The Farm Worker Services Coordinating Council (FWSCC), established last year, is planning to deliver its report to Governor Wilson on November 16, 1992. Charged with helping state agencies develop more consistent policies and more effective delivery mechanisms to serve farm workers, the Council has received copious oral and written testimony from farm workers, employers, and representatives of interested associations and agencies throughout California.
Public release of the report in English, and a Spanish version of its Executive Summary, is expected within two weeks of delivery to the Governor. Copies of the report, executive summary, and transcripts of testimony will be available, at nominal charge, through the FWSCC Support Unit, MIC-37, 800 Capitol Mall, P.O. Box 826880, Sacramento, CA 94280-0001; phone 916/654-5911.
A preliminary summary of issues raised in the hearings has been adapted here from the September 17, 1992, issue of Voice of the Fields. The author is Consultant to La Cooperativa Campesina de California and a member of the FWSCC Coordination Staff Work Group.
Overview of the Hearings
S. J. Velarde
A review of the official transcripts of the public testimony shows a wide range and intensity of interest in many topics. The order in which those topics are listed below is based on the number of times a particular issue, interest, or concern was emphasized at the hearings.
Eighteen different subjects were brought up. They can be organized under six primary categories: housing; enforcement of labor laws; education and English as a second language; health services; state resources (needs for increased funding, bilingual personnel, services, and numbers of service sites, especially in rural areas); and occupational health and safety.
Within these six categories were such matters as enforcement of labor camp codes for sanitation, health, security and safety; compliance with anti-discrimination laws; civil and human rights; workers' compensation; relations with Immigration and Naturalization Service; violations of the minimum wage law, nonpayment of wages, and noncompliance with regulations governing withholding for Social Security, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, and federal income tax.
Also included in these primary concerns was testimony regarding the accountability, or lack of it, of farm labor contractors and other employers; the need for more adult and vocational education and for literacy training in native and English languages; and training in the prevention of illness, injury, and disease. Concerns were also expressed regarding limited MediCare and Medi-Cal benefits; inadequate health insurance coverage (particularly for the high incidence of work-related injuries and illness); lack of prenatal and infant care; need for more programs in alcohol and substance abuse prevention and in parenting skills, and for greater access to Migrant Education and Migrant Head Start programs.
Throughout the large body of translated and transcribed testimony, the following complaints were frequently repeated in connection with other concerns: lack of protection by laws; low wages; transportation problems; difficulties in communicating (few bilingual personnel in service agencies and helping professions); incorrect or nontimely information about services; excessive paperwork requirements; and barriers (primarily language, cultural sensitivity, and cost) to access to education, health services, and other existing programs.
Also appearing in the testimony, although with lesser frequency, were requests for increased services (or attention to problems) in the following areas: underemployment and unemployment; bilingual outreach and information; child well-being; immigration and naturalization; emergency services; and financial assistance for special purposes, such as schooling, transportation, and disaster relief.
Underlying much of the farm workers' testimony, often strongly implied when not specifically highlighted, were feelings and concerns about racial and ethnic discrimination, and prejudicial behavior in workplaces and housing. Indignities and abuses were perceived by many workers to be the result of their ethnicity and low social and economic status. Numerous farm workers who appeared before the FWSCC began or ended their testimonies with appeals that farm workers be treated with the civility, dignity, and respect that are due any human being, regardless of station in life.
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