What about the workers?
Earlier this summer the Department of Labor imposed a 50 percent wage increase for blueberry pickers in Washington state and made national headlines.
The increase bumped the piece rate for pickers from 50 cents a pound to 75 cents a pound in addition to the agreed upon hourly wage. For blueberry producer Zirkle Fruit in Selah, the increase prompted a lawsuit against the Department of Labor. The fruit producer did not take issue with the wage increase but rather the methodology of the data collection that led to the increase.
Last Thursday, a U.S. District Court judge temporarily stopped the wage increase pending a trial.
In the event the wage increase is reinstated, the only losers will be the people who pick the blueberries because the job the important job they do will likely be mechanized in the years to come to save money. According to news stories, Zirkle Fruit hired approximately 2,750 guest workers via the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program to harvest blueberries for the 2019 season. Including the 50 center per pound piece rate, Zirkle workers are being paid approximately $17 an hour. It is important to remember Zirkle employs local workers in addition to its H-2A workforce. All blueberry pickers in Zirkle’s employ would be affected by the piece rate wage hike.
Additionally, Zirkle Fruit reported a 100 percent return rate of their 2018 guest workers for the 2019 season. Much has been made about the unfairness of the H-2A program and how it sets workers up in poor conditions. Zirkle Fruit is clearly not part of the problem. They are part of the solution. A 100 percent return rate of guest workers should be celebrated, as a model of what agricultural businesses should do to encourage positive working conditions for all their employees, foreign and domestic.
According to their estimates, the change in piece rate pay would add approximately $1.4 million in wage costs to Zirkle’s budget. The additional wage costs represent a significant economic impact to their larger business model.
Looking beyond business models the potential increase in wages means finding another method for harvesting blueberries. It means looking toward mechanization and, potentially, putting an end to the person-driven jobs Zirkle provides annually during the blueberry harvest.
A 2016 report noted mechanized blueberry harvesters could cost up to $200,000 to purchase but the cost pales in comparison to the $1.4 million in wage increases represented by the piece rate wage increase instituted by the Department of Labor. The drawbacks to mechanized harvesters are the lack of human touch, intuition, and the risk of increased fruit bruising that comes from a machine doing the work. It seems reasonable to infer Zirkle has preferred the benefits of hand-picked blueberries providing superior fruit to their customers but sustainability of their hand-picked blueberry operation upon which their blueberry pickers depend must also be part of the larger consideration process when looking at such a wage increase.
The Department of Labor justified the piece rate increase based on data collected from 54 farms with an average of 33 workers each by the Employment Security Department as part of its prevailing wage survey. When compared to the scale of Zirkle’s blueberry picking workforce, 33 workers is out-of-touch for a prevailing wage data collection average. That was the genesis of Zirkle’s suit against the Department of Labor.
For now, the wage increase will be set aside in a trust while lawyers continue to determine if the increase is legal. The limbo for Zirkle’s workers means their ability to make a living may be put in jeopardy because of poor decision-making by a state agency.