Bedwell: Absence of labor reform could reduce workforce

By WES SANDER
Capital Press

The California Grape and Tree Fruit League ranks labor and immigration rules as the most pressing issues facing agriculture in 2010.

Observers say Washington politics will allow little room for immigration issues this year. But without reform, farm employers are left vulnerable, said league president Barry Bedwell.

Although employers follow the rules, they cannot guarantee the legal status of immigrant employees. That means that if federal agencies decide to step up enforcement, employers could lose more than half their workers.

"For most people, immigration reform is not a burning issue," Bedwell said. "But unless we get reform, we could have a labor shortage tomorrow."

Beyond that, the rules around union organizing could come up again at any time in Sacramento, as they have in recent years, Bedwell said. California's Democratic-controlled legislature passed a bill last year to allow card-check unionizing. A card-check system would allow unions to procure only signed cards from employees, instead off conducting a secret ballot, to unionize workers.

Only a veto by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger kept the bill, by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, from becoming law.

The association's list is produced annually from a survey of the league's board, which is composed of about 50 growers, packers and shippers.

It ranks water issues third, sighting the disagreement that still exists over whether California's $11.1 billion water bond should be approved by voters in November.

Labor costs, including the potential for a minimum-wage hike, are ranked fourth, and invasive species issues fifth. After that, the league ranks food safety, potential health care mandates, produce traceability, air-quality regulations and energy costs in descending order.