Latino Views on Immigration and the Farmworker Reform Issue

September 15, 1999

On September 15, 1999 the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a briefing on farmworker reform and Latino views on this reform. With an agricultural guestworker bill about to be introduced in Congress, the issue of foreign agricultural workers has become especially heated. Demetri Papademetriou of the Carnegie Endowment, moderator of the event, commented in his opening remarks on the significance of the issue, noting that the fact that our fruits and vegetables are picked by people who have been "systematically exploited" is "one of the big black stigmas in the reputation of this nation."

Latino Views on Farmworkers

Antonio González, Executive Director of the W.C. Velásquez Institute and the Southwest Voter Registration Project, presented the results of an opinion survey conducted by the Velásquez Institute among Latinos in Texas and California. The survey, conducted between July 23^rd and August 8^th of this year, sought the opinions of 1018 Latino registered voters on issues ranging from US-Cuba relations to the US drug war. The survey also included several questions on immigration and farmworkers.

González reported a general sympathy among Latinos toward foreign farmworkers and immigrants. With respect to farmworkers specifically, the survey found:

• 52% of those surveyed in California and 45% of those surveyed in Texas identified themselves as being familiar with the bracero program (1942-64), and a majority in both states (CA 52.3% TX: 50.7%) thought that the program had been useful rather than exploitative. González hypothesized that this positive attitude toward the bracero program may stem from the fact that some Latinos descend from bracero workers and that opposing the bracero program would thus seem like self-negation.
• 81% of those polled in California and 75% in Texas would support a program to bring in foreign workers in the case of a labor shortage, and a similar proportion (CA 80.9%, TX 71.5%) felt that the US should enact programs to allow foreigners to work legally in the US on a temporary basis. González found this support for guestworker programs surprising, given that most Latino organizations, including his own, do not support such programs.
• A majority of Latinos surveyed felt that seasonal farmworkers help or otherwise have little or no effect on American workers (CA 81.0% TX 70.8%) and that illegal farmworkers generally take jobs that Americans do not want (CA 81.2%, TX 71.6%).
• 85.9% of Latinos polled in California and 67.3% of those polled in Texas supported unionization of farmworkers, and 57.7% in California and 46.4% in Texas believed that employers and/or the government should pay for farmworker benefits. 72.2% of those surveyed in California and 56.3% of those in Texas agreed that farmworkers should have higher wages, even if food prices rise as a result.
• Finally, 75.8% of Latino voters surveyed in California and 67.3% in Texas endorse the idea of amnesty for illegal farmworkers in exchange for several years of mandatory agricultural labor.

González indicated that further research was necessary to understand the motivations behind the survey responses, but that a few guesses could be made. Latino support of guestworker programs may reflect Latino sympathy toward farmworkers based on a belief that working conditions in the US at their worst are better than working conditions in their countries of origin, he said. Latinos may also have a positive view toward guestworker programs because they are not well informed about agricultural issues. Or, he suggested, the Latino voters may be more urban than other Latino populations and thus be less concerned with working conditions for agricultural laborers.

Finally, González maintained that although the survey data include some opinions contrary to the views of many Latino organizations, Latino organizers should not see the data as a threat. Knowing the truth is a necessary organizing tool, he argued, and can provide the basis for educational and outreach efforts.

[For further information on the William C. Velásquez Institute survey, including data on Latino views of immigration in general, please call 210-22-8014, fax 210-222-8474.

Farmwork Reform

Rick Swartz, president of Swartz and Associates, spoke about his legislative work on the farmworkers issue. Swartz, who was hired by the agricultural industry to find areas of consensus among growers, laborers, and their supporters, stressed that he was speaking at Carnegie on behalf of himself only.

Swartz gave several reasons why he chose to work with the industry on farmworker reform. Substantial legislative reform that would improve the conditions of farmwork is not possible without including the farm industry in the process, he argued. Calling the status quo "indefensible," Swartz went on to say that reform of the agricultural sector is imperative and that now, before politicians turn their full attention to the 2000 presidential election, is the best time to undertake such reform.

Through his work with the growers, Swartz has identified several key issues that he sees as potentially forming the basis of a dialogue on reform. He outlined these issues as follows:

• Legal status of farmworkers. Thirty to sixty percent of the current agricultural workforce is undocumented.
• Access to housing, health care, education and essential human services. Most farmworker households live in poverty and have limited access to social services.
• Employment registry, rights, and working conditions. Employers and farmworker advocates must reach a consensus on farworkers' rights and how to uphold them.
• Enforcement against exploitation, smuggling and unfair competition. The competitive advantage that employers gain from disregarding labor laws should be countered through better enforcement of labor laws.
• Macroeconomic effects of guestworker programs.
• Local level effects of guestworker programs.

