Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/34757
The McDougall & Sons housing camps are made up of manufactured units for 12 people. This camp at Quincy, Washington, has 96 beds. Other expenses In addition to paying wages, the company faces many other expenses and administrative costs in hiring H-2A workers. It hires people to recruit workers in Mexico, and conducts an orientation program there to explain the contract terms and company policies. It pays a $130 per person visa fee, and provides round-trip transportation for the workers, which costs about $535 per person. Usu- ally they travel by bus, but last year it worked out almost as cheap to fly them back home, which the workers much prefer. The company has housing facilities at Royal City, Quincy, Bray’s Landing (near Orondo), Monitor, and Mattawa with a total of 290 beds. Each camp has an on- site manager, and each orchard has two human resources personnel. The camps have manufactured units that house 12 people and cost $70,000 each. Each unit has three bed- rooms to accommodate four people each and has its own cooking area. McDougall said he figured they would have fewer problems by keeping the units small and not having a central cook house. The units have phones and satellite television with Spanish programs, and the camps have soccer fields, basketball courts, and barbecues. Common areas in the facilities are cleaned daily. “We try to keep them happy and comfortable, that’s for sure,” he said. The company was able to secure a $700,000 zero- percent loan from the state to help pay for the housing. “That was one thing that was attractive to us,” he said, “But we still figure our cost is $11,000 to $12,000 per bed.” Transportation The company has twenty 15-seater vans to transport the workers to the orchards and to take them into town to shop, which are requirements of the H-2A program. Workers are also taken on trips, which are at no charge if within 50 miles. Some of the workers are transported to soccer league games, for example. Initially, McDougalls used 25-seater buses, but for buses of that size, the drivers must have commercial vehi- cle licenses, and once the employees had their licenses they were apt to leave for better-paying jobs. Workers are only allowed to work at orchards covered by the contract. The company can move workers between orchards in the contract, but only within a 50-mile radius. For example, the workers housed at Monitor can be transported to Bray’s Landing to work, but not Mattawa. The contact also defines job duties, days and hours of work, piece rates for each fruit variety, and sets minimum standards for workers to meet. It also includes a detailed discipline policy. • www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER JUNE 2011 7 GERALDINE WARNER