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More articles on page 3..., Go back to page 1... Tuberculosis Outbreak In Maquiladora On the Border Causes Alarm Among Mexican And U.S. Authorities, (posted 7/20/98) from Mexican Labor News And Analysis Mexican and U.S. health authorities have expressed concern about an outbreak of tuberculosis among young workers in maquiladoras on the U.S.-Mexican border. "We usually see an average of 20 cases a year, and it is alarming that in the first four months of this year we have seen 99 cases, especially because of their ages," said Jose Luis Hernandez, chief of Preventive Medicine of the Mexican Secretary of Health. While tuberculosis is more commonly found among older workers, these cases have appeared in productive workers between 15 and 45 years of age. The Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) reports that 15 workers have been formally declared incapacitated for periods between 60 and 250 days. Ricardo Rios Velazco, the medical director of IMSS in Reynosa declared that the cause of the increase in tuberculosis are the overcrowded conditions in which the working class population of the maquiladora section lives. The U.S. and Mexican health authorities have established a Binational Committee Against Tuberculosis to deal with the outbreak of T.B. among young workers. Domingo Navarro, the president of the commission based in Harlingen, Texas said that 40 percent of the tuberculosis found in south Texas appears among Latinos, particularly among farm workers, children and prisoners in county jails. Hernandez explains that many workers on the border in Mexico and in the U.S. have migrated from other Mexican states and rural areas where they were not included in the national vaccination program. Often even when identified these workers do not complete their treatments for the disease because they have to return to work. Women Workers In Maquiladora Protest Presumed Lead Poisoning Deaths, (posted 7/20/98) from Mexican Labor News And Analysis Over a hundred women workers stopped work and left the AMP maquiladora in Hermosillo, Sonora where they work to appear before the State Commission of Human Rights. They protested the severe illness and death of co-workers which they attributed to lead poisoning at work. The workers also denounced Javier Villareal Gomez, the local representative of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for defending the interests of the employer rather than the workers. The women workers protested after the recent death of Bertha Alicia Lopez Munoz, 23, from what was reportedly a severe case of lead poisoning. She had worked on the soldering line. Workers at the plant claim that other co-workers have died from skin, stomach, and cervical cancer, and that yet other suffer from lead poisoning symptoms. The AMP company has had no comment on the death or the protests. Dissident Petroleum Workers Demand That Romero Deschamps Step Down, (posted 7/20/98) from Mexican Labor News And Analysis A group of over 1,500 petroleum workers marched from various petrochemical plants into Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz on July 2 where they demonstrated and demanded that the head of the Mexican Petroleum Workers Union (STPRM), Carlos Romero Deschamps step down. Julio Cesar Rodriguez Valazquez, the head of the Renovating Orientation Group of Local 11 based in Nanchital, Veracruz, accused Romero Deschamps of negotiating substandard contracts which deprived workers in petrochemical plants in Morelos, Pajaritos, La Cangrejera and Cosoleacaque of benefits. Romero Deschamps, says Rodriguez, gave away the workers pay for gasoline and cooking gas, loans for housing, food credits, and profit sharing in the event of layoff. Some 11 thousand workers were affected by the changes. The workers-many of whom now work for petrochemical plants which have become independent from the Mexican Petroleum company (PEMEX) as a step toward their ultimate privatization-demanded a stop to the privatization of petrochemicals. Struggle For Control Of Biggest Teachers Union Local Pits "Officialists", (posted 7/20/98) AGAINST REFORMERS, PRI AGAINST PRD A struggle for control of Local 9 of the Mexican Teachers Union (El SNTE) pits the pro-government national leadership of the union against local leaders and activists allied with the National Coordinating Committee of the Teachers Union (la CNTE). But not far beneath the surface this also a struggle between the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the left-of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). While nominally a battle over a local union convention, it is also a fight about the national elections to take place in the year 2000. Local 9 which represents about 56,000 primary and pre-school teachers in Mexico City, the largest local, in the million member national union was supposed to have held its 14th regular convention last week to choose local officers. But the convention has been postponed day after day as a series of political struggles swirl around it. A Struggle Over Delegate Count First, the national union, el SNTE, accused Local 9 of having violated the union's constitution in its local election procedure. In response Local 9's leadership locked up el SNTE's representatives and have refused to allow them to leave the union building. El SNTE in turn declared the convention in recess, and filed criminal kidnapping charges against leaders of Local 9. Meanwhile la CNTE began to organize a march of thousands of teachers from Oaxaca and Michoacan to support Local 9. At issue are a number of technical questions? How many convention delegates are there: 675 as Local 9 claims, or only 649 as el SNTE says. How many slates will be allowed to run for union office, two or three? But the real issues have to do with questions of democratic reform and political power. What's at Stake? Since 1989 when a huge national teacher's strike led to the overthrow of el SNTE's national strong-man leader Jonguitud Barrios, Local 9 has been controlled by reformers allied with the National Coordinating Committee of the Teachers Union (la CNTE). Local 9 is one of only a few SNTE locals, such as those in Oaxaca and Chiapas, allied with la CNTE. But in addition to being allied with the democratic caucus within the union, since 1997 when Local 9 endorsed Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the PRD in the presidential election, it has also been allied politically with the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). For the past nine years, the leadership of Local 9 has come out of a caucus called the Independent Teachers Collective (CMI). The CMI and the other democratic caucuses in the union (there are 15 caucuses altogether) have controlled the top position of general secretary and all the seats on the local executive board. The CMI leadership has not been without its problems. Even some of those in the democratic movement have accused the leadership of having a sectarian political style and a closed political machine. In the recent pre-convention elections of the democratic caucus, the out-going CM administration led by Gonzalo Martinez Villagran lost out to Blanca Luna Becerril, a candidate who had been critical of the leadership. Still the democratic opposition conducted its pre-convention elections without incident, and emerged united behind the new candidate. Is This a Charrazo? But now for the first time in nine years, an "officialist" or pro-government faction within the union is running for union office with the chance of electing representatives to the executive board. The pro-SNTE, pro-PRI caucus-called the Pluralistic, Democratic council of Teacher Union-claims to have the support of 200 convention delegates, almost a third. The general secretary of local 9, Gonzalo Martinez Villagran and other leaders fear that the SNTE is intervening in the local not simply in an attempt to get a minority on the union executive board, but to actually overthrow Local 9's opposition leadership and replace it with a leadership loyal to the national union. In Mexico the state-party's practice of provoking a conflict in the union and then intervening on the side loyal to the government is known as a "charrazo," a kind of union coup d'etat. Mexico City teachers in Local 9 fear that the PRI and the SNTE have launched a "charrazo." Why would the PRI and el SNTE want to wage war on Local 9 at this time? As the year 2000 approaches, the PRI is attempting to rebuild its political organization. So the PRI-government has sent an occupying army into the southern state of Chiapas to smash the autonomous communities there, and it has waged a successful campaign to defeat the National Action Party (PAN) and win the governorship in the northern state Chihuahua. Now it is attempting to defeat the union and political opposition in Mexico City. PRI Makes Comeback In Mexican State Elections, (posted 7/20/98) by Peter Gellert Election results in gubernatorial and local races held July 5 in four northern states in Mexico suggest that the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has made a comeback. At the same time, the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) won an important political victory as well. The most important elections were in Baja California Norte, Chihuahua, Durango and Zacatecas where the PRI attempted to turn back the National Action Party (PAN) which is traditionally strong in northern Mexico. PRI Wins Chihuahua The results were mixed. Most important, the PRI regained the governorship of Chihuahua from the PAN, and also won the governor's race in Durango by a comfortable margin. Losing in Chihuahua was a major setback for the PAN. In fact in all states the conservative party's vote declined. In Baja California Note it lost its majority control over the state congress. The PAN's poor showing on July 5 is expected to have a major impact within