It's February, and in the apple orchards of Eastern Washington, immigrant farm workers are busy pruning the trees that they will later thin, then pick...

They are also busy organizing for the new labor season. Following last year's victory in a strike that gained workers a contract guaranteeing at least minimum wage [ETS! 9/27/00], they are gearing up for the fight to maintain what they have gained back, and to hopefully improve upon their situation.

According to Lupe Gamboa, of the United Farm Workers (UFW), one major issue to confront this year is to establish the legal right of "collective bargaining" for agricultural workers. Regarding the plight of farm workers he said, "there is not much difference between Washington State and South Africa under apartheid, except that in South Africa, workers had the right to bargain collectively."

Of course, part of the farm workers' problem with establishing their civil rights is the fact that so many of them are "illegal." But, "everyone knows these workers are undocumented," says Gamboa. The UFW is pushing for an amnesty for undocumented workers. Recent talks between US politicos and the administration of Vicente Fox in Mexico have made gestures in that direction.

More immediate than the political battles over workers' rights, are the deplorable conditions that farm workers are living in right now, and have been for a long, long time. Juan Perez, a former "undocumented " from Veracruz, has been here since 1994, after first coming to the US in 1987 to pick strawberries. He says there "is a lot of work, but the poor workers are getting farther behind. The cost of housing is going up so fast, wages aren't keeping up." He says its not unusual for ten people to share a single mobile home. Many others are forced to camp "illegally," while they conduct our region's business.

The undocumented, who make up "eighty or ninety percent," of seasonal apple workers by Gamboa's estimate, have taxes and social security withheld from their pay, but aren't eligible for the benefits. One family in Mattawa shares an 8'x20' trailer. The two oldest children, born in Mexico, can't attend school, while the three youngest do. This circumstance is all too typical. There are plenty of stories about mothers arrested in an INS raid while at work and being deported, leaving young children behind in the US.

What laws are on the books "to protect basic human rights, aren't being enforced." Said Gamboa. He brought out a photocopy of a check given to him by one worker. The check reflected 7.5 hours of work, which the worker told Gamboa, had actually been 12 hours of work, changed by the grower corporation. The gross pay was $46.00, from which $3.03 was deducted in Social Security and taxes. Another deduction, by the employer, for "supplies," (the pruning shears used on the job) was for $39.00. Total take home for 12 hours of work, $2.97*. That's almost minimum wage, in Mexico.

Mexico doesn't just send apple workers to the US. Mexico is the major foreign recipient of Washington Apples. Thanks to NAFTA the "purchasing power," of the Mexican middle class bought $150 million of apples from Washington last year. That's a significant chunk of the $850 million in revenue from Washington Apples in 2000. 35% percent of Washington apple revenue is generated from exports. The lion's share of those exports go to our NAFTA partners of Mexico and Canada. Multiply that among the diverse range of US agricultural production, and it's clear that farm workers are a very lucrative workforce.

It's not surprising that globalization is on the mind of the UFW. "We have free trade, products can move freely across borders, but workers don't have those same rights," as Gamboa puts it. "Sweatshops are not just in the third world." There are plenty in Washington State.

Apparently trade agreements like NAFTA can cut both ways. Last year's apple strike was settled soon after the UFW made plans to take out full page ads in major Mexican newspapers, detailing the workers' particular grievances. Suddenly, the growers decided they could compromise after all.

The UFW is currently pressing a NAFTA complaint against the US over ongoing labor violations in the orchards. A major public forum on this complaint is scheduled for next July in Yakima. This might be a wake up call to local anti-corporate globalization activists. The farm workers are making a serious effort at exposure to this problem occurring in our own "backyard." A march, hopefully to exceed last year's attendance of 11,000, is scheduled for early August in the Tri-Cities.

In the meantime, the farm workers are confronting the whole spectrum of globalization, not just by marching against it, but in securing labor's overall place among the contending forces. "Apple prices are down," says Gamboa. "The growers are trying to change the wage structure to maintain their profits." The growers complain that prices are so low that they lose money on their crop as it is. "Retailers are the ones really making the profit," says Gamboa. And with globalization being what it is, often times the grower corporation, which is "losing money," is owned by the same corporation that owns the distributor and maybe a large chunk of the retailers as well, who are recording excellent profits.

Money, with full "legal" protection, changes its identity at will, and is a citizen of wherever it wants to be. The people that work to create that wealth are all too often kept subjugated by that same "law," citizens of nowhere. The workers are the ones questioned on the validity of their papers, while corporate paper rules the world.

The farm workers are doing something about that. They really don't have any choice.

More information can be found at www.ufw.org. or 509-839-4903

Troy Skeels