Confreda Farms,
Warwick. (Tom Croke)
A battle being waged on the floor of the General Assembly pits some of the state’s most powerful labor leaders against the one of the state’s oldest industries — agriculture.
The controversy surrounds a bill, proposed by Rep. Paul Moura, D-Providence, a field representative for the AFL-CIO. If passed it would reclassify farm laborers as “employees” and give them the right to unionize.
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The bill has already passed the House and is expected to be heard in the Senate’s labor committee in the coming weeks.
For Moura the issue is about a “fundamental fairness” that workers in the state’s farm industry currently lack. But for the farm owners the issue is being viewed as the key to financial ruin in an industry that is already struggling.
“This legislation is going to make farms extinct in this state,” said Vinny Confreda, owner of Confreda farms in Cranston. “I couldn’t afford to keep up.”
It’s a sentiment that is being echoed throughout the state’s agricultural community.
“If this bill goes through it could devastate some farm families,” said Al Bettencourt of the Rhode Island Farm Bureau. “I have had people say to me that if this bill goes through the next time a real estate developer knocks on their door, they are going to sell.”
Rep. Melvoid Benson, D-North Kingstown, said the bill directly affects her constituents, many of whom are farmers.
“Farm laborers already have state and federal laws protecting their welfare. Many farm laborers make more than minimum wage and many more receive benefits from their employers,” she said. “In many ways, this bill is not only not necessary, but dangerous. It is dangerous to a segment of our economy that is slowly disappearing, that is being crushed by legislation such as this.”
But according to Moura the legislation is not meant to put the state’s farms out of business, but instead to provide workers “a fundamental right” that virtually every other worker in the state enjoys.
“Everyone else has the basic right to organize,” he said. “A few were exempted when the National Labor Relations Act was passed in 1935, but over the years many of those who were exempted have been added. Farm workers remain the only people that can’t organize.”
George Nee, secretary/treasurer of the Rhode Island Chapter of the AFL-CIO agreed.
“I think it’s a basic issue that is important to Rhode Island farm workers in that we believe very strongly that every worker should enjoy the basic right to organize, to improve their working conditions,” he said. “It’s not an issue about money. We believe that there is a fundamental human right that they should have to join together and improve. It’s about dignity. It’s about having a say over your own life.”
But according to the Rhode Island Farm Bureau, and Moura himself, many of the state’s farm workers are already exempt from the legislation because they are part of the family, which owns the business.
“Under the law, family members can’t unionize,” Moura said. “But I don’t see family members organizing against their parents. That’s not the point of this legislation.”
Bettencourt said there are more than 450 farms in the state which employ an estimated 3,000 employees – many of whom are family members. In addition, he said, another sector of farm employees – migrant workers– are already covered under federal regulations.
“Migrant workers known as H2A workers are already regulated by the federal government,” he said. “These regulations stipulate things like the need to provide housing for these workers and set a pay rate. “
Outside of these two categories of workers, Bettencourt said, there are not that many other employees that would be eligible for the union.
“This (legislation) isn’t going to solve any problems; it’s just going to create them,” he said.
What’s also unclear is just how the legislation would affect the state’s farmers.
Confreda said he is concerned about the financial impact, but he also said that the result of the bill’s passage would be the implementation of serious limitations on his workers and the day to day operations of the farm.
“The average person does 10 things on my farm in one day,” Confreda said. “Farmers can’t afford to have a different person do each job. Now our workers are working year round and are diversified. That wouldn’t be the case if this legislation was passed.”
Nee disagreed.
“This doesn’t limit what people can do,” he said. “There are plenty of instances of people being cross-trained. Farm workers right now are excluded from the process of going to the state or national relations board so they can have an election or vote on an issue.”
What’s more confusing is that the state’s farm workers already have the right to unionize — at least partially.
“Farm workers have every right to form a union, and this bill wouldn’t change that,” said Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski, D-South Kingstown/Block Island, who also runs a West Kingston farm. “Farms are exempt from the AFL-CIO coming on to the property and talking to employees about unionizing. This bill would eliminate that exemption.”
And it’s still not clear that the state’s farm workers want a union.
“I have never heard anything from farm workers here about a need for organizing a union in Rhode Island,” Sosnowski said. “Maybe in other states where agriculture is a much biggest entity, maybe it’s warranted there. But I don’t think it’s warranted here.”
In fact, few have shown up at the State House to support the legislation, something Moura said isn’t surprising.
“Workers are hesitant about going public to organize,” he said. “They are often harassed or fired because of it. (Such action is prohibited under the National Labor Relations Act). I am not saying that is happening in this industry, but it does happen.”
Moura said that just because farm workers have the right to unionize, doesn’t mean they will.
“If workers are treated right and paid a fair wage, maybe they won’t organize,” he said. “I don’t see this great rush to organize in this state, but there should be an opportunity.”
Moura said the intent of the legislation wasn’t to create an uproar among the agricultural community, but instead to honor one of their own — Caesar Chavez (the late labor organizer and administrator who concentrated his efforts principally in the West, especially among California farm workers).
And while it may seem like a nice gesture, Benson and Sosnowski agree, it’s just not right for Rhode Island.
“I think it’s appropriate to honor Caesar Chavez, but not if that means putting the last of the farms we have in jeopardy,” Sosnowski said. “That’s not an honor at all.”
“If we were a farming state, then it might be best,” she said. “It’s about timing. We need to keep in tune with the times, and in these times I don’t think it is necessary.”
The bill has already passed the House but it’s unclear as to how it will fare in the Senate. According to Moura, one of the bill’s greatest challengers will be Senator Sosnowski.
“Last year she was key in the bill’s defeat,” he said. “I may not agree but I respect what she has to do. The political will is going to be there. I am more determined than ever because of the hostility brought against me. I respect these farms and will do anything I can to help them succeed and am committed to that. But I won’t stand by and watch people being discriminated against.”
But for Confreda, who is continuing a tradition begun in 1922, the day to day operation is hard enough without sanctions imposed by the state.
“In this business, weather is the most discouraging thing,” he said. “Then you get these people passing laws that have never worked a day on a farm. I think they should spend some time on the farm and see what we have invested.”
