After years of running a private labor supply company that
connects field workers with farm owners, a local businessman wants
to create a nonprofit labor camp just outside of San Benito County.
But critics say there is no need for another labor camp and that
the man’s motives are profit-driven.
Hollister – After years of running a private labor supply company that connects field workers with farm owners, a local businessman wants to create a nonprofit labor camp just outside of San Benito County. But critics say there is no need for another labor camp and that the man’s motives are profit-driven.
Jim Hernandez, owner of Hernandez Labor, Inc. runs a private labor camp off Fallon Road that houses up to 60 people. But he wants to expand the facility and lower the rent to encourage workers to stay here for the duration of the harvest, instead of commuting between San Benito and the Central Valley. The facility he has in mind will charge as little as $30 a week for a bed in a six-person dorm room.
Hernandez has already formed the nonprofit, Golden State Farm Labor, and has begun looking for grants that would give money to build a brand new facility for some 100 people. He’s looking for property locally but may have to find a spot in another county because of land prices.
“We don’t want to make money off it, we just want to provide more housing,” he said.
There are many reasons for the labor camp, such as a lack of affordable housing and unavailability of workers who often get snagged by construction contractors, Hernandez said.
Construction contractors looking for day workers would often go to the San Benito County labor camp off Southside Road to pick up laborers, he said. It became a problem because farmers couldn’t compete with the wages paid by construction businesses and were left without enough workers.
“We need labor supply,” he said. “Farmers have crops to pick and they can’t wait.”
But others say Hernandez’s business is exploitative and that the labor camp would only serve one purpose – to give him a ready pool of employees who he can contract out to local farmers. Tony Diaz, manager of the San Benito County labor camp off Southside Road, says Hernandez pays his workers little and doesn’t give them a choice in selecting a job site.
“There, if you don’t want to work for someone, you don’t work at all,” he said.
Homero Garcia, a worker who stayed at Hernandez’s camp this spring said he worked for seven full days only to see a $230 paycheck.
“They didn’t allow me to go to the store and I had to buy everything at their company (store),” he said.
He said he had money taken out of his check for transportation to work.
Hernandez said he didn’t recall the worker and didn’t believe the accusations.
“That’s impossible because I don’t even have a store here,” he said. “Tony Diaz doesn’t like me very much; that’s why he is saying all those things.”
The county-run camp is the only other migrant camp in the area and fills to capacity only during the cherry picking season that runs from late May to early June, said Diaz. But Phil Foster, an organic farmer in Hollister, said he has seen numerous families forced to become migrant farmers simply because they could not afford to pay the high rents.
“I’d like to see more affordable housing in the area,” said Foster, who employs about 40 people during the harvest season. “That way they could stay locally instead of going back and forth.”
Currently, Hernandez has to drive to the Central Valley to recruit workers, most of whom are from Oaxaca, Mexico and are between 20 and 35 years old. He goes to markets, low-income neighborhoods and community centers to find laborers and connect them with local farmers.
By going the nonprofit route, both the company and workers save money, Hernandez said. By not paying so much for housing, workers can actually afford to live close to their jobs while employed on local farms and can avoid crowded housing, which many live in now to save money, he said.
The county-run camp has 67 wooden cabin, each of which can house a family and there is an unaccompanied adult section for single men and another for women that fits six people per dorm as well. When migrant workers leave, the county leases out the buildings for use as a homeless shelter.
Jim Stevens, a county building inspector, said he respected Hernandez’s work and thought he was the right kind of person to tackle the project, but could not comment on whether more labor camps are needed in the area.
Hernandez, meanwhile, has his work cut out for him. Getting funds from the state is just one small piece of the equation. Next comes acquiring property and convincing neighbors that the project will be a worthwhile one and not attract crime or create traffic. However, Hernandez is not worried and says he would like to start building by fall of 2005.
“We’ll take it brick by brick,” he said.
Karina Ioffee covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or ki*****@fr***********.com
