Probe of State’s Vineyards Finds Labor Violations

A sweeping federal investigation of California’s grape vineyards shows that nearly 80% of the industry violates farm worker protections.

The study by the U.S. Labor Department, to be released today, also found that many labor contractors used by grape growers fail to meet minimum wage and other workplace guidelines.

The problems range from not posting worker protections to using underage and underpaid workers and having unsafe housing and transportation.

On a positive note, investigators found relatively high compliance with rules on child labor, health and safety, with the number of those violations paling in comparison to cases of unfair wages.

“Nothing like this has ever been done to focus on the industry,” said George Friday Jr., acting regional administrator of the department’s wage and hour division in San Francisco.

The Labor Department has levied $43,200 in civil penalties and awarded $39,654 in back pay to 369 workers as a result of its first in-depth inspection of the nation’s wine producing business.

Since this was the first investigation, and because most of the violations were not too egregious, the cases are not being considered for criminal prosecution. But the government hopes that the crackdown sends a message about the importance of compliance.

“They’ve been put on notice,” Friday said. “At this point, if they’ve never been checked, you have to give them the benefit of the doubt. . . . If it happens again, we might consider some type of action against them.”

The investigation was one of the driving forces behind a nationwide educational and outreach program launched last month in Washington, but its results were not officially disclosed at that time.

The Labor Department zeroed in on California because it provides the best snapshot of the grape growing industry, leading all states with 8,012 vineyards and $2.1 billion in annual receipts.

Computer software was used to simulate a statistically valid sampling, allowing the conclusions to be projected industrywide with a 90% confidence rate, researchers said.