the party, boosting the fortunes of Guanajuato governor and presidential hopeful Vicente Fox at the expense of PAN president Felipe Calderon. The charismatic Fox generally favors a more openly oppositional and aggressive stance toward the PRI-government. PRI Ousts PT The PRI regained ground in other races as well. The PRI recovered the City of Durango in the state of the same name from the center-left Workers Party (PT), which had governed the state's capital for two terms. The PT, whose leaders come from what was once called "soft Maoism," led struggles of the urban poor people's movements and established a base of support in several northern states (Durango, Nuevo Leon and Chihuahua). The loss of Durango and lower votes in other states represent a huge defeat for the PT. Some observers attributed the PRI's good showing in those races to its experiment in some states in primary elections to pick the party's nominee. The traditional practice was that the top leadership of the PRI, often the president himself, chose the candidates. Some voters may have been disappointed in the inability of the opposition elected officials to make changes or improvements once in office. PRI Victory in Zacatecas The PRI's victory in Chihuahua and relative advance in Baja California and Durango were counter-balanced by a serious setback, the loss of the governor's race in the state of Zacatecas to Ricardo Monreal who ran on the ticket of the left- of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). This is the first time that the PRD has won a governor's race, and coming as it does on the heel's of last years election of PRD leader Cuauhtemoc Cardenas a Mayor of Mexico City, it makes the party a more credible alternative for the presidential elections in the year 2000. The PRD also increased its vote in other states. Monreal had only recently broken with the PRI when the party's national leadership imposed its own gubernatorial candidate in Zacatecas, quashing Monreal's aspirations to be the ruling party standard bearer. It is unclear whether he will follow in the footsteps of other PRD leaders such as Cuauhtemoc Cardenas and Porfirio Munoz Ledo-who also originally came from the PRI-by breaking politically from the old ruling party. While Monreal resigned from the PRI and has been making favorable public comments about the PRD, he is also seeking a friendly relationship with President Ernest Zedillo. PRD spokesmen attribute this stance to a desire to avoid sterile confrontation, which would governing Zacatecas difficult. The elections were held without major incidents. Neither fraud charges nor violence marred the voting. The July 5 elections showed that it is still too early to make sweeping assertions about trends in the Mexican political system. Several years ago international and Mexican political specialists proclaimed that the country was headed toward a two- party electoral system, at that time the PRI and the PAN. But in the last two years the PRD has proven a factor in the equation. What's clear is that many key races will be close, and that no party can take victory for granted. Bilingual Wars Escalate, (posted 7/20/98)
What happens when highly politicized, noneducational organizations and individuals become involved in our nation's educational process? Education stops being determined inside the classroom and instead is dictated from the courts and the legislature. In the process, students, parents and teachers are reduced to political soccer balls. Several months ago, a handful of New Mexico parents enlisted the support of the Washington D.C-based Center for Equal Opportunity, regarding various complaints, including that Albuquerque's bilingual programs are ineffective and that some English-speaking students were being wrongly placed into them. This resulted in a lawsuit funded by the center, Carbajal vs. Albuquerque Public School District, with the expressed intent of dismantling the district's bilingual programs. Earlier this year, a flier soliciting plaintiffs stated: "Your child stands to receive $10,000 for damages and discrimination." It didn't mention that the lawsuit's objective was to eliminate bilingual education. Both the center, which is directed by archconservative writer Linda Chavez, and the plaintiff's attorney of record, David Standridge, have disavowed the flier and instead have attributed it to the parents. In Albuquerque's public schools, bilingual education is optional and very few parents are complaining. In fact, 17 have sought to join as interveners in the lawsuit this past week-in support of quality bilingual education, rather than against it-and have been joined by five statewide organizations. If granted, the motion allows the interveners to represent their own interests in the lawsuit. Despite this, it seems as if the majority of the members of the media continue to promote the myth that the majority of Latinos are against bilingual education. One reporter at the press conference announcing the motion to intervene, wanted to know why 80 percent of Latinos were against bilingual education. "Parents are not rebelling," retorted University of New Mexico linguist Eduardo Hernandez Chavez. He noted that the only valid poll on the subject was conducted by the Los Angeles Times. It found that two-thirds of Latinos rejected Proposition 227. And in Albuquerque, at least 40 organizations support the motion to intervene. The center has found zero organizational support in New Mexico. To eliminate bilingual education in New Mexico, Juan Jose Pena, chairman of the Hispanic Round Table, said that the center has to take on the state's constitution and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. "As mestizos and natives to this country who have fought in every one of this nation's wars, we have the right to speak our language," he said. Despite all this, no one disputes that parents who are opposed to bilingual education do have genuine complaints and the right to opt out of these programs. The concern, however, is that politicos are exploiting these concerns to further their own agendas. In California, Proposition 227 was passed primarily by people with no stake in the matter, other than objecting to how other people's children are being educated, noted Shelly Speigel-Coleman, a member of the "No on 227" campaign. It calls for immersing children in English instruction for 180 days, then placing them into regular classes thereafter. The proposition is currently tied up in the courts. At the core of the 227 argument was not research, but emotional claims that Latino parents nationwide are demanding that their children be taken out of bilingual programs. This myth centered around one school out of 8,000 in California-Ninth Street Elementary School in Los Angeles. The school gained notoriety because some of the parents went out picketing several years ago, demanding that their children be placed into an English immersion program. Of the 74 students who were pulled from the bilingual program, only two were designated this year as having become "English proficient," noted Speigel-Coleman. This is the school that Ron Unz, failed gubernatorial candidate and architect and primary funder for 227, cited as being the trigger for the proposition. Gloria Tuchman's first-grade classroom experienced similar results. None of her students were redesignated as English proficient this past year. Tuchman, incidentally, was also one of the principals behind 227 and is currently running for state superintendent of public instruction. "Unlike the proponents of 227, we don't see those students as failing, but rather, simply proving that it takes longer than a year to learn English," stated Speigel-Coleman. Jorge Amselle, a spokesman for the Center for Equal Opportunity, said that the fact that the voters turned thumbs down on bilingual education in California may be a sign of "how much they care about Hispanics." Whoever "the voters" care about next ought to beware. COPYRIGHT 1998 UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE PLEASE NOTE NEW CONTACT INFO: Both writers are authors of Gonzales/Rodriguez: Uncut & Uncensored (ISBN 0-918520-22-3 UC Berkeley, Ethnic Studies Library, Publications Unit. Rodriguez is the author of Justice: A Question of Race (Cloth ISBN 0-927534-69-X paper ISBN 0-927534-68-1 Bilingual Review Press) and the antibook, The X in La Raza II. They can be reached at PO BOX 7905, Albq NM 87194-7904, 505-242-7282 or XColumn@aol.com Gonzales's direct line is 505-248-0092 or PatiGonzaJ@aol.com "Hunger Strike" in El Centro, California, (posted 7/16/98) INS inmates on hunger strike EL CENTRO-For the second time in a month, prisoners at the immigration detention center here are waging a hunger strike, apparently over high bail bonds, authorities said. About 250, or two-thirds, of the prisoners at the Immigration and Naturalization Service-run facility refused to eat breakfast yesterday. "It's the same thing as last time," INS spokeswoman Lisa McClellan said. "They say they are getting high bonds or are not eligible for bonds because they are aggravated felons." 140 inmates join hunger strike
Associated Press EL CENTRO-About 140 prisoners at an immigration detention center were on a hunger strike yesterday, demanding reduced bond or immediate parole, more phones and better beds, authorities said. Eleven of the prisoners, mostly Cuban nationals, began their hunger strike Monday, but the other prisoners joined them yesterday, said Rudy Murillo of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. "This is not a frequent situation, but it's not that uncommon," he said of the hunger strikes. Murillo said the center was designed to hold illegal immigrants found working in the United States. However, due to federal prison overcrowding, the center has become a holding place for illegal immigrants wanted for serious crimes in other countries. Disturbance at El Centro INS center ends quietly.
