California ranchers agreed to improve living conditions for sheepherders Monday in a last-ditch effort to head off a hefty pay increase.
Sheepherders are exempt from the state's minimum- wage requirements.
Farmworker advocates were encouraged by the effort but will continue to demand more pay for sheepherders, many of whom are from Peru, Chile and Mexico as part of a federal guest-worker program. The economic woes have caused more than 130 ranchers to stop raising sheep, and the state's sheep population has dwindled by one-third or 4,000. We've tried to be responsible and responsive to sheepherders. But if our banks keep seeing net loss after net loss, we'll all be looking for other jobs. Ranchers have been complaining about losing money for years, but continue to survive, farmworker advocates say.