Farmworker narratives are not all the same
During a recent lull between variety harvests, a father and son with more than 50 years combined working at the same orchard near Wenatchee gave me some of their time to share their thoughts about working in Washington state’s orchards.
Dionicio, 67, and his son, Carlos, 37, have worked side-by-side since 2009, when Carlos returned to the rows of organic trees they tend together after working away from the farm he was born and raised on outside Orondo.
“I came back here because it was comfortable and I loved being out here,” Carlos said. He was familiar with the orchard work, having worked with his dad while he was in school.
For Dionicio, coming to work in the orchards of our state was about finding somewhere to make a living.
“I used to do a little of everything – pruning, picking, weeding, whatever needed doing – here and at other places, too,” Dionicio said. “I started here full-time in 1980 and I became foreman in 1990.”
In his role as foreman, Dionicio has overseen more than 100 farmworkers in a given season and says the biggest struggle they have now is finding people who want to work for the pay they receive.
“I see new workers don’t like to work as hard as we used to. They don’t want to put in extra hours or work as hard, but I don’t know why,” Dionicio said. “And, these new workers, they know we can’t do anything about it. We have so many regulations. If we try to ask a worker to work harder, to do more, they say they’ll just call L&I because they know they can. So, we keep paying more but we can’t do anything. I hear it on the radio, just call L&I.”
Dionicio’s experience gives him perspective, as a man who was once in the position of the employees he now supervises, he says he has empathy for their concerns and tries to work with them whenever possible. He also sees all the production bills and costs it takes to run the orchard that farmworkers don’t see when they are asking for increases in pay.
“If workers ask for something, I let them have that. If they need to go to appointments or don’t show up for a day and come back the next day and say they didn’t feel good or had to be somewhere else, I don’t punish them for that,” Dionicio said. “But I also see both sides. I see the cost of the spray, of the farm, the bills. The workers always just want more money, but they don’t see the costs of the whole orchard. I do.”
Work during the COVID pandemic continues to be stressful.
With the small crew at the orchard, 40 or so people right now, Carlos says everyone has adhered well to the social distancing and mask policies mandated by the state.
“It hasn’t changed much for us,” Carlos said. “Overall, it’s pretty much the same.”
That sentiment was echoed by his dad, who said the biggest changes occurred where fruit was transferred from the picking bucket or bag to the storage bin and with some of the usually planned social events for farmworkers.
“Everyone is used to having scarves or masks but not in the heat, that was hard,” Dionicio said. “In these rows, for apples, there are only two people per row, so we just tried to have people change their bucket dump times, so they weren’t at the bin at the same time.”
He also said the orchard canceled their annual harvest party to celebrate the end of the season’s hard work to avoid breaking any large gathering rules and birthday parties for workers which are celebrated communally. The orchard also reminded workers not to gather for large parties outside of work hours to abide by the rules set out by the Governor’s Office.
When asked about claims that farmworkers are treated poorly, both men said they thought there were probably cases in which that was true, but it had never been their experience.
Both Carlos and Dionicio expressed an enjoyment of the outdoors as part of the benefits of their work and said being able to work with people whose company they enjoyed was an added bonus.
“It’s been pretty easy for work. We can do pretty much whatever we want,” Dionicio said. “Talk with people while we work, make a good living. It’s been really easy.”
Both men noted the job wasn’t without its drawbacks, chiefly working in tough weather conditions and being away from family during the long harvest seasons.
But Dionicio struggled to express something negative about his job.
“What could be ‘worst’ about working here?” he asked with a wry smile while looking out across the fruit trees he has spent more than 40 years tending.