Gregory Gross, STAFF WRITER | Associated Press contributed
to this report. Approximately 180 illegal immigrants being held at the El Centro detention center trashed their sleeping quarters and barricaded themselves in two barracks buildings overnight Monday until they agreed to surrender yesterday morning, immigration officials said. Three privately contracted guards at the medium-security facility suffered minor injuries when the disturbance began about 10 p.m. Monday, according to Rudy Murillo, spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in San Diego. No hostages were taken, however, and the detainees agreed to surrender at about 9:30 a.m. yesterday after 10 hours of talks with an FBI negotiating team, filing out of the barracks 10 at a time. No injuries were reported among the inmates. According to Murillo, the incident began about 10 p.m. Monday when guards turned on the lights in the barracks to search for drugs and weapons. The detainees, apparently angered at being awakened for the search, attacked three of the guards. "There was pushing, fighting, biting. It lasted about 20 minutes. It was fairly calm after that," Murillo said. Other guards fired wooden pellets from air guns over the heads of the prisoners to drive them back long enough to rescue their battered comrades, but the detainees took control of the barracks, breaking light bulbs and turning over mattresses, Murillo said. The injured guards, who were not identified yesterday, were treated at an El Centro hospital and released. The detainees involved in the disturbance will remain at El Centro, Murillo said. During the negotiations, the detainees demanded an end to the night searches, but there was no word from INS officials whether this was agreed to. Some detainees also demanded to be released pending deportation hearings or the outcomes of their appeals, Murillo said. All those involved in the disturbance were illegal migrants who had been convicted of crimes in U.S. territory and are awaiting hearings before an immigration judge to determine whether they will be deported. Among them are Cuban prisoners left over from the infamous Mariel boatlift, some of whom have been in INS detention for years, Murillo said. Some have been at El Centro for more than a year and as long as three years, he said. A number of long-term detainees from Vietnam also are being housed in El Centro, Murillo said. Several Vietnamese prisoners set fire to mattresses in one of the barracks last January, but the fires were extinguished without incident, he said. The facility, built on federally owned land in the early 1970s, was designed to house 450 to 500 detainees, mainly those caught entering the United States illegally or who had overstayed their visas. It currently houses about 600, including criminals convicted of major felonies up to and including murder. The last serious disturbance involving illegal migrants in federal custody occurred in 1996, when illegal migrants being held temporarily at the Miramar Naval Air Station brig set fire to mattresses. The base was temporarily shut down and 24 prisoners were injured, mainly from smoke inhalation, before firefighters extinguished the fires and SWAT teams retook the brig. The El Centro center also has been the target in the late 1980s of allegations by detainees and migrants rights groups of excessive force by detention officers. In 1985, about 250 detainees went on a hunger strike to protest overcrowding, poor sanitation and bad living conditions. The INS has already allocated $486,000 to renovate the INS' detention facility in El Centro. "LaRed Latina" WWW site: http://www.inconnect.com/~rvazquez/sowest.html Bilingual Education in California (posted 7/14/98) from U.S. News Online If California is the harbinger state, bilingual education is on its way out. Rejecting the views of prominent state political leaders and President Clinton, Californians voted overwhelmingly on June 2 to replace bilingual education that is offered year after year in public classrooms with a one-year program of "immersion'' in English. Civil rights groups challenged the cutback in court, and many educators vowed to defy it. But the vote may have repercussions in Washington, where House Republicans are trying to reduce the federal role in bilingual education. A committee last week approved a plan to give more power to the states by transforming $349 million in federal aid into block grants. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay wants to halt federal funding and to void agreements between states and localities and federal officials that require bilingual education. What you can do: Let national lawmakers know what you think of the English-only movement. See if your Senators and Representative have E-mail using the Senate and House Web site directories. Or call them directly through the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. You can also call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or send E-mail to President Clinton. The Hispanic Dropout Mystery, A Staggering 30 Percent Leave School, Far More Than Blacks or Whites. Why?, (posted 7/14/98) Get resources on how to find the best schools for your children. BY SUSAN HEADDEN, U.S. News Online
North High School illustrates one of the most serious and stubborn problems in U.S. public education. The dropout rate for Hispanic students nationwide is 30 percent--nearly three times the rate for whites and twice the rate for blacks. It crosses income lines, transcends language ability, and persists despite a dramatic decline in the dropout rates for other groups. Most discouraging, the dropout rate for children of American-born Hispanics is even higher than for those born to immigrants, suggesting that the longer a family lives in the United States, the more entrenched the problem becomes. In an upcoming report, the Department of Education is expected to call for heightened legislative and public attention to Hispanic dropouts. Last week, New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman proposed spending $100 million on prevention programs and designating a federal "dropout czar." The issue is of concern not only to Hispanics. In just eight years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics will surpass blacks as the nation's largest minority group. Already they fill nearly half the desks in many of the nation's urban public schools.
Language is one obvious barrier to Hispanic academic success. Forty-three percent of Hispanic dropouts are foreign born, and many of them don't get special language help. Bilingual-education advocates cite the dropout rate when arguing that more courses should be taught in Spanish; opponents hold it up as proof of the failure of bilingualism to make students learn English. But language difficulty is not the only reason Hispanics leave school. Contrary to popular perception, most Hispanic dropouts were born here and speak English fluently. The greater problem--particularly among poor Hispanics, where the dropout rate is close to 41 percent--may be handicaps to learning in any language. One third of Hispanic children live in poverty, and like many inner-city children, they start school at a substantial disadvantage: They rarely attend preschool, and their parents, often ill-educated or illiterate, don't read to them. Poverty also goes a long way toward explaining why Mexican-Americans, Central Americans, and Puerto Ricans drop out of school at rates far higher than, say, Cuban-Americans, who tend to be wealthier and immigrate for political reasons. Schools in rural Mexico are apt to be remote, overcrowded, and limited to the primary grades. Partly because of this weak academic tradition, many Hispanic parents don't demand as much of American schools as whites and blacks do. Peer pressure to drop out can be nearly overwhelming in the Hispanic community, as DeAnza Montoya, a pretty Santa Fe teen, can attest. In her neighborhood, it was considered "Anglo" and "nerdy" to do well in school. So DeAnza cruised in wildly painted cars with her "low rider" friends and didn't worry about the future. She claims she was simply doing what was expected of her. "In school they make you feel like a dumb Mexican," she says, adding that the slights only bring Hispanics closer together. That fierce Latino loyalty, particularly when applied to family, is an ethic that teachers find hard to challenge. A sound instinct in most circumstances, it can nevertheless prompt a student to leave school for reasons as seemingly flimsy as the one offered by the North High dropout who insisted on working full time to pay for wrecking his brother-in-law's car. Addressing the problem. Even if blame for the dropout crisis lies with the students, a solution is likely to come from the schools. The black dropout rate plummeted once schools focused on it; to have a similar impact on Hispanics, reformers say, teachers must go beyond the classroom to counsel at-risk students and their families. Teachers may have to speak Spanish and schedule conferences around parents' jobs. Most important, reformers call for more Hispanic role models. The U.S. public-school population is 13.5 percent Hispanic, yet Latinos account for only 3 percent of the teachers. Programs that target the Hispanic dropout rate are showing promise around the country. Former dropout Shileene Martinez, 14, is thriving at Colorado High School in Denver, which schedules small classes to accommodate students' work hours. In Santa Fe, a mentoring program matches members of the Hispanic business community with at-risk youth. And a nationwide effort sponsored by Coca-Cola enlists would-be dropouts as tutors for younger children. Should the alternatives fail, administrators might take a cue from Joe Sandoval at North High School. Here, students intent on quitting school must sign a waiver reading: "By signing this, I realize I will not have the skills to survive in the 21st century." They are then presented with a "Certificate of Dropping Out." Occasionally, it achieves the intended effect. One teen, Sandoval recalls, threw the document back in Sandoval's face, shouting "I don't want this piece of s---!" Far from being insulted, the principal welcomed the wayward student back to school. Is It Hasta La Vista for Bilingual Ed?, With Latino Support, California Seems Poised to Kill the Controversial