Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry.
A Sonoma County wine grape and vegetable grower will have to pay $31,102 in back wages and $18,154 in civil penalties for violating several requirements of the federal H-2A visa program, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The H-2A program allows U.S. employers to hire temporary workers from abroad – mostly from Mexico – for agricultural jobs that are not filled by domestic workers. Employers receive much-needed labor by agreeing to meet certain conditions, such as providing safe and clean housing and adequate working conditions.
The department said its investigators found Humberto Castaneda Produce, based in Santa Rosa, paid workers below the promised rate on their contract, failed to provide tools, meals or kitchen facilities, and housed workers in dilapidated trailers and a garage, all in violation of the program requirements. The company did not respond to a CalMatters request for comment.
Farmworkers are among the most vulnerable tenants in a state plagued by skyrocketing housing costs. It’s more expensive to live in Santa Rosa than New York City, according to U.S. News & World Report. Because H-2A workers depend on their employers to maintain their legal status in the United States, they rarely complain about poor living and working conditions. In California, the number of H-2A workers has exploded in recent years, coinciding with the housing crisis. State regulators have struggled to ensure that farms are providing safe housing to their workers, rarely issuing citations or penalties despite finding thousands of violations, a CalMatters investigation earlier this year found.
Federal labor officials said the company also did not reimburse transportation costs and did not secure safe transportation for its workers, which are requirements of the program. Farmworker transportation is a key issue in a state where laborers have been dying in crashes to and from the fields. Humberto Castaneda Produce grows serrano and jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, squash and wine grapes, operating in Santa Rosa since 1988. It supplies large stores like Safeway supermarkets and smaller, local grocers.
Workers can use the Department of Labor’s Workers Owed Wages search tool to see if they are owed back wages collected by the department.
At Humberto Castaneda Produce in Sonoma County, farmworkers were living in dilapidated trailers and a garage in conditions that violated the requirements of the federal H-2A program, according to inspectors with the Department of Labor. Photos Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Labor
DON’T MISS
Food as medicine. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required Medi-Cal, the state’s public health insurance plan, to cover culturally relevant and medically supportive foods or nutrition interventions when deemed necessary by a healthcare provider. Authored by Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, a Democrat from Oakland, the legislation was part of a 14-bill package backed by the California Legislative Black Caucus based on recommendations from a state reparations task force.
Mechanization training. A new initiative in California’s Central Valley is helping farmworkers transition to higher-tech roles as the agricultural industry becomes more mechanized. The program, launched at seven community colleges, aims to train 8,400 workers by 2026 in skills needed for modern farming, including technologies like GPS-guided tractors and robotic weeders. This effort is part of a larger $65.1 million federal grant to integrate technology into farming operations, addressing challenges like rising labor costs, stricter regulations, and climate change, the LA Times reported.
Criminalizing homelessness. Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer told the San Francisco Chronicle he plans to have police arrest “the most troublesome, continuously service-resistant homeless people.” A city ban on any encampments on public land went into effect this week. On Oct. 13, another policy prohibiting camping on private land goes into effect — essentially making it illegal to camp anywhere in the city. Violations can bring a $1,000 fine or a year in jail.
Unemployment insurance. When Californians lose their jobs, unemployment insurance can help them make the rent, put food on the table, and cover other basic needs until they can find a new one. But the state’s unemployment insurance system is severely underfunded and outdated, leaving workers without enough benefits, the California Budget & Policy Center found in a new report out this week. The system carries $19.8 billion in debt and provides an average of only about $368.53 a week in 2023, less than the income needed to afford fair market rent in any county in the state.
Textured hair education. California is home to the highest number of cosmetology schools in the country, and now beauty schools will be required to teach how to care for textured hair, which is considered wavy, curly or coiled hair. Newsom signed AB 2166 by Assemblywoman Akilah Weber, a Democrat from La Mesa, requiring California licensed barbering and cosmetology schools to educate students on how to care for wavy, curly or coiled hair.
Farmworker bills. Newsom signed into law several bills aimed at improving housing for farmworkers this past week in Fresno:
Assembly Bill 3035 increases the number of housing sites in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
AB 2240 lifts eligibility requirements for workers and their families to live in farmworker housing and could lead to 24 state migrant housing complexes staying open year-round.
Senate Bill 1105 expands paid sick leave for farmworkers who want to avoid smoke, heat or flooding from a local or state emergency.
College enrollment. EdSource reported this week on a huge drop in the number of low-income, undocumented students newly enrolled in the University of California and California State University systems. Enrollment by such students dropped by 50% between the academic years starting in 2016 and 2022, according to a new study released this month by William C. Kidder of the UCLA Civil Rights Project and Kevin R. Johnson of the UC Davis School of Law. The study comes at a time of heightened debate over policy proposals to help undocumented residents in California. Newsom vetoed bills that would have allowed undocumented students to take on-campus jobs and undocumented residents to apply for a state-backed home loan program.
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Thanks for reading,
Wendy and the California Divide Team