My problem is the contratistas (labor contractors) continual abuse of immigrants that come from Mexico to California; I believe it is wrong. I am trying to address any reader of this essay in order to further educate and make clear that the abuse of immigrants is not right. The immigrants' wages have fallen while the profits have hit a record high. The immigrants' are also continuously cheated out of their wages by the contratistas. Farmers' medical benefits have decreased and in some places disappeared, and the laborers are forced to live in overrun and overcrowded houses. According to a San Jose Mercury News article called Farm workers face hard times; Middlemen maximize profits by paying as little as possible written by John Hubner published on July 8, 2000 "30 years ago, 80 to 90 percent of seasonal farm hands in California worked directly for growers,"(Hubner) however today only half do while "the rest are employed by about 1,200 farm labor contractors, or contratistas" (Hubner).

The federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour, however half of the labor contractors fail to pay that and "...20 percent of the grape growers who hire their workers directly sometimes failed to pay mi

nimum wage" ( Hubner). In an article called U.S. puts growers on notice: labor contractors don't meet pay, safety rules written by Christine Hanley in the San Jose Mercury News, Hanley writes that "The majority of minimum-wage violations occurred when piece rates were paid, and in some these cases, employers tried to mask the low wages by recording the work of several workers on one worker's time sheet" (Hanley). The wages of laborers have also fallen in the past decade. The United Farm Workers or the UFW stated in an article published in the Jinn website called A Frontier Town in the Strawberry Labor Wars written by David Bacon, that "...wages have actually fallen in the last ten years considering inflation" (Brown). According to Hubner the UFW is trying to renew contracts with orange growers that would "...guaranteed workers $13 a bin, plus medicals benefits." The growers answered that "..they could get the oranges picked for $10 a bin with out benefits" (Hubner). Tanis Ybarra, the national vice president of the UFW said, "... the number one priority of the ag business over the decades has been to encourage a labor surplus" (Hubner). The worker surplus eventually decreases wages because there will always be somebody that is willing to do the same work for less. The immigrant workers are also continuously cheated out of their wages by the contratistas. One way that the immigrants are cheated by the contratistas is by being charged for a ride to work even though some have cars. Even though it is illegal in the state of California to make transportation a condition for work the contratistas still charge them for transportation. Another way the contratistas cheat the immigrants out of their wages is by "...over-charging for food and drinks in the fields, refusing to pay overtime and pocketing workers' final paychecks of the season, unscrupulous contractors siphon off one-third of farmworkers' wages" (Hubner). Contratistas also cheat workers out of one or two hours of pay each day which being over 25 workers amount to more than $200 dollars a day. Another type of abuse is the prevention of medical treatment.

The houses that are provided for the workers are not livable according to state standards. An example of this is the barrack provided to the workers by the grower. According to Hubner the barracks were "...crude even by military standards." When the state inspector began to enforce the violation the "...farmers tore down the dormitories rather than spend the money to bring them up to code" (Hubner). Today housing is provided to the immigrant workers by the contratistas. The contratistas take new crew members to a two bedroom overcrowded house that is run by a "slumlord" that during the harvest houses up to 25 workers.. In exchange the contratista receives a "...kickback for every member of his crew who beds down there" (Hubner). Other contratistas that pay their workers $5.75 an hour charge the wor

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1985
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)