Since the National Labor Relations Act does not cover agricultural workers, we have our own commission, chaired by former Secretary of Labor John Dunlap, that basically acts as a National Labor Relations Board. Campbell s Soup agreed to recognize the authority of that commission in some way, either directly or indirectly, so that the commission can be used as a mediation and arbitration service when a contract is negotiated. That has worked very well for us. Migrant farmworkers suffer probably the worst living and working conditions of any workers in the United States. Not only are you talking substandard wages, but you are talking about essentially a plantation arrangement.
Workers live in housing provided by the growers.
Often they go into debt to the same grower. They have to work off the cost of transportation to and from the plot where they work. It is a situation where it is almost impossible to get any worker s voice heard. A worker cannot raise any complaint without the threat of getting thrown off of the job, or sometimes getting physically injured. It is particularly difficult for migrant workers to stand up for their rights because they have their whole families with them.