Approach, (posted 7/14/98) Check out the Citizen's Toolbox on Bilingual Education BY BETSY STREISAND, U.S. News Online LOS ANGELES-First, California voters did away with benefits to illegal immigrants. Then they got rid of affirmative action. Now, in what is rapidly emerging as the brand-name ballot issue for 1998, bilingual education may meet its end. Last week, petitions were filed for English for the Children, a ballot measure sponsored by Silicon Valley millionaire Ron Unz that would virtually eliminate bilingual education in California. It is all but certain to qualify for the June 1998 ballot. The initiative would require that all students in public schools be taught primarily in English unless their parents request otherwise. Children who don't speak English would be placed in English immersion classes, normally for no more than a year. California, with its burgeoning immigrant population, leads the country in students who are not proficient in English at 25 percent, compared with 6.7 percent of students nationally. If the initiative passes, as is expected, it will have implications for the way English is taught throughout the United States. Hispanic support. Like other recent ballot measures, this one seems to have all the makings of a California classic: a racially divisive, inflammatory issue that pits the state's testy white electorate against its growing immigrant population. But so far the politics have played out quite differently. The initiative is expected to be strongly supported by Latinos and other immigrants-if not by the activists who say they represent them. In a recent Los Angeles Times poll that incited editorial writers and talk-radio hosts, 84 percent of Latinos said they would support the bilingual-education initiative, surpassing even the 80 percent of white voters who said they would back it. Immigrants tend to regard English as the language of upward mobility and want their children to learn it as quickly as possible. And bilingual education, many believe, isn't working. At last count, about 1.3 million children in California-twice as many students as 10 years ago-attended some type of bilingual class. In theory, these classes give children academic instruction in their primary language while also teaching them English. In reality, they are usually monolingual classes in which students learn math and other subjects in their native language but make little progress with English. Only about 6 percent of children in bilingual classes in California are well prepared to move into English-speaking classes each year. A typical student spends three to four years in bilingual classes but can take as long as eight years to become fluent in English. And while bilingual education alone can't be blamed, Latino children have the lowest test scores of any ethnic group in California and-at 40 percent-the highest dropout rate. Opposition to the would-be referendum so far comes largely from bilingual-education teachers and Hispanic activists. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund opposes the initiative and has blocked reforms in the past. The group says the measure is really an attack on Hispanic culture and political power. "This is the third in a chain of anti-immigrant, anti-Latino proposals," says Joseph Jaramillo, a staff attorney for MALDEF. With roughly $400 million a year spent on bilingual education, a number of constituencies stand to lose money if the measure passes. Schools receive several hundred extra dollars for each student in a bilingual class. Teachers can earn up to $5,000 extra annually for working in bilingual programs, and unions fear the referendum could jeopardize that bonus for some 20,000 teachers. Yet Unz is far from an immigrant basher. The 36-year-old Los Angeles native, who made his fortune in financial software, has a strong record on race relations. He was a vocal opponent of Proposition 187, the amendment that cut benefits for illegal immigrants, as were many Republican business owners who rely on cheap immigrant labor. However, Unz has developed credibility with Hispanics by also speaking out against other proposals considered by immigrants to be racist, such as national identity cards. On this initiative, Unz has shrewdly concentrated on winning over Hispanic leaders and Democrats even more than conservatives. Gloria Matta Tuchman, a Mexican-American teacher who has been using English immersion to teach students for about 15 years, is co-chair of the initiative. Unz also signed on Jaime Escalante, the Latino immigrant who taught calculus to inner-city youngsters and became the state's most famous teacher-and the subject of the movie Stand and Deliver. Unz says he became interested in bilingual education after reading about a boycott of a Los Angeles school by a group of working-class Latino parents who were irate that their children weren't learning any English. For two weeks last year, about 70 families kept their children out of the Ninth Street Elementary School until it agreed to release the students from bilingual classes. Alice Callaghan, a priest who runs Las Familias del Pueblo, a community program for some of Ninth Street's students, spearheaded the boycott. To show the failings of the approach, she distributed this homework assignment from a sixth grader, who had been in bilingual education for six years: "I my parens per mi in dis shool en I so I feol essayrin too old in the shool my border o reri can grier das mony putni gire and I sisairin aliro sceer." Once a supporter of bilingual education, Callaghan has become one of its biggest critics. "I don't care if bilingual education works in theory," she says. "It doesn't work in practice." Know-nothing. Unz's critics charge that he knows nothing about bilingual education and is using the initiative to make a name for himself. He'd challenged Gov. Pete Wilson in the 1994 Republican primary, getting 34 percent of the vote, and has not ruled out running again. The so-called Unz Initiative calls for a one-year English immersion program, which many educators say won't prepare students for academic work in English, although it may allow them to speak more easily to their friends on the playground. "All the research indicates that it takes between five and seven years until someone is sufficient in a second language to learn in an academic setting," says Patricia Gandara, associate professor of education at the University of California-Davis. "These kids will be able to speak, but they won't be able to do algebra." Unz, who has spent more than $200,000 of his own money on the initiative so far, admits his research consists mainly of anecdotal evidence and his own Russian mother's quick mastery of English as a second language. He says he sponsored the initiative because "the only way to improve bilingual education is to dump it. And I want quick results." The politics, so far, have been strange. Republicans, who might have been expected to eagerly embrace the measure, did so only after considerable infighting. "The Democrats are going to use this to call us racists all over again. It is the last thing we need right now," says State Republican Party Chairman Michael Schroeder. He says the party "won't spend a dime" to support the initiative. He notes that Latinos started off supporting Prop. 187 but later turned against it and hammered Republicans in the 1996 elections. And though the prospect of portraying Republicans as pathological immigrant bashers will surely be too delicious for some Democrats to pass up, many in California's Latino political establishment have been reluctant to defend bilingual education, whose successes they privately question. Cruz Bustamante, the first Latino Assembly speaker in California history, has remained conspicuously neutral, and Latinos are not expected to mount a big-money opposition to the measure. By getting influential Hispanics like Escalante signed on early, Unz hopes he has positioned the initiative so it can keep Latino support in the coming months. Unz knows the value of a good attention-getter. Although he was working on a Ph.D. in theoretical physics, when Unz applied for his first summer job on Wall Street several years ago he was concerned about how his résumé would play, since he had no financial experience. So he inflated his IQ, listing it as 214 on the Stanford-Binet scale-way beyond genius range. "I was applying for a job for which I had no experience and I needed a hook," says Unz, whose political aspirations may land him in a similar predicament again. With bilingual education, he may have found a new hook. US Farms and Farm Land, (posted 7/10/98) The number of US farms fell from 6,454,000 in 1920 to 1,925,300 in 1992, a decline of 70 percent. The number of farms operated by non-whites fell 95 percent, from 954,300 in 1920 to 43,500 in 1992, including 19,000 farms operated by Blacks, 8,300 operated by American Indians and 8,100 Asians and Pacific Islanders. In 1992, about 21,000 farm operators identified their ethnicity as Hispanic and 72 percent of Hispanic operators lived in five states; California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Texas. The major asset of most farmers is the land that they own: farm land was worth $945 billion in 1997. The spread between the lowest and highest land prices is typically 2-1 within a region. For example, in April 1998, raisin grape land in the Fresno area was worth $5,000 to $10,000 an acre. Other Fresno area land prices included: table grapes, $5,000 to $8,000 an acre, and citrus, $5,000 to $9,000. In the Salinas area, land used to grow vegetables was worth $10,000 to $30,000 an acre, and wine grape land was worth $15,000 to $22,000 an acre. Napa county had some of California's highest farm land prices in 1998. Vineyards with disease-resistant rootstock was worth $40,000 to $60,000 an acre, and land suitable for "homesite development" was worth $500,000 to $700,000 an acre. In neighboring Sonoma county, vineyards were worth $40,000 an acre. A July 1998 report estimated that Sonoma county has 48,000 acres of vineyards, and is adding 2,000 acres each year, usually by establishing vineyards on hilly pasture land. Congress: Guest Workers, (posted 7/10/98) On June 24, 1998, the Senate Immigration subcommittee held a hearing on agricultural guest workers that focused on how the current H-2A program could be made more