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Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony on issues related to Forest Workers on Public Lands. My organization, the Alliance of Forest Workers and Harvesters, appreciates the subcommittee directing attention to the health, safety, travel, and working conditions workers encounter while working on forestry contracts on Public Lands. We believe that congressional action to direct the oversight of Federal land management agencies can result in improvements in conditions for workers and their families, small businesses, rural communities, and forest health.

The Alliance of Forest Workers and Harvesters is a multicultural, grassroots organization promoting social, environmental, and economic justice in the Pacific West. Our membership includes contract workers who implement land management goals on the ground through reforestation, restoration, fuels reduction, timber stand improvement, fire-fighting , and other forestry service activities. Many of our members have been working on Public Lands for many years, if not decades, and bring a wealth of experience and insight. Several were interviewed and quoted in Tom Knudson’s “Pineros” series in the Sacramento Bee. Prior to submitting this written statement we met and communicated with our members specifically to inform our testimony. What we present to you here is from those whose livelihoods and wellbeing are directly affected by Federal Land Management and Labor policies.

On March 29, 2001 Alliance member, Celia Headley, testified to this same Subcommittee at an oversight hearing on the National Fire Plan. At that time she described the historical role of federal agencies with respect to the service workforce and the government’s role in creating an underclass industry. She also suggested some strategies for the federal agencies to address the resulting worker exploitation and abuse. Unfortunately, five years later, many of these same conditions still exist and her suggested strategies have not been implemented. If anything, we see that workforce conditions have deteriorated as evidenced by the continuing inability of ethical contractors and rural businesses to successfully compete for Service Contract awards and by the steep rise in the use of unprotected H2B guest workers in forestry work.

Land Management Agencies Policies that Promote Worker Exploitation and Abuse

Non Enforcement of Labor Laws

It has been a long-standing policy that Federal land management agencies do not monitor or enforce compliance with labor laws, service contract provisions, or health and safety requirements. This has been perceived as the responsibility of the Department of Labor or State Labor departments. Unfortunately, these Agencies are without the capacity and the mandate to address this task in any meaningful way.
Alliance members who work on Forest Service contracts inform us that one of the greatest obstacles to better safety, travel, and working conditions lies in the government’s refusal to act upon labor law violations, non compliance of contract provisions, and blatant worker abuse. We have heard numerous reports of contract inspectors looking the other way when workers are not provided proper safety gear or tools, are hurt on the job and not given medical care, transported in unsafe vehicles, provided unhealthy and unsanitary camping or lodging conditions, denied lunch or mid day breaks, and required to perform unpaid overtime. In the interest of achieving higher production rates government personnel have been known to undermine workers efforts for better conditions. One of our members was a work supervisor who routinely had his crew do stretching exercises before beginning a day of arduous physical work. This is a practice highly recommended by OSHA. A Forest Service inspector viewed this practice as time taken from production and reported it to the company owner. The supervisor subsequently was fired from his job.

Below Cost Awards

In the interest of accomplishing work in what appears to be a least-cost fashion, Federal agencies award labor intensive contracts, such as tree planting and thinning, on a low bid basis. A distressing tendency for these awards to routinely be below the true costs required to comply with labor laws, service contract provisions, or health and safety requirements has evolved. This has resulted in a downward spiral in the industry, creating a business climate where ethical contractors cannot compete and worker exploitation is required to get the job done. Our members report that individual production quotas have increased significantly to adjust for the lowering of bid prices. Laborers are forced to work harder, longer, and for less compensation than they did some years ago. These very low awards are also indicate the existence of an abundance of workers. This runs contrary to the claims of some contractors of the need for foreign guest workers, which fuels the H2-B forestry program.

Recommended Remedies

To address the above we propose the following actions on the part of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management:
1. Institute safety and working condition inspections by the COR or CO of Service Contracts within 3 weeks of commencement.
2. Instruct all Agency personnel to monitor for and act upon safety, contract, or labor violations. Contract work should be immediately suspended until violations are corrected. Repeat offenders should face default and eventual debarment.
3. Institute a policy of not awarding any contracts for less than 20% below the government estimate.
4. Institute collaboration between land management agencies and the Department of Labor to share information on violators.
5. Institute a review of the H-2B program with particular emphasis on determination of need for guest workers in forestry and the lack of recruitment of local workers for contracts that are using H-2B workers.

Conclusion

In conclusion we want to acknowledge our appreciation of the Subcommittee’s interest in the conditions for those who toil on Public Lands. We support the testimony of the hearing witnesses and agree with many of their conclusions and recommendations. We hope to see implementation by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management of many of these recommendations in the near future. We encourage continued oversight by the Subcommittee of Federal Land Management and Labor Agencies to monitor the progress of this implementation.