Fields of Abuse

The State of Migrant Farm Worker Exploitation Across Maine

Ronan Goulden

Maine’s Reliance

Since the 1990s, Maine farms have become increasingly reliant on migrant farm labor. Every year, Maine farms hire more than 2700 migrant farmers to partake in the seasonal agricultural harvest, making up 18% of the hired farm labor force. Put simply, a migrant farm worker is someone who does not have a permanent place of residence and must travel for work. In the United States, the majority of migrant workers are foreign born, with the most being Latine people from Mexico. This is the case in Maine where 56% of migrant farm workers were born in Mexico and only 17% were born in the United States¹.

Opportunity Entangled in Exploitation

Many become migrant farm workers both for the housing it provides and the opportunity to work in the U.S. regardless of their citizenship status. Migrant farm workers are vital to the Maine economy, helping to make Maine the largest producer of blueberries in the United States ². Yet, we rarely consider the exploitative conditions these workers experience to provide us with this agricultural produce, something this story map will address. From the bustling streets of Portland to sleepy coast of the Mountain Desert Island Region, migrant farm worker labor exploitation is ubiquitous.

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Ubiquitous Exploitation

This story map takes you across the state of Maine, pulling back the curtain on migrant farm worker exploitation. We will explore three famous cases of contemporary and past cases of exploitation and work to understand why they occurred.

Decoster Egg Farms

This story map first takes a trip to the quaint town of Turner, Maine, home to one of the most egregious cases of migrant labor exploitation to ever occur in Maine, let alone the nation.

Antoine v. Paul

Moving to the Mount Desert Island Region, this 2014 lawsuit names over 250 instances of labor exploitation and violations across multiple blueberry farms.

Milk With Dignity

Lastly, we will go to southern Maine to learn about recent protests against Hannaford's Supermarket and Hood Milk in support of the Milk with Dignity movement.

Case 1: Decoster Egg Farm

Since 1949

One of the most famous cases of migrant farm labor exploitation in Maine and nationally occurred in the small town of Turner, Maine^3,4. Starting in 1949, Decoster Egg Farm has received hundreds of labor, environmental health, and animal abuse violations from the state and federal government, culminating in the 2014 arrest and sentencing of it founder Jack Decoster and his son after making 56,000 individuals sick with salmonella because of their eggs^4,5.

"Notorious Jack"

That is the nickname given to Jack Decoster, the late founder of Decoster Egg Farms, later rebranded to Quality Egg Farms. This nickname is well earned for a man who allegedly would "screw even his best friend to the wall for a buck³." But what does this mean in practicality? The investigative journalism of Joe Fassler helps to lay out what this horrific mentality manifests, cataloging the hundreds of workplace violation Decoster Egg Farms accrued. Here are the highlights for labor exploitation:

1949

Jack Decoster founds Quality Egg Farms in his backyard, managing 150 hens³

1967

The farm sees massive expansion, holding now 30,000 hens and building often unpermitted commercial barns as it expands³

1975

The Maine State Legislature introduces and passes a new farm minimum wage law, targeting Decoster Egg Farm's shady wage practices and forcing them to pay their farmers minimum wage³

1976

Decoster was found to be making their truckers work much longer shifts than the federal driving limit. Quality Egg Farms was fined for doctoring their truckers' logbooks to make it look like they were in compliance³

1978

27 Quality Egg Farm employees find themselves fired after protesting poor work conditions and wages. The firing was found to be illegal by a Maine judge, forcing Decoster to reinstate them and no longer attempt to union bust³

1980

A civil suit is brought against Decoster Egg Farms, accusing the farm of violating minimum wage laws, child labor laws, overtime laws, and recordkeeping obligations. This included the hiring of children as young as 9 years old. The farm was found guilty of these charges in 1985, being fined $200,000³

1993

Decoster Egg Farms knowingly hires 17 undocumented migrants, going as far to help them obtain their false documentation. This was likely used to later intimidate and blackmail these employees after hiring³

1995

The state of Maine files a civil lawsuit on behalf of Latine workers who were restricted access to legal counsel within their housing units. The state won the case, concluding that Decoster Egg Farms can not threaten nor decide who is allowed admittance into their housing complex³

1996

OSHA finds a plethora of " egregious and willful violations of health and safety and wage and hour laws ³." This includes horrendous practices such as working employees for 10 hours but paying them for 3.5 of the hours, referring to employees as " animals ," and refusing to give them medical attention when injured⁶. Decoster Egg Farms receives a historic $3.6 million citation for these violations^3,7

1998

The Mexican Government sues Decoster Egg Farmers on the behalf of about 700 plaintiffs for habitual discrimination against Mexican individuals in their housing and employment practices. This included "multiple families living in single-family trailers, no insect protection on the windows, no clean water, bad plumbing conditions. On the working side, employees alleged that they didn't have the ability to wash down, they didn't have masks for air quality or good protective gear, [there were] electrical issues that were unsafe." The case was won in 2004³.

