Two growers and a labour contractor (with umbrella) watch as a farmworker collects flats of strawberries.
"Farmworkers as new immigrants were in a very vunerable position, and the Punjabi background of contractors and the farmers made their situation even more vunerable. The contractors and the farmers were able to use many of the religious and cultural values of their peasant background to their own advantage. For example, the farmworkers would not see the farmers and the contractors as their employers. Rather, they were seen as old aquaintances and would not press them for the payment of back wages and other demands. The farmers and contractors always use the regional ties from the old country to keep control on the farmworkers. Religion has also been used for these purposes. For example, instead of paying wages on time at the end of a season, a contractor would invite all workers to a religious ceremony and consequently establish himself as a very honest and pious person in their eyes. This would allow him to keep the unpaid wages for a longer period of time because the farmworkers would not press him too hard for their money.These religious feelings and regional ties make it very difficult for newly-arrived farmworkers to go against a contractor or farmer. It prevents them from openly complaining against employers and also from joining organizations such as a union which takes a stand against those employers." - Sadhu Binning in The CFU, A Case Study in Social Movements, 1982
"Most of the farmworkers have never been in a union before and fuedal ties are still strong in our community. Somebody's uncle's cousin is a labour contractor and everybody thinks he's doing them a big favour. Labour contractors - they're the biggest problem farmworkers have. Once you're working for a contractor, you're practically indentured - you can't get out." - CFU President Sarwan Boal, 1988