COUNTYWIDE : Farm Workers to Get Emergency Hot Line

Social service agencies and farm leaders have agreed to establish an emergency hot line for farm workers rendered jobless by the freeze.

The decision came after representatives from 17 public and private social service agencies, farm and government leaders agreed Tuesday that aid for jobless workers is inadequate.

The group called for a bilingual hot line and a list of agencies that could be distributed to employers and workers who apply for unemployment benefits.

Ventura County Supervisor Susan K. Lacey, who organized the group, said the immediate future for the unemployed is gloomy, given the economic downturn and limited sources of disaster aid.

“If we do not do something, these folks could be forgotten,” she said.

Grower Ellen Brokaw said farmers would like to keep the labor force in the county until the industry recovers, but do not know where to send workers who need short-term help.

Farmers “have a lot of problems to deal with after a disaster,” said David Buettner, county deputy agricultural commissioner. “It’s only in times of stress like this that it points out the inadequacies of the system.”

Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, said he will survey employers to determine the extent of the layoffs.

Laird estimated the farm work force at 13,000, and “if you take 10% of the work force unemployed by the freeze, that’s 1,300 people.”

Meanwhile, representatives of social service agencies say they are limited in what they can do to tide workers over until they get new jobs.

Shirley Ortiz, division director for the private Center for Employment Training in Oxnard, said that in the last four days, she has seen a 60% increase in the number of farm workers seeking help.

However, the agency has only $40,000 to aid farm workers who lack money for food and rent, and that will last only about two or three weeks, Ortiz said. She cited the need for more emergency aid as well as retraining programs for unemployed farm workers with limited job skills.

“They’re not any different than workers at Northrop or Abex Corp.,” Ortiz said, referring to two large companies that have announced massive layoffs in the last two months. “But they don’t know how to get another job.”