Originally published in . . .

Volume 7, Number 1, Winter-Spring 1998

Resources

Print Publications

GAO Report on the H-2A Program. Debate about the need for guestworkers in agriculture is back with a vengeance, perhaps most tangibly reflected in this report, which discusses related issues of labor supply, immigration, and work visa programs. The General Accounting Office released its study, H-2A Agricultural Guestworker Program Changes Could Improve Services to Employers and Better Protect Workers, HEHS-98-20, on December 31, 1997. The report is 148 pages, including 21 pages of USDA comments. In response to a request from Congress, it examines (1) the likelihood of a farm labor shortage, (2) need for non-immigrant guestworkers, and (3) capacity of the existing H-2A program to meet the need for such guests and at the same time protect other workers, domestic and foreign. A complete electronic version can be downloaded in Portable Document Format from the APMP website at http//are.berkeley.edu/APMP/pubs/gao-h2a.pdf (file is 2.1 MB; requires Acrobat Reader). A printed copy can be ordered online by using the GAO request form at http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/ordtab.pl or by contacting the U.S. General Accounting Office, P.O. Box 37050, Washington DC 20013. Email: orders@gao.gov. Fax: 202-512-6061. Phone: 202-512-6000. The first copy is free; additional copies are $2 each.

A Time to Act: Report of the USDA National Commission on Small Farms, USDA publication MP-1545, January 1988, 122 pages. This commission was established in July 1997 ". . . to gather and analyze information regarding small U.S. farms and ranches and recommend to the Secretary of Agriculture a national strategy to ensure their continued viability . . . ." In its section on working conditions for people engaged in production agriculture, the report recommends that Secretary Glickman form an interdepartmental task force to address laws, regulations, and enforcement of regulations affecting farm workers. Among issues that it specifies for attention of the task force are (1) repeal of the H2A foreign guest agricultural worker program, (2) provision of assistance to small farm operators to comply with minimum labor standards, and (3) inclusion of farm workers under protections afforded others by the National Labor Relations Act. The report is available from the National Commission on Small Farms, P.O. Box 2890, South Building, Washington. D.C. 20013 (phone 202/720-0122) or the Small Farm Center, University of California, Davis, 95616 (phone 530/752-8136). The full report is also available on the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service website at http://www.reeusda.gov/agsyssmallfarm/report.htm.

Injuries and Fatalities on U.S. Farms, Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 739, 16 pages, January 1998. The study reported by Jack L. Runyan, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Food and Rural Economics Division, using 1992 Census of Agriculture data, analyzed fatal injuries by state, and nonfatal injuries by the operators' primary occupation, age, and tenure group, and by farm type, acreage, sales, commodity, and location. Farm operators and their families suffered 72 percent of the 673 work-related farm fatalities in the United States in 1992 and a third of the 64,813 nonfatal farming injuries. Hired farm workers endured 44,383 nonfatal and less than a third of fatal work-related injuries. The full report, Stock # ERS-AIB-739 may be ordered for $12.00 from the ERS-NASS Sales Desk by phoning 800/999-6779 or sending an order with payment to ERS-NASS, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161 (fax: 703/321-8547).

Community Welfare Reform Planning: Early Indications from Six California Counties, Working Paper #2, October 1997, by David Campbell, Director of the California Communities Program, compares early planning activities in six California counties -Butte, Kern, Sacramento, San Diego, Tulare and Ventura. For more information: email dave.c.campbell@ucdavis.edu or phone 530/754-4328.

CFBMG Product Catalogue, from the Canadian Farm Business Management Council, 75 Albert Street, Suite 1110, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5E7 (phone 613/237-9060, fax 613/237-9330, email cfbmc@intranet.ca), lists videos and publications on business development (planning, diversification, exporting, entrepreneurship, financial management, human resources, and production management), reports and studies, and newsletters. CFBMG, a council created by the Canadian government "to provide timely, relevant information to help farm managers successfully operate their businesses," is also on-line at http://www.cfbmc.com.

Safety materials and tools. The 1998 Master Catalog from Gempler's, a leading provider of items supporting compliance with workplace safety rules and regulations, lists agricultural tools and supplies, protective clothing, and equipment. Also available from the company are safety training publications and handbooks. For more information phone 800/382-8473, fax 800/551-1128, email gemplers@compuserve.com, or visit their website at http://www.gemplers.com.

Government Regulation of the Employment Relationship, Bruce E. Kaufman, editor. Fiftieth Anniversary Volume in the Industrial Relations Research Association Series, 557 pages, paper, $29.95 (free to IRRA members). The book's four sections contain chapters on theoretical perspectives concerning employment regulation; analysis of empirical evidence on the outcomes and effects of employment regulation; issues of regulatory structure, administration, and enforcement; and "opinion pieces" on employment regulation, featuring academics and practitioners. Order from ILR Press, Cornell University Press Services, P.O. Box 6525, 750 Cascadilla Street, Ithaca, NY 14851-6525 (phone 607/277-2211 or fax 800/688-2877).

Workplace Dispute Resolution, Directions for the Twenty-first Century, Sandra E. Gleason, editor, 283 pages, paper, $26.95 (plus $3.50 shipping). Written for practitioners as well as scholars, the book focuses on how conflict is managed, with particular attention to innovative points of view, in both union and nonunion workplaces. Published by Michigan State University Press, 1405 S. Harrison Rd., Rm. 25, East Lansing, MI 48823 (phone 517/355-9543; fax 800/678-2120).

Internet Resources

Government forms and posters. State and federal agencies have made many compliance documents available through the web. A new page in the APMP site has a collection of links to forms and posters relevant to agricultural employers. Among items that can be viewed, downloaded, and printed are the Form I-9 (both the current one and the recently proposed revision), California payroll tax forms, MSAWPA poster, IWC posters, and EEOC poster. To reach the new page, go to the APMP website at http://are.berkeley.edu/APMP and click on "Laws & Govt Agencies" in the Site Guide, then "Forms and Publications."

Farm labor employment and wages (http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu:70/reports/nassr/other/pfl-bb). The February 1998 issue of USDA's quarterly report shows farm jobs and average wages up 6% nationwide, and the proportion of migrant workers down, from the same period last year. The average wage for all directly hired farm workers during the January 1988 survey week was $7.61 in the U.S. (up from $7.20 in 1997), $7.38 in California (up from $7.10). A permanent link to this serial report is on the APMP website's "Data" page.

The ProSelect Staffing Resource System (http://www.info-online.com/proselect/index.htm), a commercial website, offers sound selection principles, illustrates how to structure pre-hire interviews, and includes sample interview guides and tip sheets that can be adapted to specific company needs. ProSelect is also linked from the Personnel Management Resources page on the APMP website.


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