employer friendly. Six US Senators testified that the US needs a new guest worker program or a substantially revised H-2A program. The only point of agreement was that a better labor exchange is needed. In April, US Labor Secretary Alexis Herman said that the US does not "need a new guest worker law to replace H-2A. We have workers that are available." US Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said: "I share her views." Glickman announced $18 million in grants for farm worker housing to expand Everglades Village, a planned migrant farm worker community in Florida City built after Hurricane Andrew destroyed much of the housing in the area in 1992. The Reform Party founded by Ross Perot is proposing a "reversible" guest worker program that would legalize currently unauthorized farm workers and require employers who want to hire them to pay an adverse-effect wage rate. The workers would be encouraged to return to their country of origin by the prospect of receiving the worker's and the employer's contribution to Social Security, plus 10 percent, or about 25 percent of total earnings. Those eligible to participate would have to be in the US illegally for at least two months. For more information see: The goals of the program are to legalize temporarily the current illegal farm work force, prevent farm labor shortages, and to discourage additional illegal immigration by requiring farmers who hire temporarily legalized workers to participate in INS employment authorization programs. Major issues include: (1) would the prospect of a one- or two-year legal work permit encourage additional illegal immigration; (2) would exploitation increase if workers worked illegally for two months to get an employer to offer the workers a contract; and (3) would this program may lock US agriculture into a long-term dependence on foreign workers; the program emphasizes rotating foreign workers through US jobs rather than, for example, mechanizing or shifting labor-intensive production abroad. British West Indies Central Labor Organization. The British West Indies Central Labor Organization has provided Caribbean nonimmigrant workers from Jamaica, Barbados, Saint Lucia and Dominica to East Coast growers under the H-2 program since 1943. In 1997, BWI CLO is expected to supply 8,000 to 9,000 H-2A workers, primarily for apple harvesting in the northeast. The BWI CLO permits US farmers to designate workers wanted or not wanted by name. BWI CLO charges H-2A workers five percent of what they earn for liaison and other services; growers pay two percent of H-2A earnings to BWI CLO. BWI CLO offers workers health insurance for $6.30 a week, and requires that 20 percent of the workers earnings be deposited in a Jamaican savings bank. Dave Hogan, "Farm-worker shortage gets congressional attention," Oregonian, June 25 1998. US General Accounting Office. 1998. H-2A Agricultural Guestworker Program: Response to Additional Questions. HEHS-98-120R, Apr. 2. U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General. 1998. Consolidation of Labor's Enforcement Responsibilities for the H-2A Program Could Better Protect U.S. Agricultural Workers. Report Number: 04-98-004-03-321. March 31. http://www.oig.dol.gov/public/reports/oa/1998/h2a_rpt.htm with a response by ESA at: http://www.oig.dol.gov/public/reports/oa/1998/h2a_resp.htm Southeast: Vidalia Onions, (posted 7/10/98) The INS operation "Southern Denial" in mid-May 1998 apprehended 21 workers in Glennville in southeastern Georgia, home of the $90 million a year Vidalia onion industry. Several of the 215 onion growers applied for H-2A workers in 1997, but withdrew their applications after the Department of Labor insisted that they would have to offer at least the prevailing wage of $0.80 per 50-pound bag of onions harvested, while the growers insisted that $0.75 for a 60-pound bag was the prevailing wage. The AEWR, the wage that H-2A workers must earn at piecerate wages, is $6.30 per hour in 1998. According to the growers, total labor costs are about $1.25 per bag, and the DOL rate would have added about $1 million to harvesting costs. Growers also lost interest in the H-2A program when they learned that they would have to provide free housing for the 1,200 H-2A workers they were requesting, and to offer free housing to US workers. In 1997, one Georgia farmer obtained workers through the H-2A program; in 1998, 15 obtained workers. The Vidalia Onion Business Council said that "H-2A is not worth the trouble, the aggravation and the expense and the risk." Vidalia onions are planted in the fall, grow their rings in the winter months, expand after March, and are harvested in May and June by workers following a tractor-pulled harrow that cuts the onions from the roots and loosens the ground. Workers pull the onions out of the ground, clip the stems and the roots, and then put them in 50-pound burlap bags, and are left in the fields to begin drying. Yields average 300 bags an acre. The onions are sorted in a packing shed, and either put into boxes or bags for sale. The May 1998 raids were the first since 1995, when 178 unauthorized workers were detected. The 1995 raid reportedly did not decrease the hiring of illegal aliens because it occurred after the onions were harvested, but before some workers received final paychecks. The 1998 raids produced letters from local Congressmen to the INS that complained of an "apparent lack of regard for farmers in this situation...[the raids] threaten one of Georgia's most famous and economically valuable crops, Vidalia onions." Senator Paul Coverdell (R-GA) complained of the INS' "indiscriminate and inappropriate use of extreme enforcement tactics against Vidalia area onion growers...[interfering with] honest farmers who are simply trying to get their products from the field to the marketplace." Coverdell in June 1998 prevented the confirmation of three DOL officials to get DOL to agree that (1) farmers using H-2A workers could terminate the contract, and the guarantee of at least two-thirds of promised wages, if "market conditions" make harvesting unprofitable, (2) that employers could charge workers $25 a person for maintenance of on-site housing, and (3) not require employers to use FLCs to try to recruit US workers, even if FLCs are the prevailing practice in the area. The 1998 raids are expected to lead to an agreement between the INS and farmers that all farmers will participate in the INS Verification Pilot Program, they will provide the INS with the names of their farm labor contractors and they will permit the INS free access to check I-9 forms in their offices. In return, the INS promised not to launch surprise inspections. Several papers called this an "amnesty" for illegal workers during the 1998 season, since unauthorized workers currently employed are able to work for the 1998 season without fear of INS activities if their photocopied documents on file with the employer appear to be genuine. Farmers estimate that up to half of the onion workers may be unauthorized, but they claim that all workers provided what appeared to be genuine documents. Farm worker advocates complained that two worker protection standards-the promise to provide adequate housing for migrant workers in the 1999 season, and growers assuming liability for any violations committed by FLCs-were deleted from the agreement between the INS and growers. Many newspapers editorialized against the agreement. A typical editorial asserted: "The Georgia case demonstrated that the INS bowed to employer pressure because the operation had hit right in the middle of the onion harvest when demand for cheap labor is highest." Most of the workers are brought from Texas to southeastern Georgia by farm labor contractors. Many are housed in rundown mobile homes or motels; reporters found as many as 15 onion workers housed in one single-wide trailer. Nearby peach growers continue to provide housing to workers, including barracks purchased from the Warner-Robbins Air Force base. One grower noted that migrant men were preferred to local workers: "The problems you have with American workers are endless...If we had a bunch of American workers, we'd have to hire someone like a personnel director to deal with all the problems. The people we have now, they come and they work. They don't have kids to pick up from school or to take to the doctor. They don't have child support issues. They don't ask to leave early for this and that. They don't call in sick. If you say to them, 'Today we need to work 10 hours,' they don't say anything." All parties agreed that this was a temporary fix for the 1998 season. The head of the Vidalia Onion Council said that "the cure on this thing has got to come out of Washington." Growers are testing mechanical harvesters that are used in Texas and Europe; machines cost up to $100,000 each. One machine with five or six workers can harvest 15 acres a day; the equivalent of a crew of 60 workers. An estimated 10,000 workers are employed in the 16,000-acre Vidalia onion harvest, including 1,200 workers who work on the 2,600 acres of onions planted by Delbert Bland, who produces 20 percent of the 3.5 million pounds of Vidalia onions. Bland uses 10 crew leaders to obtain workers, was sued by US Department of Labor in November 1994 for $1.6 million, and settled for $150,000. In 1995, Bland paid $40,000 to settle a suit by 15 migrants from Texas who alleged that a Bland crew leader promised them work and housing that did not materialize when they got to Georgia. Bland is also experimenting with mechanical harvesting. A mechanical harvester used on several hundred acres on an experimental basis can top about 90 percent of the onions, so that one operator can replace a crew of 60 to 70. A profile of schools in Toombs and Tattnall counties reported that both hired bilingual aides during the April-June influx of migrant workers. One 16-year old attends schools in Texas, Georgia and Minnesota each year, and carries her grades and records with her. Georgia provides funding based on student counts in October and March, so the state provides few extra funds for migrants. The federal Migrant Education program enrolled 3,500 migrant children in 1997-98. South Carolina berry growers reported that they had too few migrant workers to harvest berries for one month. Mexicans began to move into the labor force in