Lawsuit Filed Against Washington’s Munger and Sarbanand

A lawsuit filed by some 600 Mexican workers alleges a Washington farm, owned by a major U.S. blueberry grower, violated federal laws by providing unsafe working conditions.  Joe Morrison with Columbia Legal Services said at a press conference Thursday the suit outlines instances where workers were told they will not take time off unless Quote "on their death bed", as well as, being provided insufficient meals and water shortages.

"Our suit alleges that Munger and Sarbanand violated a federal statue called the trafficking victims protection act through a pattern of threats and intimidation that caused its H-2A workforce to believe it would suffer serious financial harm unless they fully submitted to the companies labor demands," says Morrison.

Morrison also says it highlights that the H-2-A system is designed to fail.

"When you have that system and you have rampant blacklisting in the home country and you have workers that are tied down to one employer only, in some situations it's going to create that perfect storm where there is going to be significant abuse and harm to workers," said Morrison.

He added they did have a meeting with the Governor's staff and state agency leaders about changes and improvements to the system to protect workers.

Lawyers representing Munger Bros. and Sarbanand Farms released a statement which said in part the companies have been charged unjustly and say the complaint is "untrue and without merit."

Click Here to watch Thursday's Press Conference.

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