2002

11 female employees sue Decoster Egg Farmers for frequent sexual assault, including rape, proliferated by male supervisors³

2008

Workers were forced to work inside and a top a partially collapsed building, leading to an OSHA violation³

2021

New owner, Hillsdale Farms, rapidly closes one of its plants, suddenly laying off an unknown number of workers⁸

It is important to remember that these are just the instances that were reported. The undercover filming of the facility seen below shows that there were likely hundred more violations which occurred that went unreported⁴.

A glimpse into the working conditions and animal conditions at Decoster Egg Farms, which at the time of filming was owned by Hillsdale Farms (The Humane Society of the United States 2016)

70 Years Strong

While it is no mystery how Notorious Jack got his nickname, it is baffling to think this exploitation of workers, particularly of Mexican and migrant farm workers, was able to proliferate so seamlessly for more than 70 years. Despite the dozens of lawsuits, hundreds of complaints, and consistent criticism of Decoster Egg Farms, it was able to continue to profit at the worker's expense. This demonstrates one of the ways that migrant farm labor exploitation occurs in Maine, the uneven power of labor laws compared to immigration laws⁹.

Fear and intimidation kept these workers in this unsafe, unhealthy atmosphere and living in totally unsanitary conditions⁶ - Robert Reich, 1996

Labor exploitation of migrant farm workers is often able to proliferate because immigration laws are stronger and more stringently enforced than labor laws, allowing for intimidation tactics such as 'deportation fear.' Tactics like this rely on the heavy enforcement of immigration laws in conjunction with the weak and fine-based management of labor laws, a pattern which is described below⁹.

The Illegalization Period

The United State is currently in what some have dubbed " The Illegalization Period ^10,11,12." Spurred by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986's requirement for all U.S. workers to be citizens or authorized to work, the employment status of migrant workers, especially those who are undocumented, are constantly in a precarious state^10,12,13. This is because for many migrant farm workers, they either have to take contractual work, which if terminated, means they will be in the U.S. illegally, or they must falsify their work authorization¹⁰.

Former President Ronald Reagan signing into Law the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986

This dynamic opens the door for the kind of fear and intimidation Robert Reich discussed above. If employers knowingly hire workers with precarious migration statuses, they can threaten employees with it, saying that they will report them to ICE if they report their workplace's exploitative practices. This threat of ICE has continually grown in Maine with the agency developing a facility in Scarborough at the start of 2020¹⁴. Because of its power, deportation fear is a common labor exploitation strategy with 43% of undocumented workers reporting having faced illegal retaliation from their employers for attempting to report labor concerns¹⁵.

Everything is Fine(d)

While migrant farm workers navigate the constant fear of deportation and instability in their employment status, Decoster Egg Farms gets to escape with fines and some increased oversight for their ubiquitous labor law violations. For Decoster Egg Farms, labor exploitation was merely a business expense. In addition to paying numerous fines, Decoster Egg Farm regularly bribed workplace inspectors, allowing them to monetarily dodge responsibility. This, along with the threatening of its workers, made Decoster Egg Farms, and its founder Jack, nearly invincible, only being taken down by his 2014 arrest for his responsibility in a national salmonella outbreak^3,4.

While the exploitation itself was proliferated by Decoster Egg Farms, we must not forget that it is the labor laws which have created an environment which allows it to happen. To exemplify this, we will transition to the next case which explores the 2014 case Antoine et al v. Paul et al¹⁶.

Case 2: Antoine v. Paul

The Lawsuit

Exploitation of migrant workers is nothing new, however people often associate farm worker exploitation with large corporate farms such as those in California or Florida, not the small operations of Maine blueberry farms.

California Undocumented Migrant Farm Workers (AJ+ 2017)

This assumption is challenged with the 2014 case, Antoine et al v. Paul et al. Filed by Pine Tree Legal Assistance on the behalf of 18 migrant farm workers who were allegedly exploited by their employers during the 2008 blueberry harvest season. The suit names over 250 different violations against their farms and associations from labor laws to living conditions ^2,17,18. The case targets the violation of one law in particular, Migrant and Seasonal Agriculture Worker Protection Act (MSPA)¹⁹.

