The bill would also legislatively reverse court decisions and Department of Labor regulations that have rejected employers' efforts to punch loopholes in the law. The Canady bill would return us to the failed policies of focusing enforcement on crewleaders and voluntary compliance. Farmworkers would experience more illegal and unfair labor practices, including nonpayment of wages, unsafe transportation vehicles, unsanitary housing, sexual harassment and other abusive treatment. The poverty rate among the nation's farmworkers has increased during the last several years. Real wages for farmworkers have been declining for two decades.
Studies show that labor law violations against farmworkers are rampant.
Enforcement should be strengthened, not eviscerated. Rep. Cass Ballenger, chair of the workforce protections subcommittee held a hearing on these bills on October 21, 1999. But no vote has occurred on these bills and none is scheduled. Ballenger promised to work with the farm groups next year. The bill would eliminate AWPA's federal minimum standards for vehicles used to transport farmworkers .