Laws: January, 2003 - Number #09

The United Farm Workers union in April 2003 unveiled a bill, AB 923, that would divert the money currently saved by farmers from the state sales tax exemptions on purchases of farm machinery, diesel fuel and other items, and redirect these tax savings to farmers who pay at least 80 percent of the health insurance premiums on qualified health plans covering their farm workers. Since 2001, farmers have saved about $80 million a year from the sales tax exemptions, which were aimed at getting farmers to buy machinery in California rather than in neighboring states. The UFW said AB 923 was a revenue-neutral way to meet the health-care needs of some of the state's poorest workers. There were proposals to exempt small farmers, which produced an interesting debate over the definition of a small farm. One San Joaquin Valley legislator defined small farms as those with annual sales of $10 million or less; the Assembly version of the bill would exempt farms with sales of $250,000 or less and extend the tax exemption on farm sales for another year. About 62,000 of the state's 74,000 farms had sales less than $250,000 in 1997. A 2000 report, Suffering in Silence, screened almost 1,000 farm workers and found that 70 percent lacked any form of health insurance; seven percent were covered by government-subsidized medical programs for the poor. About 16 percent of those surveyed worked for farmers who offered health insurance, but a third of the workers eligible for employer-provided health insurance did not sign up because premiums or co-payments cost too much. Under AB 923, the state Board of Equalization would calculate the amount that the agricultural sales tax exemptions would have cost the state, and qualified growers could apply to the state Employment Development Department for tax credits equal to this amount. EDD would verify grower claims and allocate credits, using employment records on file with the department. Since AB 923 does not require new state spending, it can be enacted by the Legislature with a majority vote. Farmers say they cannot afford to provide health insurance to their workers, noting that their gross sales remained about $27 billion a year between 1997 and 2001, but net farm income fell from $6 billion in 1997 to $4 billion in 2001. UFW lobbyist Richie Ross, who also runs the election campaigns of many Democrats, reportedly threatened several Democrats in June 2003 when they insisted on language that would have included a sunset provision in AB 923. The Assembly approved AB 923 on a 41-33 vote. Ross is registered as a lobbyist for the UFW, the trial lawyers association, a restaurant employees union and several Indian tribes; because he also manages the campaigns of many Democrats, critics say he has an unusual ability to force elected officials to pay attention to his clients' issues. Ross later apologized, saying: "When it comes to the expectations I have with regards to farmworkers, I am very passionate and very aggressive." HHS's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (www.ahcpr.gov/) reported that, during the first half of 2000, some 61 percent of US workers were offered and accepted health-care coverage through their jobs. Industry, occupation, employer size and union were the major factors determining whether someone received health insurance through work. By industry, 81 percent of workers in public administration and 77 percent in manufacturing received health coverage, but only 31 percent in personal services and 26 percent in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. About 79 percent of those in firms with 500 or more employees received benefits, compared to 36 percent of workers employed by companies with fewer than 10 employees. Organizing. The UFW signed a two-and-a-half year contract with Coastal Berry, effective June 2, 2003 covering 800 strawberry pickers in the Watsonville area; the UFW already represents 750 Coastal Berry workers in the Oxnard area. Coastal Berry has 2,100 acres in California, including 1,100 acres in Watsonville. Under the contract, the minimum hourly wage will rise from $6.75 to $7.25, and the UFW said that new productivity incentives could push the hourly earnings of pickers up to $13 an hour or 20 percent. UFW President Arturo Rodriguez said that the contract shows "what can be done when we work together to bring about an industry that can be viable to employers and beneficial to workers." John Gargiulo, president and CEO of Coastal Berry Co, said that "we did what we had to from a business point of view." The contract caps an organizing drive that began in 1995. The UFW's effort was summarized by Pete Maturino of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1096 as the UFW's effort "to find a company friendly to the union, get a good contract and make that (contract) a model for the rest of the industry." In April 1997, AFL-CIO president John Sweeny called the UFW's strawberry campaign the most important union organizing drive in the US. However, many workers opposed the UFW and, when the workers learned of the UFW's top-down organizing strategy, some formed the Coastal Berry of California Farm Workers Committee, or "Comite," which won a July 1998 election on a 523-410 vote. That election was overturned, and after several more elections, the UFW won the right to represent workers in Oxnard and the Comite in Watsonville. In November 2002, the Comite was replaced by the UFW in a decertification election in Watsonville. The UFW was expected to launch an effort in summer 2003 to organize table grape harvesters, but there were few reports of organizing activities. In the Rio Grande Valley, the UFW represents lay workers employed by several Catholic churches. The Brownsville bishop opposed the contracts that were signed in 2002, and the UFW sued to stop the bishop from laying off UFW-represented workers in June 2003. In San Antonio, the UFW lost an election to represent workers at the Adams Mark hotel, and withdrew its election petitions at two other hotels. The UFW's pension plan reported $100 million in assets in 2003, 10,000 members, and 2,200 persons receiving benefits (www.ufw.org/jdlc.htm). Workers who earn pension benefits under UFW contracts must apply for benefits, but many do not. The UFW periodically finds workers who are owed pension benefits, and gives them a lump sum plus a continued monthly pension in front of local media. Chavez. On April 24, 2003, the tenth anniversary of Cesar Chavez's death at age 66 in 1993, the U.S. Postal Service issued a new first-class Chavez stamp. The photo of Chavez was taken in 1970 at the United Farm Workers headquarters in Delano, but the Postal Service replaced "Nosotros Venceremos" (We will prevail) with a background of grape fields. The Glendale-based Cesar E. Chavez Foundation is urging the National Park Service to preserve sites that were significant in the life of Cesar Chavez and the UFW, perhaps creating an "educational trail" from his birthplace near Yuma, Arizona to the fields of California. Many of the sites most closely associated with Chavez are slated for demolition, such as the Salinas jail in which Chavez sat for 20 days because he refused a local judge's order to call off a lettuce boycott. The California Supreme Court eventually overturned the local judge, ruling that the injunction violated his free speech rights. Miguel Bustillo, "Efforts to Honor Chavez Hit Barriers in Congress," Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2003. Nancy Vogel, "Lobbyist Threatens Legislators Before Vote," Los Angeles Times, June 7, 2003. Maria Alicia Gaura, Tyche Hendrick, "UFW signs berry pact after years of setbacks," San Francisco Chronicle, June 7, 2003. Lesli A. Maxwell and Louis Galvan, "Harvests & health care," Fresno Bee, May 4, 2003. Gregg Jones, "UFW Seeks Improved Health Care," Los Angeles Times, April 21, 2003.