the mid-1990s; many are from Union de San Antonio, Mexico. Local growers say that local "kids really don't have that ability and focus it requires...to pick fast." A second grower says that local workers "want to start at 8 a.m. and they are out of here at 5 p.m. The seasonal (Mexican) workers try to make as much money as possible." Another grower, describing Mexican workers, says "They stop in and see if we need anybody and if we're paying the right amount. Of course, you have to pay (at least) minimum wage. They go where the best wage is paid." Marcus Stern, "A Semi-Tough Policy on Illegal Workers," Washington Post, July 5, 1998. Lori Henson, "Cleland promises to push for change on migrant labor laws," Savannah Morning News, June 28, 1998. R.W. Apple, "A Georgia onion as sweet as a peach," New York Times, June 10, 1998. "Cheap, Sweet Onions Have a High Social Cost," Fulton County Daily Report, June 2, 1998. Ginger Thompson, "Immigration clashes leave Vidalia onion farmers bitter," Chicago Tribune, May 28, 1998. Lori Henson, "Debate begins to fix migrant problems," Savannah Morning News, May 20, 1998. Mechanization: Raisins, Olives, (posted 7/10/98) Raisins. Lee Simpson, a raisin grower near Fresno, is believed to have a vineyard of the future. Vines are planted five feet apart and with eight feet between rows, closer than traditional 12' by 8' spacing, and trained to grow across rows rather than parallel to rows. The vines holding bunches of grapes are cut in August so that the raisins dry on the vine. Bunches of dried raisins are machine harvested with a beater bar knocking them onto a conveyor belt, a blower expels leaves, and the raisins go directly into boxes carried on the machine. This system eliminates almost 90 percent of the usual 80 hours an acre of labor needed in raisin harvesting. With raisin land selling for about $4,500 an acre and $6,500 needed to develop the trellising system, the total investment is about $11,000 an acre. Simpson yields about 5.5 tons of raisins an acre, or $5,600 an acre. The cash costs of production are about $1,400 an acre. Olives. Olive producers in Tulare and Fresno counties spend about $418 an acre to have their olives harvested, while producers in Glenn and Tehama counties spend about $225 an acre for harvesting. Yields average five tons an acre in the south, and four tons an acre in the north. Olives are the most costly tree fruit to harvest that is later processed. Ag-Right Enterprises of Madera has developed a mechanical olive harvester that can harvest olives from trees that are pruned in a hedgerow fashion to produce a flat wall of trees. Hand harvesting costs about $300 a ton, and mechanical harvesting is expected to cost about $150 a ton; the machine is expected to cost $100,000. Farm Employment and Wages, (posted 7/10/98) There were 1,005,000 hired workers on the nation's farms and ranches the week of April 12-18, 1998, including 800,000 hired directly by farm operators and 200,000 brought to farms by agricultural service firms such as crew leaders or custom crews. About 75 percent of the directly hired workers were expected to be hired for 150 or more days on the responding farm. About seven percent or 70,000 of the one million hired workers were migrants. The percentage of migrants, defined as workers whose employment required travel that prevented them from returning to their permanent place of residence the same day, typically peaks at 11 percent in July and October. Average hourly earnings for all hired workers were $7.50 an hour in April 1998, up from $7 in April 1997. Field workers received an average of $7.00 an hour, up 36 cents. Livestock workers earned $6.99 an hour compared with $6.40 a year earlier. The federal minimum wage has been $5.15 an hour since September 1, 1998. Many states are raising their minimum wages above the federal level. Seven states and the District of Columbia have a minimum wage higher than $5.15, including California, with a $5.75 minimum wage. Oregon's current minimum wage is $6 an hour, and is scheduled to increase to $6.50 in January, 1999. Connecticut's minimum wage will increase to $5.65 on January 1, 1999, and to $6.15 on January 1, 2000. A recent NBER study, WP6111, that compared minimum wages and employment of persons whose earnings were near the minimum found a significant relationship between wages and employment. In France, a one percent increase in the minimum wage was associated with a five percent reduction in employment for men aged 25 to 30 whose earnings were just above the minimum before it was raised. During the 1980s, when the US minimum wage remained at $3.35 an hour, each one percent decrease in the real minimum wage was associated with a two percent increase in employment for workers earning about the minimum. Services: USDA, 402s, (posted 7/10/98) At the recommendation of its Civil Rights Action Team, USDA is requesting $5.5 million for Cooperative State Research, Extension and Education Service programs for farm workers, as well as $3.4 million for the Natural Resources Conservation Service to be used in environmental justice programs. There is no uniform federal, state, or scientific definition of migrant or seasonal farm worker, so that MSFW estimates vary from source to source. However, there may be more nonfarm "migrants" than farm migrants. During the 1980s, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that 1.3 million unemployed workers left the state in which they lost a job for another state. Most of the migrants were from Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and most moved to Texas and the southwest. About 90 of those who migrated found new jobs, compared to 70 percent of those who did not move, although in most cases migrants had to accept lower wages and fewer fringe benefits in their new jobs. In some cases, there was tension between nonfarm migrants and their new communities, especially if both the migrants and the community realized that the migrants' stay in the area would be brief, as occurs when construction workers rush into an area after a disaster. 402 Programs. Section 402 of the Job Training Partnership Act establishes a national program to provide training and other services to qualified Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers. About $69 million in federal funds are distributed each year to nonprofit organizations in each state that have experience serving MSFWs; so-called 402 programs expect to serve 37,000 farm workers each year. Organizations that receive 402 funds must have an "understanding of the problems of eligible" MSFWs and experience serving them. Eligible MSFWs are those who were "primarily employed" in agriculture for at least 12 of the previous 24 months, and have incomes in 12 of the previous 24 months that are less than the poverty line or 70 percent of the Lower Living Standard Income Level. Legal Services. A profile of Texas Rural Legal Aid Inc. (TRLA) noted that its 35 lawyers and 10 offices scattered throughout Texas usually sue out-of-state growers, since Texas growers are reportedly willing to settle rather than confront TRLA in court. TRLA has a $5 million annual budget. In 1978, when TRLA sued the Rio Grande vegetable industry, there were 14 vegetable packing sheds; in 1998 there is one. TRLA won a $47,000 judgment against Ellis Estate Trust, a Kentucky grower of broccoli and tomatoes, for two migrant families from Texas who alleged that they were denied overtime pay and decent housing in Kentucky. A profile noted that 3,500-acre Starrco Farms in Rio Grande City employs a peak 1,800 workers. The article emphasized that most of the farm workers were born in Mexico, and that many have trouble with their US-educated children who want to stay in school. Many of the families build their housing as funds permit, giving the colonias a look of constant construction. The Migrant Farmworker Justice Project in Belle Glade, Florida is adding two lawyers in order to deal with attempts by local farmers to import foreign workers. In 1997, the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project opposed an attempt by a Florida grower to import workers under the H-2A program. Food Safety. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on April 10 released draft guidelines to increase the safety of fresh fruits and vegetables by urging growers to give farm workers lessons on basic hygiene such as using soap to wash their hands, covering lesions or wounds that could come into contact with produce, and using only clean toilets. The FDA proposed that produce shipments be accompanied by paperwork so that problems could quickly be traced to their source. About 9,000 Americans die each year from food-borne disease; some food scientists believe fresh produce is the biggest carrier of contamination. US growers point the finger at produce imports. In 1997, the US exported $3 billion worth of fresh produce and imported $2 billion of produce. Jeff Guinn, "Migrant Farm Workers Live Crop to Crop, Day to Day," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 29, 1998. Terri Self, "TRLA grows a fearsome reputation," Texas Lawyer, April 27, 1998. Dana Milbank, "The Modern Okies. Industrial migrants scour US for work, with dwindling luck," Wall Street Journal, March 2, 1992. Enforcement: Children, FLCs, MSPA, (posted 7/10/98) Children. In the first of 50 planned sweeps in 1998 as part of "Operation Salad Bowl," the US Labor Department fined six growers in the Rio Grande Valley a total of $34,200 for employing children as young as six to harvest onions. Nine farm labor contractors-Oziel Reyes, Oscar Reyes, Jose Carmen Gonzalez, Guillermo Diaz, Julia San Miguel, Sara Lopez, Juanita Gonzales, Lee Bustos and Jose Jesus Martinez-employed 36 children age 12 and younger in the fields during the first two weekends of April to work on six Rio Grande Valley farms-B. Burns Farms of Faysville, J.S. McManus Produce Co. of Weslaco, Pemelton Farms of Mercedes, Sharyland Plantation of Mission, Starr Produce Co. of Rio Grande City and Val Verde Farms of McAllen. DOL found that each of the farms was jointly liable with the FLC for the child labor violations. The FLSA generally prohibits the employment of minors under the age of 12 in agriculture. Teens ages 14 and 15 can work outside school hours in non-hazardous farm work if they are employed on the same farms as their