We trust that lawmakers will honor the testimony of these laborers with real action
It is unconscionable that there are thousands of workers in Oregon who would suffer injury, forgo fair pay and endure untenable living conditions out of fear of losing their jobs.
It’s happening on our farms, in our hotels and restaurants, and in our beloved forests, where reforestation workers – most of them immigrants – are laboring with little or no tangible representation for their rights.
In February, Street Roots investigated these working conditions and, through a series of stories, turned the heads of state lawmakers, who are now taking the issue to heart.
This week, the Oregon Senate Workforce Committee, chaired by Sen. Michael Dembrow (D-Portland), took up the issue of forest worker rights and abuses in a special informational hearing. Lawmakers listened to accounts of crowded living conditions, undrinkable water, debilitating injuries, a demoralizing environment and in some cases death.
The lawmakers should be applauded for pushing this issue forward, as should the organizations that supported the workers and the workers themselves who had the courage to testify.
We trust that lawmakers and the bureaucratic machinery in Salem will honor the testimony of these laborers with real action. And to make it easy, much of the improvements don’t have to involve creating something new. It is about following through with the laws that already exist, and putting the resources behind the agencies charged to enforce them.
This means increasing the budgets for enforcement and compelling the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management – which are already inspecting many work sites for compliance with project contracts – to work with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to conduct joint inspections so safety can be examined at the same time.
Improving workforce conditions also means removing the barriers to reporting problems, most notably the fear of retaliation. That fear not only means serious issues go unreported; it also skews the reports that do exist. The worst offenders, those who intimidate workers, have the fewest complaints and continue to receive government contracts.
Other suggestions have practical applications on the ground. Joel Iboa with the nonprofit Beyond Toxics calls for supplying crews with water purification kits and sanitation and, given the hazardous nature of herbicides and pesticides applied by forest and field workers, requiring that all applicators be licensed.
“We owe fair treatment to these workers.” Sen. Dembrow said.
Yes, particularly considering that many of the people employing them do so with our tax dollars.
So as the 2017 legislative session starts ramping up, we will look for real movement forward in fulfilling the charge of our state agencies to ensure safe working conditions for all workers. Oregonians are tired of oversight bureaus functioning in name only. We can demand, and deserve, fair treatment for all.
