CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / PROPOSITION 187 : Raisin Farmers Hit by Shortage of Workers : Political turmoil over illegal immigration is cited by some growers as a reason that fewer laborers were available this year. ‘Save Our State’ initiative would add to the problem, they say.

In political campaign land, the border may be porous and the state overrun with illegal immigrants, but here in the raisin capital of the world farmers spent the past month scrambling to find workers--both legal and illegal--to pick an overflowing crop.

Some raisin farmers and labor contractors attribute the worker shortage to fewer illegals crossing the border because of a recent government crackdown.

Others say the pool of illegal workers with phony documents is as large as ever, but more industries are now calling on them. Farmers here must now compete with construction, fast-food businesses, hotels, garment manufacturers and farmers in other states for the services of illegal immigrants.

Either way, they say, this summer’s labor pinch in the dusty vineyards underscores how much California relies on the sweat of illegal immigrants from Mexico.

“Lets face it,” said Harry Kubo of the Nisei Farmers League, which represents 1,200 growers from Tulare to Santa Cruz counties. “Fifty percent, if not more, of the agricultural work force in this valley is illegal. We’d sink economically without them.”

Kubo, a staunch Republican, is more than a little worried about Proposition 187, the “Save Our State” initiative, which would make legal residency a requirement for public schooling and most other services. Although illegal immigrants may burden the education and welfare systems, he said, legal workers simply refuse to fill many of the manual labor jobs throughout the state.

Here in the heartland, farmers and labor contractors believe that Proposition 187, combined with the recent free trade agreement with Mexico, will bring more severe worker shortages in the future.

“A lot of labor contractors reported a 15% to 20% shortage in workers this summer,” said Bruce Conley of SunMaid, the huge raisin cooperative. “We don’t know what the future holds. We’re looking very possibly at more shortages.”

The San Joaquin Valley is a prism on the manifold issues of illegal immigration from Mexico. If illegal workers do not make it this far north, it is because they were either deported, returned to Mexico or found better jobs in Southern California. It is interesting, too, because farmers, typically a conservative lot, have a unique spin on the matter. Indeed, the whole issue places them in a rough spot--between Gov. Pete Wilson, whom they support, and his immigration policies, which they oppose.

Some believe that Wilson, by filing a lawsuit against the federal government and arguing that illegal immigration is tantamount to a foreign invasion, has made a whipping boy of migrants. These are the workers who operate the tractors and spray rigs, prune and pick the fruit trees and vines, and buttress an economy that accounts for one in 10 state jobs.

“It’s a lot of political rhetoric,” said Casey Jones, who farms a 160-acre vineyard in Selma.

A month ago, Jones was frantically calling his labor contractor looking for crews. He needed to pick his Thompson grapes and give them two to three weeks of dry weather to cure into raisins.

“He said a crew will be here tomorrow at 6, but they never showed,” Jones said. “I waited a few days and he called and said he couldn’t get me the people. They had gone to Dinuba to pick peaches.”

The labor contractor drove from one unemployment office to the next in two counties looking for workers. He found no takers. Jones eventually got his grapes picked and placed on the ground to dry but 10 days later than usual. Then, a few days before the crop was fully cured, his worst fear: Rain hit Selma. Depending on the damage, he and other growers may be eligible for crop insurance loss.

“It’s all because I was late getting down,” he said.

In a typical year, about 50,000 workers are needed to harvest the Thompson grapes that become raisins. About half that many are needed to turn, roll and pick up the dried fruit. This summer, the competition for illegal workers holding fraudulent permits was so keen that labor contractors from Washington came to the San Joaquin Valley to recruit.

Washington’s record apple crop promised four more weeks of steady work at higher wages, the middlemen announced. They took whole crews back with them.

“I lost 125 workers to Washington alone,” said Angel Maya, a labor contractor in the Selma area.

Other forces impinged on the labor picture as well. This summer, the raisin industry stopped its surplus diversion program that retired some vineyards from production. Other grape growers who usually opt for the juice concentrate market were forced by poor prices to make raisins instead. With more labor-intensive raisins in production, more workers were needed.

And the forces of supply and demand are not always above board. Some raisin growers with heavy crop insurance chose to pick at the last minute when the demand for workers was greatest. They did this, according to growers and labor contractors, to increase the odds of losing their crop to rain.

Likewise, they said, many illegal immigrants who might be working in the fields have found a fraudulent way to collect unemployment under two and three Social Security numbers. Others have opted to be couriers for major drug smuggling rings.

“I’ve lost 12 men to drug smuggling in the past year,” said Larry Peters, a labor contractor. “They start off in the underground, and they’ve gone further underground.”

Peters disputes the notion that increased enforcement by the Border Patrol has had an effect. He said the labor shortage is a simple case of more illegal immigrants from Mexico pursuing jobs outside farming.

“Look at the garment and restaurant industries. Look at the janitors and cooks and gardeners and room maids,” he said. “I’ve lost 30 men to one roofing company in Fresno. They’re working for cash in the construction industry and collecting unemployment as farm workers under another name.”

Ray Lopez of Fowler Packing said his company was able to avoid a labor shortage this year by lining up crews early in the season. But all the planning in the world, Lopez said, might not be enough if the bashing of illegal immigrants continues.

“It plays well as a political issue, but if the politicians get their way, we’re going to be in trouble,” he said. “If you removed every illegal from this state tomorrow, you’d see the businesses--and not just the agricultural business--start to crumble.”