New study: Rampant housing violations at migrant worker camps

Wake Forest University Study Finds Violations Rampant in Migrant Housing

Study reveals multiple housing law violations at every camp inspected; advocates urging NCDOL to increase inspections of farm worker housing

RALEIGH (March 30, 2012) – A newly released study from the Center for Worker Health at Wake Forest University School of Medicine found that migrant housing in North Carolina is plagued with violations. Researchers uncovered at least four violations of housing law in each of the 183 camps they inspected for the study.

The study, printed in the March edition of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, is the largest and most comprehensive study of farm worker housing ever conducted in the Southeastern United States. Researchers documented many serious violations of the North Carolina Migrant Housing Act, including:

-Infestations of roaches, mice and rats;
-Non-working toilets and showers;
-Contaminated drinking water;
-Lack of fire safety equipment and smoke alarms.

The North Carolina Department of Labor is responsible for enforcing migrant housing law. Wake Forest University researchers used NCDOL migrant housing standards to evaluate the homes and labor camps they visited.

Farmworker advocates will meet with NCDOL Commissioner Cherie Berry next week to discuss the findings of the study.

For questions regarding the Wake Forest University study, contact Dr. Thomas A. Arcury, PhD at (336) 716-9438, or tarcury@wakehealth.edu.

For More Information, Contact:  Clermont Fraser, NC Justice Center, (919) 861-0606(office), clermont@ncjustice.org; Ana Duncan Pardo, Toxic Free North Carolina, (919) 818-5933, ana@toxicfreenc.org; Jeff Shaw, Director of Communications, NC Justice Center, (503) 551-3615, jeff@ncjustice.org.

Faces in the Fields

Workers harvesting sweet potato in 2009. Photo by Peter Eversoll.By Zachary Kohn
Law Intern, NCJC 
J.D. Candidate 2013
UNC School of Law

This summer on outreach, I had the privilege to talk to farmworkers about everything from La Copa de Oro to minimum wage laws, and witnessed everything from scrimmage soccer matches, to workers trotting home under a majestic sunset with dozens of buckets strapped to their limbs, to tractors spraying pesticides in fields right next to farmworker housing. I enjoyed the aroma of delicious traditional meals being prepared at the end of the day, shared tortillas off of a truck with famished workers and even filed a few complaints with the NCDOL on behalf of farmworkers. 

Among the most memorable experiences so far was at a migrant labor camp where workers are suffering from bed bugs, snake bites, inadequate bathroom and water breaks, and housing with malfunctioning toilets, refrigerators, and stoves. The farmworkers at this camp, a talkative and friendly bunch, did not bring up any of these issues until we had been talking for hours. Even when the problems came to light, almost no worker wanted to file the complaint, even anonymously, out of fear that their employer might retaliate. Fortunately one worker had the desire for change. He told us that he would make the complaint not for himself, but for his fellow workers and future workers living at that camp. I cannot imagine a better client or a more righteous act.

Migrant farmworkers, just like anybody else, need to be able to prepare and store food free from insect infestation, earn livable wages, receive proper medical care, have access to water and bathrooms at the workplace, work in a location free from exposure to pesticides, have privacy in their homes and sleep on actual beds with mattresses. And no one should have to work for an employer who takes advantage of him or her.  Unfortunately, most of what we would consider basic requirements for human beings appears to be frequently denied to these incredibly hardworking, optimistic people.

Nonetheless, we can apply the same optimism and dedication the farmworkers have when they travel thousands of miles from home to do back-breaking work, by refusing to let others treat these workers as a distant abstraction. We must do everything in our capacity to demonstrate our belief that these honest people deserve an opportunity for a better future instead of being cheated, abused and lied to. We can witness, speak to farm workers, share our knowledge with others, make documentaries, pressure the legislature to pass bills in favor of humane treatment of farm workers, write about our experiences with workers, file complaints on their behalf, and even file lawsuits. What we cannot do is be complacent and accept their mistreatment. We must act. 

The outreach trips have been one of the most rewarding aspects of my legal internship at the Justice Center. Aside from interacting with clients and brushing up on my Spanish, I witnessed the hidden realities of our agricultural system, awakened to the plight of the truly impoverished, reignited my desire to study law and learned firsthand that even in the most truly difficult situations people can find happiness and hope. While it's frustrating at times to see progress in farmworker's lives develop so slowly, I can only hope that they have received at least a fraction of the benefit I gained from participating in this incredible experience.

22 migrant workers escape house fire in Western NC

FAN worked for two legislative sessions to improve North Carolina’s law that sets the standards for bathing, cooking, and sleeping facilities for farmworkers who live in employer-provided housing. Modest improvements were passed in 2007.

There remains a laundry list of changes that still should be made in our state law so that farmworkers have safe and dignified places to live, including locks on windows and doors, privacy in bathrooms, better access to laundry facilities, and guaranteed access for visitors of farmworkers’ choice. Unfortunately, enforcement of even these very basic housing standards that we have today remains lax. This story shows the terrible consequences that can occur when our migrant housing laws are not adequately enforced:

CANDLER — Twenty-two people living in a house for migrant farmworkers escaped an early morning fire unharmed, authorities said Tuesday. The blaze destroyed the split-level home at the intersection of Luther Road and Smoky Park Highway near the Haywood County line, said Woody Trotter, battalion chief with Enka-Candler Fire and Rescue.

The fire broke out about 4:45 a.m., and it took firefighters from several departments about 30 minutes to put it out, he said. “It's a total loss,” Trotter said. The residents “all got out safely. They just woke up and smelled smoke.”

“They have lost everything,” said Bob Hvitfeldt, a volunteer with the Red Cross. “The house and the contents are a total loss. “We'll put them up for a few days, and we'll help them secure food and clothing,” he said....

Investigators had yet to find a smoke detector.

Read more here from the Asheville Citizen-Times.

This employer never registered this camp with the North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL), which is a required first step to house farmworkers. There were no smoke alarms, which are required by law. Had the camp been registered, NCDOL would have seen that smoke alarms were missing and presumably required the owner to install them – hopefully preventing this tragedy.

One of FAN’s priorities has been to ensure the NCDOL has the resources and the impetus to seek out unregistered housing and force camp owners and operators into compliance. Let’s get it done in 2011, before more farmworkers suffer in housing that doesn’t meet the most basic of standards.

Seasonal workers sue agricultural giant

Far too many farmworkers tell the same story: a recruiter promises them steady work and good pay, only to leave them more or less stranded in terrible living conditions with little work.  This story reported by The Monitor is just one example of a much larger trend.

As a day laborer, Raul Salas would often have to wait for odd jobs that were never steady and barely allowed him to make a living.

So he says he jumped at the opportunity when, last year on a June day, a fellow laborer named Pensamiento offered him a seasonal job detasseling corn in Indiana.

"He came up to me over there," said Salas, pointing to a spot in downtown Brownsville where day laborers were known to gather to wait for work. "He said it would be really good work for me."

Pensamiento took him and others from around the Rio Grande Valley to the Weslaco Branch of Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., an Iowa-based corn seed producer, Salas recounted, speaking in Spanish. There, a contractor named Juan San Miguel persuaded them to go to the fields near Warsaw, Ind., with the promise of high wages and substantial bonuses, he said.

But Salas, 69, is now one of 20 migrant workers who this month filed a federal lawsuit against San Miguel and Pioneer, which they said failed to pay them minimum wage, took illegal deductions from their wages and forced them to live in rundown, overcrowded hotel rooms.

Learn more about workers and wages here.