Migrant and Seasonal Agriculture Worker Protection Act

The foundation of the lawsuit rests on the alleged violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agriculture Worker Protection Act ¹⁹. This federal law guarantees four rights for U.S. migrant farm workers:

To receive accurate information about wages and working conditions for the prospective employment
To receive this information in writing and in English, Spanish or other languages, as appropriate
To have the terms of the working arrangement upheld
To have farm labor contractors show proof of registration at the time of recruitment

Antoine et al v. Paul et al primarily builds its case on violation of this first and third right, however also claims violations of other laws such as Maine minimum wage laws^2,16. Below will detail some of the claims within this case which violate these laws.

We're bringing this case because of the incredibly horrific nature of what our clients suffered, and to make sure that it doesn't happen in the future. We have not filed a federal lawsuit of this (type) for many years¹⁷. - Nan Heald, Executive Director of Pine Tree Legal

Ubiquitous Labor Abuse

Of the more than 250 claims made in the Antoine et al v. Paul et al case, many of them related to labor exploitation and breaches of their work contract. The lawsuit found that particularly the first and third guarantee of the Migrant and Seasonal Agriculture Worker Protection Act was violated. This included egregious offenses such as forcing migrants to pay rent on their supposedly “free” housing, receiving lower than promised wages, and being allowed less hours of work than promised^2,17,18,19.

While already harmful, this is made worse by many of the migrant farmer workers in this case being recruited from Florida, meaning that these individuals become trapped labor within Maine, subjected to these inhumane conditions¹⁷.

Horrid Living Conditions

Beyond the labor violations, the living conditions migrant farm workers were subjected to are dishearteningly worse. Horror stories of 25-30 migrants living in a single trailer, individuals having to sleep in abandon cars, and in one instance, a migrant being forced to sleep outside on the porch riddle the 302 pages of the lawsuit^2,17,18,19. Bathroom access was limited, forcing at least one migrant to have to relieve themselves into a plastic bag¹⁷. Do not forget, these workers were forced to pay rent to live for these conditions.

Example of migrant farm worker living conditions in Washington State in 2016

All in all, the lawsuit sought $204,969 for statutory damages and lost wages along with a unspecified amount for the physical and emotion abuse of the workers¹⁷.

Indicative of a Larger Problem

These horrific stories show how this experience is more than just one bad farm. Instead, it demonstrates a culture of disregard for the safety of migrant farm workers, with farm recruiters, building owners, and farm owners all being complicit in this exploitation. In this lawsuit, the disregard was flagrant, with all defendants in the lawsuit filing a motion to dismiss, one that was thankfully denied by the Maine U.S. District Court ²⁰.

Motion to Dismiss filed in the U.S. District Court of Maine in 2015

This disregard has been institutionalized, with the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act allowing for this kind of exploitation.

The MSPA Allowed This

The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act does not adequately protect migrant farm workers. As Jessica Felix-Romero, a representative of the Farm Worker Justice described to the Portland Press Herald, the MSPA “prevents attorneys from collecting fees in private lawsuits^18,21.” Additionally, if the case is filed by the government, any monetary penalties collected from the recruiters or farms cannot be redistributed to the impacted migrant laborers. This disincentives attorneys from taking on farm labor exploitation cases¹⁸. Considering that many migrant farm workers do not have permanent residency within the United States and that farm recruiters face limited regulation of or punishment for their abusive tactics, the MPSA is merely a puppet solution for an endemic issue within migrant farm labor exploitation.

For a more detailed look at how this law fails migrant farm workers, take a look at Amanda Kendzora's 2014 article in the San Joaquin Agricultural Law Review²².

Now understanding the dynamic of labor laws creating opportunity for migrant farm worker exploitation, let us look at an example of how workers are fight back, using the Milk with Dignity Movement as a case study.

Case 3: Milk With Dignity

Dear Mr. Vail

On April 8th, 2021, a letter with more than 70 management and investment firm signatories urged Hannaford's Supermarket to join the Milk with Dignity Program ^23,24. In the letter, the signing firms share that "as investors we are concerned with environmental, social and governance risks including human rights issues which can affect the long-term performance of companies. Additionally, we recognize that the health and welfare of the agricultural workforce is integral to the sustainability of our food system and the agricultural industry, yet agricultural workers face ongoing, egregious human rights abuses²³."

The investors letter to Hannaford's Supermarket

The letter would be resent June 17, 2021, receiving a refusal to join the program from Hannaford's, putting out a statement which asserted the company follows labor laws "stringently²⁵."

