Throughout much of rural western Colorado, a virtually unknown and recognized workforce toils alone in extreme cold or heat, making approximately $2 per hour. These workers are migrants, legally employed by Colorado ranchers to herd their livestock.
A report released last week found that more than 80 percent of a surveyed group of Colorado's sheep, goat and cattle herders are not permitted to leave their ranches, according to Colorado Legal Services.
The report, conducted by legal services' Migrant Farm Worker Division over 2 years, surveyed 93 herders, essentially a third of Colorado's range workers.
Much of the treatment of herders is entirely legal due to the exclusion of herders from many of the federal regulations that govern the H-2A program. Sheepherders in Colorado receive a standard wage of $750 per month, as little as $2-3 per hour, regardless of hours worked, and are required by their contracts to be on-call 24 hours per day. Their housing is not required to have electricity, running water and toilets.
“There are no good experiences,” answered a Colorado sheepherder, when asked about his best working situation.
Herders typically come to Colorado as part of the H-2A program, a federal foreign labor program for agricultural employers unable to find sufficient employees through the U.S. workforce. Employers must prove that hiring the foreign workers will not eliminate jobs nor depress wages for U.S. workers.
Colorado’s migrant herders are a crucial part of the ranching industry. Most frequently coming from Perú, Chile and México, herders, who rarely speak English, come to Colorado and other Western states searching for better employment opportunities. In some cases they find these opportunities; in the majority of cases they do not.
The program also requires employers to provide certain benefits to the foreign
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