ALRB GAINS NEW CHAIRMAN, RE-APPOINTED MEMBER

As expected, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Guadalupe Almaraz as chairman of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board last month. He also named board member Cathryn Rivera-Hernandez, whose term had expired, to a new five-year term. The appointments bring the board to three, a quorum.

Announcement of the governor's action came just as last month's AG ACCENT was being mailed. The third member of the board is Genevieve Shiroma, a long-time member who once served as chairman.

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CIVIL SERVICE CAREER

Almaraz, who lists his home as Bakersfield, is a 30-year civil servant in California agencies. Most recently he was deputy chief labor commissioner for the division of labor standards enforcement in the Department of Industrial Relations. His employment in that department goes back to 1977. Before that he served as a consultant to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

Rivera-Hernandez was first appointed to the ALRB in 2002. Previously she was chief deputy cabinet secretary in the office of Governor Gray Davis from 1998 to 2002. She is an attorney who lists Sacramento as her place of residence. Her appointment and that of the chairman will require confirmation by the California Senate, not expected to be controversial since both are Democrats.

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FARM WORKERS SEEK DAMAGES IN TWO ACTIONS

Farm workers in Washington have brought suit in two cases seeking compensation for actions by an employer in one case and by a labor contractor in the other.

Five workers have charged that the Zirkle Fruit Company in Yakima recruited them in Mexico through the H-2A program, but failed to reveal some work requirements which lowered their pay below federal minimum wage levels. The suit was filed in their behalf by the Northwest Justice Project, apparently a kind of Northwest CRLA.

The suit claims that the workers were told they would receive $18 per bin for

picking apples, and that a bin could be filled in 1.99 hours to meet minimum wage requirements. But they say the employer reduced the time required to fill a bin to 1.84 hours, which necessitated a 15-minute speed-up. They charge that their termination for not meeting the revised work requirement was wrongful, and that they were not compensated properly for travel and visa costs.

The other suit brought against labor contractor Global Horizons has been resolved with an award of $317,000 to 700 local farm workers. They made the case that Global Horizons violated the state's Farm Labor Contractors Act by failing to provide jobs promised to local workers.

The workers also charged that the company discriminated against them based on race by failing to hire them or by firing them and replacing them with guest workers from Thailand.

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IDAHO SPOKESMAN FRAMES GUEST WORKER NEED

Frank Priestly, president of the Idaho Farm Bureau, has written a column that pinpoints the need for a workable guest worker program that will accommodate the needs of U. S. agriculture. "Either we can make it possible for temporary foreign workers to help us grow the food in the U. S. or they will stay in their country and grow food for the U. S.," he said.

He outlined a three-point guest worker program as he wrote for the February 1 issue of Capital Press.

1) A simplified program that allows 500,000 to 750,000 legal migrant and stationary foreign agriculture workers annually instead of the current H-2A procedure that he says is "burdened with bureaucratic red tape and unrealistic expectations."

2) A guest worker wage set in accordance with the prevailing market wage.

3) A compromise with labor rights groups that lets workers work and helps farms operate.

He said piecemeal changes in the current H-2A program can accomplish some of what's needed, and that wholesale legislative reform in the guest worker arena might not be realistic in the current or soon-to-be political theater.

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EMPLOYER VIGILANCE REQUIRED FOR WORKER'S ACTIVITIES

Attorneys Barsamian and Moody have cited a recent case involving employee hazing to call attention to the need for employers to limit the mischief workers get into while on the job.

A female employee of an alarm installation company in Fresno was awarded $1.7 million after she sued her employer for allowing other employees to spank her as part of what the company called "motivational exercises." They used a yard sign of a competing company to administer the "punishment."

The spanked employee said the practice demonstrated sexual harassment, and the suit, especially the award, created national attention.

However, on appeal the 5th District Court threw out the lower court's verdict, saying the fact the employee was a woman had nothing to do with the spanking. Since then the employee has sued again, this time the insurance company which fought the original case. The insurance company now thinks a settlement instead of a court decision is possible.

For agricultural employers the issue might not be spanking or anything else having to do with motivation; rather, mistreatment of one employee by others. Even teasing or apparently harmless hi-jinx might be construed as sexual harassment. The attendant precaution issued by the Employers' Law Firm is that the notice not be taken as legal advice, just a common sense word to the wise.

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OPEN FIELDS INVITE CRLA INTRUSION

Vegetable fields in the Santa Maria area have been attracting spies from California Rural Legal Assistance(CRLA) intent on photographing farm practices that violate CalOSHA regulations. Armed with cameras, they seem to focus on unmanned tractors commonly used in harvest operations.

The tractors, which are used to pull various trailers and other equipment used in harvesting, move slowly and are guided by the deep furrows in which they travel. Also, they are equipped with remote controls operated by an attending crew member. Their use is fully in compliance with regulations - CalOSHA and others.

But CRLA, which seems to prefer nothing as much as creating difficulties for farm operators, dispatches unidentified lackeys to sit at roadside with cameras at the ready, hoping to capture the slightest bobble or mishap by a piece of equipment. Their intention apparently is to have photographic evidence to support the report of a CalOSHA violation.

The practice gives new and disgusting meaning to the word watchdog. Growers in other areas might be wise to be on the lookout for similar subversive practices by their tax-supported friends at the CRLA.

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ULTIMATE UFW GOALS ARE POLITICAL

The appearance on TV of Dolores Huerta leading cheers at a Los Angeles rally for Hillary Clinton reinforced the conclusion that the real goals of the United Farmworkers union are and always have been political. Huerta served as vice president of the union for years until her retirement several years ago.

The myth that the union's founder pursued benefits for farm workers persists. Actually he used them to gain political prominence and power. Some of that power and prominence has been absorbed by workers, but almost incidentally.

The political status of the union is such that it doesn't have to do the hard work of organizing. Its mere 1 percent membership among workers in California is enough to

fool shallow-thinking politicians into supporting union and often Hispanic political objectives.

One of the next big uses of the union's power is likely to be a repeat consideration of the corrupt card check procedure for enrolling thousands of members by circumventing secret ballot elections. It is not just young Hispanic legislators from Southern California who are likely to fall for this insidious move. Fresno Assemblyman Juan Arambula was a co-author of the bill to instate the card check system in the last session. Fortunately the bill was vetoed by the governor.

While the UFW's founder is gone, his goal of political influence lives on. Obviously it has captivated Hillary Clinton as well. At the movement's outset it was difficult to understand how church leaders succumbed to the founder's ruse. Now it is elected representatives at both the state and national levels who are under the influence in the tradition of the Kennedys. Their motives are easier to understand - votes.

This year's election will be a turning point. Not only is the balance of legislative power at stake, but as many as five Supreme Court judges might be appointed in the next eight years. Pressure groups from the Gay Alliance to farm workers and the larger labor movement will be courted by politicians at every level. It might be time for divine intervention.

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DUES, SUBSCRIPTION RESPONSE IS BRISK

Members of the Agricultural Action Committee and those who receive AG ACCENT each month responded vigorously to last month's dues and subscription notice. However, the mailbox is still open, and the expenses to follow and report agricultural labor relations issues continue. Responses to the need can be mailed anytime to the Agricultural Action Committee or to AG ACCENT, P. O. Box 34, Clovis, CA 93613. Subscription/contribution level is $50. Thank you.

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