WAFLA CEO Dan Fazio breaks down the degree of frustration felt around the ag community after Governor Inslee failed to repeal emergency COVID rules for vaccinated farmworkers.
COVID CHANGES Pt 1
Washington Farm Bureau CEO John Stuhlmiller says agriculture has proven we know how to keep workers safe …
STUHLMILLER … “High vaccinations rates, which we have nearly 100% vaccination of H-2A workers coming in and everybody else is getting vaccinated just like the rest of the population. And so, why not just let us operate. And, we’ve heard nothing yet.”
And, Stuhlmiller says the emergency restrictions aren’t really science-based …
STUHLMILLER … “We had all these health and safety standards in place and we ran a pretty healthy workplace. And then came the COVID and we arbitrarily said, you can use half of your housing, you know, you can’t congregate around your cooking facilities, etc. So, we just mixed things together, mixed and matched where we wanted. And it wasn’t really fully science-based, it was opinion-based.”
Farm Labor Lawsuit Pt 2
Wednesday Feb 10th, 2021 With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. Protecting farmworkers from the COVID-19 virus is something ag employers take very seriously, but the state seems to believe otherwise.
Washington Farm Bureau CEO John Stuhlmiller says the unchanging emergency regulations set almost a year ago are the reason for a lawsuit brought against the state.
He says many of the rules just aren’t reasonable for this “essential” industry …
STUHLMILLER … “So, they’ve got a couple of things. One is, housing is 50% of capacity. That’s a big deal when workers, you know, guestworkers, H-2A, as well as other migrant workers move into the area and you can only use half of your housing.”
Farm Labor Lawsuit Pt 1
Tuesday Feb 9th, 2021 With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. The Washington Farm Bureau and WAFLA are teaming up to sue the state because they won’t revise the emergency regulations established almost a year ago to protect farmworkers from the COVID-19 virus.
Farm Bureau CEO John Stuhlmiller says there’s been no updates to the rules since March …
STUHLMILLER … “So, it’s the COVID temporary farmworker housing rules and this is the third round of emergency rule. And, that’s why we are concerned, because, you know, eleven months of activity and we should be able to not be in emergency rule status and we should be able to make some plans for future activities, including when this vaccine is distributed, etc.”