With a dog by his side, a herder's duties include feeding, shearing and assisting in the lambing season. Pay and working conditions are under review. Sheepherders are exempt from the minimum wage rule since they fall under a federal guest-worker program. The housing would include heating, toilets, bathing facilities and visitor access. But the largest dispute has to do with possible pay increases.
Ranchers maintain they are faced with rising costs and declining profits.
But advocates such as Chris Schneider, executive director of Central California Legal Services Inc., said sheepherders should be paid much more, considering some of the work is done around the clock. Ranchers maintain the sheepherders are paid much better than what they would have earned in their native country. Two versions of the proposed amendments were presented Monday to the commission at an information-only meeting in Bakersfield. About 150 people attended. The Sheepherders Wage Board was created last year by the state Industrial Welfare Commission and was charged with reviewing sheepherders' pay and deciding whether a minimum wage rule was needed.