parents, or have written parental consent to work. One of the Texas growers argued that the children were on spring recess, and not working but simply there with their parents. By some estimates, there are about 300,000 underage children employed on in the US, including half on farms. In mid-June, the California Targeted Industries Partnership Program (TIPP) inspected vehicles used to transport farm workers in the Brawley/Indio area, issuing citations to van drivers for illegally transporting agricultural employees without being properly registered as day haulers or farm labor contractors. Inspections of workers at 10 farms resulted in eight citations, including one for employing a worker under 16 without a permit. FLCs. The 1,300 farm labor contractors in California must obtain a license that costs $350 a year, post a $10,000 bond and pass a biennial test on labor and pesticide laws. Under AB 2399, defeated in the California Legislature in April 1998, FLCs would also have to pass an eight-hour continuing education course approved by the California Labor Commissioner that covers labor law and pesticide regulations. AB 2399 would have made FLC licenses valid for two years, up from the current one year. Tom Rankin, a lobbyist for the California Labor Federation, explained that, "The real problem in the agricultural industry is that growers use the farm labor contractors as shields against labor law violations. So the solution to the problem is that growers be liable for violations of farm labor contracts. If that were the case, we wouldn't even need farm labor contractor licensing." FLCs and large multi-county farming operations were most likely to receive notices of federal/state labor law violations under TIPP enforcement in 1993-94. UCD epidemiologist Stephen A. McCurdy compared characteristics of farms that received notices of labor law violations in 1993-94 under the Targeted Industries Partnership Program (TIPP)--a joint effort of the state of California Labor Commissioner's Office and the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division-with the characteristics of 37,000 farm operators drawn from pesticide permits by the California Institute of Rural Studies (CIRS). The study also used a list of 2,600 Farm Labor Contractors with state licenses between 1990 and 1995; only 1,050 were active in 1995. Cal-OSHA reports that 60 percent of California farms inspected, and 65 percent of nonfarm employers, are not in compliance with at least some safety and health regulations. MSPA. The Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and the Workforce Committee held hearings on April 21 on proposed amendments to the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, HR 2038, the MSPA Clarification Act. HR 2038 would permit DOL and the courts to consider only five factors when determining if a farm operator and a FLC who brings workers to the farm are jointly liable for labor law violations: (1) the nature and degree of farm operator control of the workers; (2) the degree of farm operator supervision, direct or indirect, of the work; (3) the power of the farm operator to determine the pay rates or the methods of payment of the workers; (4) the right of the farm operator, directly or indirectly, to hire, fire, or modify the employment conditions of the workers, and; (5) who prepares the payroll and pays wages. Relying on court decisions, DOL on March 12, 1997 expanded this list of factors from five to eight: current law determines joint enforcement by examining: 1) whether the employer has the power either alone or through control of the Farm Labor Contractor to direct, control or supervise the workers; 2) whether the employer can hire, fire or modify the employment conditions; 3) whether the employer supplies housing, transportation, tools and equipment required for the job; 4) the degree of permanency and duration of the relationship between the parties; 5) the extent to which the services rendered by the worker are repetitive, rote tasks requiring skills which are acquired with relatively little training; 6) whether the work performed is an integral part of the overall business operation of the employer; 7) whether the work is performed on the employer's property; and 8) whether the responsibilities performed by the employer are the type normally performed by employers such as maintaining payroll records; preparing and/or issuing pay records, paying FICA taxes, providing workers' compensation insurance, or providing field sanitation. HR2038 would also permit farmers who provide housing to have it certified by a federal or state agency, rather than both federal and state agencies, and hold farm worker tenants responsible for poor conditions that they caused. Federal standards for auto safety and insurance for vehicles used to transport farm workers would be eliminated and state rules would prevail, and farmers would no longer be liable for the activities of private "raiteros" who bring vanloads of workers to their farms for $3 to $5 daily. Finally, the bill would require DOL to notify farmers before launching an investigation, and to obtain the farmer's permission before speaking to farm workers. If violations were detected during the DOL inspection, the farmer would have 10 days to correct them before being cited or fined. Rob Williams of Florida Legal Services testified that there are 5,500 registered farm labor contractors in Florida "and probably several thousand unregistered individuals who are engaged in recruiting and transporting farmworkers." Rather than enforcing MSPA too vigorously, Williams said that DOL investigations under MSPA have decreased from 5,000 in 1988 to 2,000 in 1997. Most FLCs are small, with a crew of 10 to 15; 10 to 20 percent of registered FLCs are first-time FLCs in any year. Most house and transport workers, but Williams noted that fewer than 10 percent receive the additional required authorization to house and transport workers required by MSPA. Competition between FLCs is often fierce: "operating margins are small...[so that] sooner or later, most farm labor contractors fail to pay the social security taxes they have deducted from the workers' pay or the FUTA taxes or they skip the payment on the vehicle insurance." Furthermore, according to Williams, "if the violations are detected, [FLCs are] generally are no worse off than if they had complied in the first place... The fine for not having the vehicle insurance has often been less than the premium itself." Williams emphasized that hours of work reports are often inaccurate: "If a worker picks six [1,000 pound] tubs of oranges [for $7 each], the contractor puts down that the worker worked six hours so that the worker appears to be earning $7.00 an hour." Safety. California prohibits tractor operators from jumping on and off the tractor to do other tasks, such as picking or loading boxes. In 1996 and 1997, some $61,500 in fines were levied against farmers whose tractor drivers also did other tasks that required getting on and off the tractor. Several of the 12 tractor-related fatalities each year involve operators also doing other tasks. Farmers are trying to change the operator-only rule, arguing that it is safe for an operator of a slow-moving tractor to get on and off to do other tasks, so long as there is an easily accessible "kill switch" on the ground that can shut off the engine. Farm worker advocates are joined by tractor manufacturers and safety experts who argue against permitting tractor operators to do another job: the manufacturers say that "mounting and dismounting a tractor while in motion should never be permitted." Robert W. Gee and Gilka Romero, "Law, tradition clash in child labor investigations," Times-Picayune, June 21, 1998. Federal News Service, June 11, 1998. Marcos Breton, "Coalition pursues shift in tractor worker rules," Sacramento Bee, June 8, 1998. Mike Lewis, "Legislation that would have changed farm-labor contractor qualifying requirements dies in Assembly committee," Fresno Bee, April 23, 1998. McCurdy, Stephen. 1998. Profiling violations of farm-work regulations: a preliminary study using interagency enforcement data. Berkeley. California Policy Seminar Brief. Vol 10. No 2. March. ALRB: No Changes, Cases, (posted 7/10/98) The ALRB in 1997 began a comprehensive review of its regulations and invited interested parties to testify in hearings held throughout the state. Options were prepared to change ALRB regulations in April, and in mid-May, the five-member board met to decide how to change its regulations. During hearings on its regulations, farm employers pushed for regulatory changes in three major areas: (1) worksite access by non-employee union organizers; (2) release of employees' names and home addresses to unions on the basis of a 10 percent showing of support for the union; and (3) a method for revoking a union's certification upon a showing that it had abandoned its bargaining obligation. The ALRB staff then developed options for the Board to consider to revise these regulations. The staff report warned that changes in access and pre-petition lists were linked, e.g. if the Board makes a change, for example, to require a union to obtain more than 10 percent of the workers' signatures before the employer must release the names and home addresses of all workers, this change might be linked to access changes. On May 13, 1998, the ALRB voted 3-1 not to change the access rule, adopted as an emergency measure in 1975. The access rule permits union organizers to take access for up to four 30-day periods a year to workers on farm property: one hour before work, one hour at lunch, and one hour after work. The three new board members-John D. Smith, Mary E. McDonald and Grace Trujillo Daniel-said they needed more time to consider the ramifications of changing the access rule. One grower representative said that the three did not vote to change the access rule because they have not yet been confirmed by the California Senate. The ALRB also decided not to change rules that require the employer to provide the names and home addresses of farm workers after the union has secured signatures from 10 percent of them. The Board also did not adopt language as suggested by employers that would have allowed farmers to assume that the union had abandoned workers who voted for union representation in elections under