inspectors. In particular, our state needs more inspectors who speak Spanish. Each farmworker’s individual labor contributes over $12,000 annually in statewide agricultural profits.²¹ North Carolina can afford to invest in the resources needed to protect these workers and ensure that all workers in our state, whether they are American-born or foreign, work in safe, humane conditions for fair pay. Summer in North Carolina should no longer signal the arrival of immigrant workers vulnerable to exploitation.

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¹ Smith-Nonini, Sandy. July 1999. Uprooting Injustice. Durham, NC: The Institute for Southern Studies; Ward, Leah Beth. 7/27/99. "Guest-worker Rules Changing." The Charlotte Observer.

² Schrader, Esther. 1999. "Widening the Field of Workers." The Los Angeles Times.

³ Schulman, David. 9/20/98 "Bill Could Remove Farm Worker Protections." The Chapel Hill News; Glascock, Ned. 8/29/99. "Foreign Labor on Home Soil." The News and Observer.

⁴ Schulman, David. 9/20/98. "The Journey of Porfirio Fuentes." The Chapel Hill News.

⁵ Hodgin, Erica. 8/10/99. "Heat’s on farm labor system." The News and Observer.

⁶ Smith-Nonini, Sandy. July 1999. Uprooting Injustice. Durham, NC: The Institute for Southern Studies.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ Schrader, Esther. 1999. "Widening the Field of Workers." The Los Angeles Times; Glascock, Ned. 8/29/99. "Foreign Labor on Home Soil." The News and Observer.

⁹ Schrader, Esther. 1999. "Widening the Field of Workers." The Los Angeles Times; Carlin, Michael. 2/2/99. "Point of View: In N.C. fields, labor needs a union." The News and Observer.

¹⁰ Glascock, Ned. 8/29/99. "Foreign Labor on Home Soil." The News and Observer.

¹¹ Ward, Leah Beth. 7/27/99. "Guest-worker Rules Changing." The Charlotte Observer; Glascock, Ned. 8/29/99. "Foreign Labor on Home Soil." The News and Observer.

¹² Smith-Nonini, Sandy. July 1999. Uprooting Injustice. Durham, NC: The Institute for Southern Studies.

¹³ Ibid.

¹⁴ Ibid.

¹⁵ National Center for Farmworker Health. "Who Are America’s Farmworkers?" (http://www.ncfh.org/aboutfws/aboutfws.htm)

¹⁶ ibid.

¹⁷ Information from the Department of Labor, Agricultural Health and Safety Division.

¹⁸ Information from the Department of Agriculture, Health and Safety Division.

¹⁹ Ward, Leah Beth. 2/4/00. "Migrant Workers Not Allowed Visitors" The Charlotte Observer.

²⁰ Ward, Leah Beth. 2/4/00. "Migrant Workers Not Allowed Visitors" The Charlotte Observer.

²¹ "Facts about North Carolina’s Farmworkers," North Carolina Farmworker Health Alliance.

For more information about farmworkers in North Carolina, contact:

Student Action with Farmworkers, 919-660-3652, www-cds.aas.duke.edu/saf/
y. February 5, 2000. "Should Every State Have Same-Day Voter Registration?" http://www.speakout.com/Issues/Briefs/447/

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