Growing pains for farmers and farm laborers

Anna Ferdinand | Jul 16, 20140

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Union reps, laborers, students and others marched in front of Sakuma Bros. farm stand on Cook Road in Burlington on Friday to demonstrate support for local farmworkers. – Photo by Don Coyote

Skagit is known for its sweet strawberries come June, but there has been nothing sweet about the season this year at the Sakuma Bros. Farm.

The largest producer of berries in the valley finds itself at the center of a bitter dispute involving labor unrest, a boycott, and continued legal battles that have kept the company in the headlines.

Journalist Anna Ferdinand explains the issues facing farms and their labor pools.

Farm labor has changed over the past several years, with the once migrant workers no longer so migrant, partly due to tighter borders. Undocumented workers who have been here for many years seek wages and working conditions at least on par with the federally approved, and mostly less experienced, guest workers the government allows into the country.

Union organizers and advocates on both sides have also stepped into the fray. Meanwhile, farmers say they need a stable, dependable workforce and the ability to stay in business while growing produce with prices that are dictated by consumers...

Anna brings clarity to the complicated issue facing farms and farm workers in the July 16 issue.

Pay discrepancies from a farm worker’s perspective

Maura Vasquez, a 28 year old mother of four, came to work for the Sakuma Br

“At that time if you worked year round, Sakuma, like at Christmas, they gave us checks to buy something, Then at the end of the year they gave $100 or $200 because they were happy with our work,” said Vasquez from her home on the Fourth of July, watching the French play Germany.

She and her husband live in an apartment in Burlington. Combined, the two have worked for Sakuma’s for over 25 years.

Her husband left the company four years ago when he suffered adverse reactions to the pesticides used on the berries. Vasquez remained with Sakuma’s until the strikes last year.

Anna Ferdinand explains how times have changed for the farmworkers, from the perspective of one whose family has worked the fields for generations. Read the whole story in the July 16 issue,