It’s an open secret in California’s agricultural fields and packing houses: Female farmworkers often endure sexual harassment, or even sexual assault. The perpetrators are usually crew bosses who threaten to fire the women if they speak up. Now, a bill making its way through the California Legislature tries to address the problem by cracking down on employers.
SB1087 focuses on farm labor contractors, those who hire workers for jobs like picking strawberries or packing lettuce for different growers. It would give the state labor commissioner the power to revoke farm labor contractors’ licenses if they hire crew supervisors who have sexually harassed workers.
“Most good employers do want to play by the rules, because they know that if they break the rules, it’s going to cost them money,” says state Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel). “I think we can create a greater framework of integrity in the fields, translating into greater protection, particularly for female workers.”
Monning says he was moved to introduce the bill because of in-depth reporting on the issue of farmworker sexual harassment and assault by the Center for Investigative Reporting, the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and The California Report.
Maricruz Ladino is one the farmworkers we interviewed for our earlier series, which ran on KQED and NPR. Ladino says she was assaulted by her supervisor, after he harassed her for months.