certain conditions. Employer organizations complained bitterly about the lack of change in ALRB regulations. Cases. The ALRB released its first three decisions of 1998 in April-May. In Dutra Farms (24 ALRB No 1) the ALRB reversed the ALJ and decided that the layoff of two blackberry pickers was lawful: they were laid off because they picked too slowly, not in retaliation for their union activity. One of the two laid-off workers has since become a paid UFW employee. In Waterdam Packing Company (24 ALRB 2), the ALRB upheld an ALJ decision to dismiss a complaint that Waterdam retaliated against two employees because of their union activities. The UFW was certified as the bargaining representative for Waterdam farm workers in August 1994. The employees who charged retaliation were leaders in the organizing campaign, which the employer knew about. However, they could not prove that the employer retaliated against them for their union activities. One of the two workers charging retaliation was found to have possibly lied about his hours of work, and was not truthful about whether his hours of work changed before and after the election. A pro-union employee who was terminated was found to have been fired for cause, jamming a shredder and falsifying time worked on time sheets. In Tsukiji Farms (24 ALRB 3), the ALRB held that strawberry grower Tsukiji refused to rehire 19 UFW supporters in 1997 to pick berries. Tsukiji had 63 acres of strawberries in 1996 and a peak 68 workers. In May 1996, the UFW attempted to organize Tsukiji workers. Tsukiji responded by hiring an anti-union consultant to speak to workers and laying off 16 workers, the first layoffs in 40 years-the consultant reminded workers that many companies where the UFW won elections went out of business. The remaining workers struck to have the 16 reinstated. In 1997, Tsukiji reduced its strawberry acreage from 63 to 31 acres, and hired only 15 of the 68 workers who had been employed in 1996. The workers not rehired charged that Tsukiji was retaliating against them for their union activities. The ALJ-ALRB applied the four-part test-the employer discriminated against union supporters (reduced acreage and selective rehiring), there was union activity, the employer knew about the union activity, and one reason for the discrimination was the employer's anti-union motivation. The burden of proof then shifts to the employer, who must show that, even without the union activity, the same management decisions would have been made. Tsukiji was able to show that the reduction in acreage was motivated by economic concerns, but was unable to justify the 1997 rehiring strategy-which was never announced to workers-that left the most ardent UFW supporters without jobs. The ALJ ordered Tsukiji to offer back pay and rehire opportunities to 19 workers. The ALRB modified the remedy order, requiring back pay and rehiring only for the workers who could have been expected to be recalled for the reduced 1997 acreage. Mark Lifsher, "Agriculture Industry Campaigns Against Access to Farm Workers," Wall Street Journal, June 10, 1998. Mike Lewis, "Access rule for farm labor organizers left alone," Fresno Bee, May 14, 1998. North Carolina: Pickles, (posted 7/10/98) The Farm Labor Organizing Committee, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, estimates that there are 5,000 seasonal workers who pick cucumbers for growers who sell them to Mount Olive Pickle Company in North Carolina. Mount Olive is the largest producer of pickles in the Southeast. FLOC says that it has collected the signatures of 1,700 NC farm workers on cards authorizing the union to bargain on their behalf. FLOC represents more than 5,000 tomato and cucumber pickers in the Midwest, mostly in Ohio. The union is seeking contracts with North Carolina pickle producers that would allow it to function as a third-party negotiator, guaranteeing that farmers producing pickles under contract with processors would pay farm workers certain wage and benefits. Mount Olive says that it does not employ farm workers and does not plan to sign an agreement with FLOC. Mount Olive Pickle is the second-largest producer of brand-name pickles in the country; it gets 40 percent of its pickles in North Carolina. The Mount Olive president said that if Mount Olive required its growers to negotiate with a union, the growers would not deal with Mount Olive. Between June 23-26, 70 union activists marched 70 miles from Mount Olive to Raleigh. In October, 1998, FLOC organizers plan to bring labor, church and civic leaders from across the country to North Carolina to organize a national consumer boycott of Mount Olive products. The boycott is expected to begin in 1999. Pickles must be picked while small to obtain the highest prices, which means that workers are encouraged to work long hours during hot spells when pickles ripen fastest. In June 1998, 25 H-2A workers refused to work after, they said, the employer required them to work 14-hour days in a heat spell; the company says that work beyond seven hours a day is voluntary. The N.C. Growers Association Inc plans to seek the admission of 10,000 H-2A workers for North Carolina growers in 1998. FLOC is trying to replicate the strategy it followed in Ohio, where it signed agreements with Campbells and Heinz that requires growers producing tomatoes and pickles for these processors to recognize FLOC as bargaining agent for their farm workers. The processors then adjusted the prices they paid to farmers to cover the higher wages in the contract. A "Justice for Agricultural Workers" campaign was announced in June 1998 to try to end use of H-2A workers in North Carolina. The North Carolina Farmworkers Project used the July 4 holiday to spotlight what it called deplorable living conditions for migrant workers-the group estimates that there are 900 registered farm labor camps and 140,000 seasonal workers in North Carolina. North Carolina created a 15-member Governor's Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs in June 1998. North Carolina has an estimated 350,000 Hispanic residents, up 70 percent since 1990. Ned Glascock, "Rally calls for union on farms," News and Observer, June 27, 1998. "Farm workers complete protest march to Raleigh," Morning Start, June 27, 1998. Angela Paik, "Group urges farm workers to fight back," News Observer, July 5, 1998. Brian Feagans, "Labor organizers plan Duplin-Raleigh march," Morning Star-News, June 11, 1998. Miriam Stawowy, "Creation of Hispanic council historic event," Herald-Sun, June 6, 1998. A series of articles on North Carolina Hispanics is at: www.herald-sun.com/hispanic Florida: Smuggling, Workers, (posted 7/10/98) On April 24, the US attorney in Miami indicted 16 unauthorized aliens on charges of smuggling young women from Veracruz, Mexico to the US and enslaving them. According to the charges, between 1966 and 1998, the Cadina family forced the women into prostitution and held them until they had paid off smuggling fees of $2,000 each; most were held in isolated trailers near concentrations of farm workers. Farm workers paid "ticketeros" $20 for sex; the women kept $3, and were held until their smuggling debt was repaid. Federal charges of involuntary servitude are relatively rare-this is the 11th such case in the past three years. US Attorney General Reno announced the establishment in late April of a "Worker Exploitation Task Force" to fight modern-day slavery in the US. To enable prosecutors to present them as witnesses against the accused, the Mexican women have been given one-year residence permits. In Florida, there were sex-slave operations in Avon Park, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Haines City, Lake Worth, Okeechobee, Ocoee, Orlando, Tampa, West Palm Beach and Zolfo Springs. Workers. A suit against the Jack M. Berry Inc. and Eagle Lake Harvesting Corp. went to trial in Tampa, Florida in May, 1998. Some 3,500 farm workers charge that the central Florida citrus company offered workers $6.50 to $7.50 for each bin (10-90 pound boxes) of fruit picked, too little for them to earn the minimum wage of $4.25 an hour between 1991 and 1994. The suit charges that companies simply underreported hours worked so that, when workers failed to pick fast enough to earn the minimum wage, the company did not have to provide make-up pay. The company rejected the allegations and noted that most of the workers had no records to support their charges. In Belle Glade, a city of 19,000 that serves as a home for several thousand farm workers, state officials persuaded one landlord to repair his buildings rather than evict people when the Health Department found the buildings unsatisfactory. In nearby Bonita, the Pueblo Bonita migrant housing being constructed will house 80 families in 40 duplexes. Larry Dougherty, "Farm worker describes long hours, low pay," St. Petersburg Times, May 27, 1998, Jennifer Peltz, "Truce on Belle Glade housing in place," Palm Beach Post, May 21, 1998. Jeffrey Gettleman, "Sixteen indicted in sex slave smuggling," St. Petersburg Times, April 24, 1998.
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The atmosphere at Denver's North
High School is electric with the start of a new school year.
On a warm autumn morning, teenagers are storming the hallways,
all blue nail polish, baggy pants, and promise. Principal Joe
Sandoval plays the traffic cop, lassoing a kid here, feinting
a punch there, urging one and all to "ÙApúrate!
Hurry up!" The air at this nearly all-Hispanic school is
so charged that it effectively conceals a grim fact: Of the 1,500
students expected to register for school this week, more than
350 have failed to show up. Sandoval has launched an ambitious
effort to find them. The odds are great, however, that most of
them will never come back.
Divergent opinions. Hispanic
teens say they leave school for reasons common to troubled students
from all ethnic groups: They're failing, they're bored, they're
working to support a family. But beyond these factors, opinions
diverge about why Latino dropout rates have been persistently
high for the past 25 years. Hispanics say that the public schools
marginalize them, disrespecting their culture, neglecting their
language problems, and setting standards so low that kids can't
help but reduce expectations. Others insist it is Hispanics themselves
who are giving up on education.
