Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The Perpetual Crisis: Labor and Mechanization in California after World
War II
Although Spreckels and other beet sugar processors were key players when
the Mexican National Program was begun in 1942 and hosted the fi rst
Mexican workers, as the war years progressed, more and more niche market
industries began using Mexican farm laborers, and growers across Califor-
nia quickly came to rely on them as a source of farm labor. When the war
ended, growers did not want to give them up. At fi rst, agricultural groups
were able to justify the continuation of the program by pointing to the
devastated economies of Europe and their lack of native food production;
later, growers simply argued that their industries would not survive without
imported labor. The years just following the war saw several informal
agreements between the United States and Mexico to renew the recruit-
ment program on a yearly basis until Public Law 78, federal legislation
passed in 1951, formalized the two countries' agreements. Like the Mexican
National Program, the Bracero Program under Public Law 78 contained
stipulations for growers' employment of Mexican workers, including
requirements for a fair prevailing wage, transportation to and from work
sites, and protection from discrimination. Bracero labor was also supposed
to be used only when domestic labor was not available. However, most of
these requirements were ignored by the Farm Placement Service, a division
of the U.S. Department of Labor that administered the recruitment and
placement of bracero labor and essentially acted as a government-subsi-
dized farm labor contractor for the farm industry in California and the
Southwest.
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The use of bracero labor represented the best of all possible worlds for
California growers. Braceros went straight back to Mexico after their
seasonal contract ended, in contrast with domestic workers, who tended
to settle in California's agricultural valleys. Owing to the transitory char-
acter of the bracero workforce, organizing these workers was all but
impossible. Also, braceros were mostly young single men; growers didn't
have to worry about where the braceros' families would live or what they
would eat. This also made it quite easy for growers to use the threat of
deportation to defuse any protest. Finally, braceros could be imported
in huge numbers to fl ood the labor market and keep wages very low
