It’s a cycle that has been happening since the late 1800s. The need for agricultural labor in California is a cycle of bringing in labor and then deporting them when they become too visible. Elaine Chukan Brown, wine writer and author of recently published The Wines of California, describes the history, current situation with new regulations and deportation, and the tension put on vineyard workers’ wages in California and their impacts on the labor market and vineyard workers.  Detailed Show Notes: The Wines of California covers 3 sections: How we got here - the history and what context allowed things to happenWhere we go - the growing regions and key producersWhat we’re facing - marketing challenges, climate changeInterest in farmworkers started with Salud, a medical program for vineyard workers and their familiesHas mobile and physical clinicsSuccessful because it provides care for workers and their familiesCA is the largest farm region in the USExports 40% of ag productionBecame nationally relevant in the 1900s, which led to the need for farm laborSources of farm labor (in chronological order)Indigenous people (until smallpox outbreak and reservations)China - exchanged labor for citizenship, after 10-15 years, expelled Chinese with the Chinese Exclusion ActJapanIndiaBlack sharecroppers from the South (small group)Mango (Philippines)Mexico (post WWII) - led to the current H2A programWhen labor populations grow and get too big, they are expelled, which has been in ~20-year cyclesH2A Program - temporary work visa programCannot be extended or transferred to another employerEmployers must provide housing & transportationBiases towards big business to deal w/ complianceFDR (1930s/40s) - Labor Protections Act created worker protections, but excluded agricultureUnited Farmworkers (1975) - 1st farmworker protection legislationAssociation of Farmers - farm wonders banded together to have more leverage against workersEver-growing CA labor regulations create large compliance requirements that end up favoring big businessCurrent system sets up farm workers’ wages as the only lever for farm owners to maintain profit margins and be economically viable (w/w/o gov’t subsidies)New CA farmworker overtime pay law - 8 hours/day, 40 hours/week before overtimeDerived from an office worker’s perspectiveDoes not match the seasonal work of agricultureEmployers have small margins, can’t afford overtime ratesWorkers make less money and need to get 2nd or 3rd jobsIf workers get injured at 2nd job, workers’ comp does not cover wages of the main jobEmployers need to find more workers to do the same amount of work, and lose the experience and skills of the current workforceMany crops (e.g., strawberries, peaches) need manual labor and can’t be mechanizedICE raids & deportations: not a new thing, but what’s new is people with documentation (visas, amnesty recipients, citizens) are being detained and deportedCreating fear, workers not showing up to work (some regions report a 70% drop in workers)Workers not going to farms on main roads (too visible)Families choose 1 member to go ot work, the other stays home to take care of the kidsHistorically, when the safety of workers is an issue, workers don’t respond to higher payUS tariffs increase prices to consumers, decreasing sales; it may take decades for consumers to substitute for domestic wines Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.