Immigration and The California Wine Industry
The Californian wine industry has had a long history of employing migrant workers to tend to the vineyards and assist at harvest time. Its close proximity to Mexico has opened the possibility to some of those workers being classified as undocumented or illegal. Karen Ross, president of the California Association of Winegrowers, has estimated that as of 2007 the number could be as high as 70% of the employees in the California wine industry may be illegal. New immigration regulations announced by the Department of Homeland Security required all employers to fire illegal workers or face paying a fine up to $10,000 for each infraction. In August, following a lawsuit by the AFL-CIO union, a federal judge placed a restraining order on the enactment of the new regulations pending further review. Industry experts predict substantial changes will come in to the Californian wine industry as results of the changing labor and immigration laws which will result in higher prices for consumers in the public market.
Read more about this topic: History Of California Wine
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