Swartz predicted that a bipartisan farmworker bill would be put forth in the Senate within the next ten days, and a House bill would likely follow. The congressional offices that have been most involved in the farmworker legislation have been the offices of senators Larry Craig (R- ID), Bob Graham (D- FL), Gordon Smith (R- OR), and Ron Wyden (D- OR). The legislation will probably allow for the adjustment in the status of some farmworkers. Unauthorized workers who have worked a specified number of days in agriculture in the past year would be eligible to work legally on a temporary basis, while workers who have worked a specified number of days in agriculture over several years would be eligible for a greencard. Temporary workers would not be tied to a single employer, although they would have to work solely in agriculture. The Senate bill will also most likely call for the creation of a DOL-sponsored, state or regionally-run worker registry where employers would be able to find workers. H2A reform, specifically a change in the calculation of the adverse-effect wage rate, as well as provisions for housing reform and enhanced labor law protection, will also most likely be included in the bill.

The prospects of a farmworker bill passing, Swartz noted, are "modest at best," but possible if a bipartisan, administration-backed consensus can be reached.

Questions and Answers

Dolores Huerta of United Farm Workers began the discussion by noting her strong disappointment with the Southwest Voter Registration Project's involvement in a survey that could be used against farmworkers. Why, she asked, had the survey not asked farmworkers themselves, rather than Latino voters, about their opinions on guestworker programs? Huerta also criticized Rick Swartz for working for the farm industry, saying that he should not pretend his efforts are pro-farmworker because they are not. She called the proposed guestworker legislation that Swartz discussed a "step away from slavery" and an "indentured servitude program" that "has to be exposed for what it is." A representative of the AFL-CIO added that Huerta's remarks also spoke for the AFL-CIO.

Antonio González responded by clarifying that the Southwest Voter Registration Project had not been involved in the Velásquez Institute survey. He defended the survey as honest social science, but conceded that more survey work should be done to gauge the opinions of farmworkers.

Rick Swartz countered Huerta's criticism, by noting that he had had many conversations with growers trying to convince them of how improved conditions for farmworkers were also in the industry's interests.

Jack Martin of the Federation for American Immigration Reform raised concerns about the California and Texas focus of the Velásquez survey. Given this narrow focus, he said, the results should not be portrayed as representative of general Latino opinion. Morris also asked Rick Swartz what the Administration's involvement has been with the farmworker legislation and what can be done to slow down illegal immigration.

Swartz replied that the White House has been involved in discussions about the farmworker issue, but that it will make its own judgements on the issue. González said that his organization has always been careful about making the California and Texas focus of their study clear.

Cecilia Muñoz of the National Council of La Raza pointed out that despite the many views on guestworker programs, there seems to be a clear consensus for change. La Raza, she said, like many Latino organizations, opposes guestworker programs on the basis that the programs conflict with the values of increased wages, improved conditions, and unionizing. She also expressed her fear that the farm industry may use the Velásquez survey to argue that Latino organizations that oppose guestworker programs are out of touch with the larger Latino community.

González agreed that misuse of the survey is a legitimate concern, but that his organization is committed to ensuring that the data are used in an accurate manner. Swartz added that the survey had been released in full to the public before the growers had access to it.

Bruce Goldstein of the Farmworker Justice Fund noted that the legislation described by Swartz seems to provide little protection for the farmworkers who would be given temporary legal status, but not full permanent residence. Furthermore, he continued, the legislation appears to weaken the current regulatory regime. Swartz replied that until the bill is introduced in the Senate and its provisions are known, it is difficult to argue about specific provisions. This year's bill will have many aspects that differ from past legislation, he said; for example, this year's bill will have no limits on greencards given to eligible farmworkers.

An activist from the San Joaquín Valley asked Rick Swartz how the forthcoming legislation would address the key issues that Swartz had outlined in his discussion. Swartz replied that the bill's provision for adjustment of legal status would improve farmworker conditions because legal residents have better access to social services and employment protections.

Baldemar Velázquez of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee of the AFL-CIO told the story of Ramundo Hernández, a farmworker in North Carolina whose bones were found beneath a pecan tree. Hernández had arrived legally in North Carolina from Mexico by paying a cayote to be recruited into a farmworker program. Velázquez contended that the story of Ramundo Hernández illustrates the need for a moral threshhold in the discussion about farmworkers, a dimension that has been lacking in the current policy discourse on farmworkers. The discourse, he said, should be about moral concerns and rights rather than legal issues alone.

Velázquez also argued that working conditions should be improved by enforcing the labor laws that already exist. He advocated an end to the H2A program and a general amnesty for illegal immigrants. Rick Swartz responded by calling on the AFL-CIO to turn its criticisms into concrete legislative proposals.

Demetri Papademetriou concluded that the policy discourse would be more productive when the upcoming legislation is introduced and advocates had something more concrete about which to argue.

Report prepared by Amelia Brown