Egregious Human Rights Abuses

What compelled investors to write this letter on behalf of the Milk with Dignity program? Milk with Dignity is a campaign run by Vermont based group Migrant Justice²⁶.

Milk with Dignity Program (Migrant Justice 2019)

The group was born out of tragedy. On December 22, 2009, 20 year old José Obeth Santiz Cruz was pulled into a mechanized gutter scraper, being strangled to death by his clothes. José was a migrant farm worker from Mexico, being among the 2000 who come annually to work on Vermont dairy farms^27,28. Migrant Justice works to protect these workers and provide them with four essential human rights ²⁸:

Dignified Work and Quality Housing
Freedom of Movement and Access to Transportation
Freedom from Discrimination
Access to Health Care.

In an effort to create a broader and proactive solution for migrant farm worker abuse on dairy farms, Migrant Justice launched the Milk with Dignity program in 2014, calling on corporate milk buyers and farms to sign a legally binding code of conduct ^24,29.

It’s been two years and we’ve heard nothing from Hannaford. We are here, we are present together with our allies, to let Hannaford know that we are not going to go away until they sign on to our Milk with Dignity program³⁰. -Abel Luna, Migrant Justice Organizer

The Code of Conduct

Milk with Dignity asks businesses to agree to a series of human rights and labor law policies which can be summed up into five key principles²⁹:

Agreement to follow the farm worker code of conduct
Ensure that their workers receive education on the code of conduct
Have the Milk with Dignity Standard Council regularly audit compliance with the program³¹
Corporations agree to pay a premium for milk which provides economic justice for dairy farmers
The agreement they sign is legally binding, with a zero tolerance policy for violating it

Ben & Jerry's signing the Milk with Dignity Agreement in 2017

These relatively simple agreements have unfortunately been challenging to get corporations to agree to. There have been successes, for example, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream agreed to sign in 2017 after three years of pressure put on the corporation, but it has been difficult to get other organizations to follow suit²⁴. Currently, Migrant Justice has spent years putting pressure on Hannaford's Supermarket to sign on to the program. This is for good reason as Hannaford's Supermarket sources their milk from farms which pay their workers below minimum wage, forces them work seven days a week, have high preventable injury rates, and dangerous living and working conditions^25,30,32,33.

Adopt a Hannaford's

This has columnated in a series of protests at Hannaford's cross the state of Maine and beyond. One of the largest in Maine happened in Portland, attracting a crowd of over a hundred to the Downtown Portland Hannaford's. Starting at Hannaford's, the group marched through the streets to the Hood Milk Facility, known for sourcing from exploitative dairy farms^25,30. Beyond this protest, migrant farm workers and Maine residents alike have partaken in the "Adopt a Hannaford's" program to put pressure on the supermarket³².

Milk with Dignity Poster Distributed by Migrant Justice

As part of it, Migrant Justice provides a tool kit for activism which individuals or groups can partake in. The full list can be found here, but it includes things such as putting flyers on people's cars, holding small protests, or talking to the managers of your local Hannaford's. While Hannaford's has been resistant, Migrant Justice believes that with enough pressure, Hannaford's will join the Milk with Dignity Program. Until that happens, Hannaford's will continue to support poor working conditions for migrant dairy workers in Vermont and Maine ³⁰.

Where to Go From Here?

What is Being Done in Maine?

As the Decoster Egg Farm's saga demonstrated, the Maine State Legislature for decades has been aware of the migrant farm labor exploitation which occurs throughout the state³. However, this has not meant that Maine has always made an effort to ensure that migrant farm worker's human rights are protected. A clear example of this comes from LD 151, a bill introduced into the Maine State Legislature on January 21, 2021 by Representative Harnett of Gardiner, Maine^34,35.

"An Act To Protect Farm Workers"

LD 151, officially entitled "An Act To Protect Farm Workers by Allowing Them To Organize for the Purpose of Collective Bargaining," did not ask for much. As it was originally introduced, the 50 word bill would allow farmers to unionize for the sake of collective bargaining, allowing them to receive better wages, hours, and living conditions³⁴. This would then be expanded and amended in committee to an about 12-page bill which is summarized in the image below.

Despite the logic of LD 151, the bill would never become law after being met with a series of vetoes which would lead to the bill's death. First, after passing in the Maine State Legislature, the office of Governor Janet Mills vetoed the bill in 2022, citing concerns that it would "subject our farmers to a complicated new set of laws that would require them to hire lawyers just to understand"³⁶. These claims were contested by supporters of the bill, believing that the bill was relatively simple and could be explained or translated to worker if needed³⁵. This 2022 veto was followed with the veto being sustained by the Maine House of Representatives in January 2022, with some representatives claiming that the bill would harm already struggling small farms³⁷. As of now, the bill is dead, demonstrating the mix of perspectives on, but also lack of action in support of, how migrant farm workers should be supported in Maine, opening a door for exploitative practices³⁵.

