USA: Peruvian sheepherders experience severe exploitation on isolated ranches, & are often unable to leave
Summary
Date Reported: 3 Oct 2023
Location: United States of America
Other
Not Reported ( Agriculture/food/beverage/tobacco/fishing: General ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Agriculture/food/beverage/tobacco/fishing: General , Gender not reported )Issues
Occupational Health & Safety , DeathsResponse
Response sought: Yes, by By journalist
Action taken: Wyoming’s Department of Workforce Services OSHA Division declined to investigate the death because they said it was outside their jurisdiction. His employer, a rancher named Bart Argyle, did not return requests for comment. Argyle brought nine more herders into the country on H-2A visas this year.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 3 Oct 2023
Location: United States of America
Companies
Child Ranch - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( 2 - Peru , Agriculture/food/beverage/tobacco/fishing: General , Gender not reported )Issues
Withholding Passports , Restricted mobility , Access to Information , Recruitment Fees , Wage Theft , Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time , Intimidation , Right to Food , Access to Water , Restricted access to medicinesResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Journalists
External link to response: (Find out more)
Action taken: The employer did not respond to repeated phone calls, emails and a certified letter requesting comment about the assertions made in this story. In September 2020, the brothers filed wage theft complaints against the ranch. In a letter to a Wyoming Department of Workforce Services officer reviewed for this story, Vickie Child called the brothers’ accusations “totally false,” but acknowledged that Iván and Gustavo “do have some money coming.” She paid Iván $4,260 in back wages, but then disputed Gustavo’s claim, which was considerably larger. In December 2020, a Wyoming Department of Workforce Services investigation determined that Child did, in fact, owe Gustavo over $7,300 in back pay, and that he had illegally deducted work-related gear, like boots and binoculars, from Gustavo’s paycheck. But because Wyoming state law limits the amount of back wages that workers can ask for, Gustavo was ultimately awarded less than half of what he was owed. The brothers were awarded T visas in October 2022.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 3 Oct 2023
Location: United States of America
Companies
Western Range Association - Other Value Chain EntityAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Peru , Agriculture/food/beverage/tobacco/fishing: General , Gender not reported )Issues
Recruitment FeesResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Journalist
External link to response: (Find out more)
Action taken: In an emailed statement, Western Range Executive Director Monica Youree stressed the group’s commitment to herders’ “safety and well-being” ... The lawyers who represent herders, Western Range said, “appear more interested in exploiting isolated incidents to make broad assessments about the industry,” she said, and “often attempt to recover millions of dollars for themselves.”. The lawsuit is still pending.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 3 Oct 2023
Location: United States of America
Other
Not Reported ( Agriculture/food/beverage/tobacco/fishing: General ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: 1
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( 1 - Location unknown , Agriculture/food/beverage/tobacco/fishing: General , Gender not reported )Issues
Deaths , Occupational Health & Safety , Access to Water , Heat exposureResponse
Response sought: No
Action taken: OSHA fined the employer $9,750 in 2019, but he hired three more H-2A workers later that year.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 3 Oct 2023
Location: United States of America
Companies
Western Range Association - Other Value Chain EntityAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Peru , Agriculture/food/beverage/tobacco/fishing: General , Gender not reported )Issues
Recruitment FeesResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Journalist
External link to response: (Find out more)
Action taken: In an emailed statement, Western Range Executive Director Monica Youree stressed the group’s commitment to herders’ “safety and well-being” ... The lawyers who represent herders, Western Range said, “appear more interested in exploiting isolated incidents to make broad assessments about the industry,” she said, and “often attempt to recover millions of dollars for themselves.”. The lawsuit was dismissed.
Source type: News outlet
"Alone on the Range”
…Originally from Peru, the brothers had been recruited to work as sheepherders in the United States under a temporary work visa…
The hours were long and conditions were brutal, but they couldn’t see how to just leave…
…Today, much of that advocacy is done by trade groups such as the Western Range Association… As of 2014, the trade group Iván and Gustavo’s boss worked with, Mountain Plains Agricultural Service, hired many of the rest. (Mountain Plains did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)…
… Western Range Executive Director Monica Youree stressed the group’s commitment to herders’ “safety and well-being” and vehemently denied any wage-fixing allegations…
…He landed in Wyoming and was picked up at the airport and driven out to Child Ranch…neither Jon Child nor his wife, Vickie, responded to repeated phone calls, emails and a certified letter requesting comment about the assertions made in this story…
…According to details from OSHA’s inspection, investigators determined that he appeared to have died from heat-related illness and that his employer, Joe Paesano, hadn’t given him enough water. OSHA fined Paesano $9,750 in 2019, but he hired three more H-2A workers later that year…