Lawsuit Ag Labor Pt 1
I’m Bob Larson. As if there weren’t enough worries for growers just trying to obtain enough workers for the upcoming harvest seasons, a lawsuit filed by farm worker unions in Skagit County is delaying the work needed to protect those workers from coronavirus.
Since the lawsuit was filed, Save Family Farming Executive Director, Gerald Baron says the state has come out with new safety rules, that the union’s say are not good enough …
BARON … “It’s interesting they say it’s not good enough because my initial read on it is basically is it does pretty much exactly what the lawsuit and so were trying to accomplish. So, it’s just very early, but what I hear from folks in the industry is it’s devastating, so we’re not done with this fight.”
Considering the source, Baron says it’s not too surprising …
BARON … “These groups are playing politics with this and the governor and the state are showing that politics is more important than the public interest at this point.”
But, wouldn’t working WITH the state be better than working AGAINST them? …
BARON … “As far as I know, there’s been no attempt to do that and when the groups filed that lawsuit, the process that the state legislature had put in place for the state L&I to work with the farm groups through this committee was halted because of the litigation.”
Baron says there’s a method to their madness …
BARON … “The Farm Bureau is suggesting that the union groups did that intentionally to halt the ability of the state to work directly with farmers on it.”
Listen tomorrow for more … on the suit that could be devastating to fruit growers.
