Bellingham Forum To Look at H-2A

Critics say the country's guest farmworker program is exploiting laborers.  On Tuesday, a panel of speakers will discuss the effects of the H-2A program in Bellingham.  The program allows farms to recruit workers from other countries and gives them temporary visas.

David Bacon is photojournalist who covers labor and migration.  He said employers who use the program have a troublesome track record of failing to uphold workers' contracts.

"Growers are required, for instance, to fulfill the terms of the contract to pay a certain wage, to provide housing, to provide transportation. There is a long record of cheating, essentially, of growers who do not provide what they are supposed to provide.”

Jeff Johnson is head of the Washington State Labor Council, which has been fighting for farm-worker rights for more than 30 years.  While many rights have been extended to domestic farm workers, Johnson says that isn't the case for guest workers, who can still be fired and sent back to their country for protesting conditions.

"They ought to have the ability to speak up for themselves, to be represented by a union should they choose to. They should have full rights under our Fair Labor Standards Act and, in fact, we don't see that happening."

Today's forum is the fourth in a series on farm workers' rights organized by Community to Community Development.

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekradio.com