Based on the tone and tenor of Tuesday’s discussion about a proposal to increase the countywide minimum wage for farmworkers to $26 an hour, as demanded by farmworker advocates, there’s no acceptable middle way allowing the supervisors to cut the proverbial baby in half. It was equally clear that the supervisors — to the extent they said anything — would much rather focus on easing the rules and regulations governing the development of farmworker housing than passing a $10-an-hour wage increase that growers and farmers representatives said will destroy their industry.
Claire Weinman of the Grower-Shipper Association said if the wage increase advocated by farmworker advocates were to be passed, 16,000 ag jobs would quickly disappear. Other growers said they face a battery of rising costs and stiff competition from growers in Mexico, Peru, and other countries. A wage increase, they insisted, would cause them serious economic damage.
Farmworkers and organizers pushing for the wage increase said they were frustrated, saddened, and disappointed that the supervisors were not taking to heart the testimony provided by 400 farmworkers at a special workshop held two weeks ago .