CRITICS CHALLENGE FARM LABOR OVERSIGHT

CRITICS CHALLENGE FARM LABOR OVERSIGHT; [Palm Beach Edition]
Patty Pensa Staff Writer. South Florida Sun - Sentinel. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: Jan 4, 2006. pg. 1.B

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A new statewide group that certifies farm labor practices wants to keep Florida attractive to big buyers and concerned consumers by staving off the slavery stigma that has been associated with farmwork.But Socially Accountable Farm Employers has come with its own controversy. Critics say the group is a virtual shield meant to head off real negotiations with farmworker advocates.

To a certain degree, the group was formed as a preemptive strike against those who categorize all farmers as bad employers, founders say. Farmworkers in Palm Beach County cultivate almost 54,000 acres of produce, including bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and sweet corn."There are bad growers and good growers," said Barbara Mainster, executive director of the Redlands Christian Migrant Association, a social services group that works with farmworkers and their families. "There's a concern that everyone gets tarred with the same brush, that everyone's guilty."

The migrant association and the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, which represents about 500 farms, are collaborating on SAFE. Mainster, one of two board members so far, said SAFE will provide something of a "Good Housekeeping Seal of approval" so corporate buyers and consumers can know their produce was picked under fair working conditions.The issues, to be audited by an outside firm, include forced labor, child labor, discrimination, safety, housing and wages.

But how effective the oversight will be is another question with critics. Greg Schell, managing attorney with the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project in Lake Worth, said periodic checks don't work, especially "if they give the farms notice, and they probably will."Schell said the migrant justice project didn't sign off on SAFE but was informed about it before its recent launch. He suggested that the group was formed to head off complaints by the vocal Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which early last year secured a penny-per-pound increase for farmworkers who pick tomatoes for Taco Bell.

The coalition likewise pressured McDonald's.

Though McDonald's turned to SAFE instead of negotiating with farmworkers, Mainster said the fast-food giant didn't create the group."This started long before that," she said. "It's clouded it because now people are making a connection between McDonald's and SAFE."

The need for such a group, according to Ray Gilmer of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, comes in an increasingly demanding marketplace. Major retailers, food service chains and restaurants want to pick growers that would be viewed as the responsible choice, without stories of unscrupulous labor practices.

"We're hopeful this turns into something that becomes a standard for performance in terms of how you treat your workers and train them," Gilmer said. "For businesses making decisions, we don't want Florida farms left out because of labor practices."

Audits will be voluntary and farms would pay a fee to SAFE for them. Farms that don't participate will suffer in the marketplace, said Jay Taylor, president of Taylor & Fulton Tomatoes, which has farms throughout the state."We need to take our head out of the sand and be proactive and assure our customers that what we do is right," he said.

Patty Pensa can be reached at ppensa@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243- 6609.