Don’t Celebrate Yet: Warning Letter Didn’t Halt Wage Theft in New Mexico Fields
Tuesday, Jul 22, 2014, 3:00 pm
Don’t Celebrate Yet: Warning Letter Didn’t Halt Wage Theft in New Mexico Fields
BY Joseph Sorrentino
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New findings suggest many chile pickers and other farmworkers in New Mexico are still making below state minimum wage,
despite warnings from the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions. (Joseph Sorrentino)[/font]
Following an investigation I conducted for In These Times last year that exposed wage theft in New Mexico’s chile fields, it looked as though New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions (DWS) was taking action to ensure that chileros (chile pickers) and other farmworkers in the state were finally going to get the pay they’re legally entitled to. But new findings suggest that hourly workers are still being shorted and the DWS is doing little, if anything, about it.
In December 2013, I reported that, when paid hourly, farmworkers in New Mexico were routinely paid less than the state minimum wage of $7.50 an hour. For years, contratistas (labor contractors) and growers had erroneously believed they were only required to pay the slightly lower federal minimum of $7.25. I,reported this to DWS and, after attorneys at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty (NMCLP) applied some additional pressure, DWS sent out a letter earlier this year informing all registered contratistas that they were required to pay the higher state wage.
However, when I returned to the fields to do follow-up reporting this April, it appeared that the letter had had little effect on the hourly wages paid for weeding.
Chile and onion fields are weeded manually. Workers use hoes to dig up the weeds that in between the rows of crops, but for weeds that grow between the chile plants or onions, workers get on their knees and pull them out by hand. It may not be the most strenuous work that farmworkers do, but it produces sore backs and knees and by mid-morning, the heat from the southern New Mexico sun begins to take its toll. For this kind of labor, workers are paid by the hour (when harvesting crops, they’re typically paid a piece rate, getting paid a certain amount for what they pick).
More:
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/16983/dont_celebrate_yet_warning_letter_didnt_halt_wage_theft_in_new_mexico_field