What About Nationally?

Unfortunately, at the federal level, there has been similar stagnation regarding efforts to protect migrant farm workers. Since the 1990s, no major laws have passed in regards to migrant farm workers, allowing for the proliferation of common labor exploitation tactics such as deportation fear^9,13,38. This however is not to say that U.S. representatives are not trying. Currently, there are two bills in Congress which are working towards making more equitable and fair conditions for migrant farm workers.

The two bills are the "Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021," introduced in the House of Representatives on March 8th, 2021 and the "Fairness for Farm Workers Act" introduced into the House of Representatives on May 13th, 2021^39,40. The first of the bills would allow for undocumented, migrant farmers to apply for certified agricultural worker status. This would give them the opportunity to enter the temporary worker program, allowing migrant farm workers to be legally permitted residents. This bill has passed the house and is now in the Senate awaiting a vote³⁹. The second bill is currently yet to be voted on in the house and would require that farms pay their labors for overtime work, something which is not currently federally required⁴⁰.

While there are some federal efforts to provide support, it is clearly not a national priority nor as recognized of an issue as it should be, especially considering how dependent our food system is on migrant farm workers.

What Should Be Done?

Given the lack of priority for policy efforts to protect migrant farm workers, what should be done to support them in Maine and beyond? In Maine, whether it is eggs, blueberries, or milk, migrant farm worker abuse prevails. As the three cases and vetoed law demonstrate, migrant farm worker abuse occurs across the agricultural industry in Maine. Being a statewide issue, it can seem daunting to tackle, however there are some easy ways in which the current laws and conditions can be reformed to prevent exploitation:

The state government, federal government, and United States/Maine Department of Labor needs to truly embrace what laws like the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act guarantee. This includes instituting stricter regulations of farm recruiters, building owners, and farms which utilize migrant farm labor. These groups should face regular inspection and be obligated to submit their policies and plans to the Maine Department of Labor for approval. Beyond monetary punishments should be taken against farms and contractors who violate the MSPA and law like it. Similarly, the federal and Maine state government should continue to pass laws which afford migrant farm workers additional protections such as those in the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021.
Migrant Farm Workers need to be able to feel safe to report labor violations and have an easy to reach entity to report to. While the bravery of the migrants who have filed suits must be commended, a NELP report on undocumented migrants workers demonstrates that 20% of individuals which had a serious workplace problem, such as dangerous work conditions, did not report it out of fear of retaliation from their employers¹⁵. Migrant farm workers, regardless of their immigrant status, need to feel safe to report workplace violations and employers need to be punished for labor exploitation and retaliation against those who report.

What Can I Do?

While there is much more which needs to be done, including a discussion of the ethics of the entire structure of migrant farm labor, these two reforms would be a good first step. Based on the structure of migrant farm labor laws, this change likely has to come from the federal or state level. Unfortunately, as this story map and the following video demonstrates, in the state of Maine and across the nation, there is little to no political efforts to protect migrant farm workers.

Overview of the exploitation of Maine migrant farmer workers and how the state government has failed to support them (More Perfect Union, 2022)

You can support these efforts by:

Calling your federal and state representatives and senators if you live in an area which uses migrant farm labor, emphasizing the need for protection of these workers, such as reform to the MSPA, the passing of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021, and better regulation of farm recruiters and farm owners.
Supporting national, state, and local organizations such as Farm Worker Justice , Migrant Justice , and Mano en Mano in Maine through monetary donations and volunteering.
Being conscious of how your food gets to you, especially if you have the privilege of deciding where you purchase your food. Shop locally through farmers markets and stores which provide information on where the produce comes from and who is involved in getting it to you is a good place to start to avoid farms which use exploitative practices.
Support efforts to reform immigration laws, policy, and process within the U.S. such as the Abolish ICE movement ⁴¹.
Partake in the " Adopt a Hannaford's " campaign individually or with friends. Join Migrant Justice Protests for the Milk with Dignity program.

Through these effort and continued pressure for reform and creation of labor laws which protect migrant farm laborers, these individuals can be treated how they should be, as human beings. Without this continued pressure, we will continue to be complicit in the exploitation of migrant farm workers in Maine and beyond.