Survey: Napa farmworkers are paid more

Economist tells grape farmers local workforce more stable than elsewhere

By MIKE TRELEVEN
Register Staff Writer

A survey of conditions for vineyard workers in the Napa Valley shows they are paid better and earn more benefits than agricultural workers elsewhere in the state, according to a UC Davis professor.

Workers in the valley are also more likely to be employed full time.

In the Napa Valley, about 40 percent of the agricultural workforce is employed full time, 15 percent is part-time and the rest — about 45 percent — is seasonal.

These are some of the findings in a survey UC Davis Professor of Management Bob Yetman did for the Napa Valley Grapegrowers. “There is an effort by grapegrowers here to recognize the benefit of full or part-time employment over seasonal. Those benefits include lower turnover, which leads to higher quality in the vineyard,” Yetman said.

Yetman shared his impressions with members of the Napa Valley Grapegrowers at a workshop at Moulds Family Vineyards on Dry Creek Road earlier this week.

Yetman declined to reveal the specific results of the survey. Jennifer Putnam, executive director of the Grapegrowers, said the group keeps the findings confidential to encourage participation by wineries, vineyard management firms and owners and to protect the privacy of individuals.

Yetman said he sent out 300 surveys and received 62 responses. “It is the larger companies filling out the surveys,” he said. “Those who responded represent about half of all acreage planted to vines in the Napa Valley.”

Wineries with vineyards tend to pay slightly more across the board, according to Yetman. They also tend to hire fewer seasonal workers.

Vineyard supervisors are paid upwards of $20 per hour on average; a foreman earns slightly less than $20 an hour; and a vineyard worker earns in the low teens. Those with special skills, such as mechanics, can see an increase of $2 to $3 an hour over the wages of fieldworkers.

Management companies on average paid slightly less than wineries with vineyards, with top salaries in the mid-$20 an hour range. On average, management companies paid between $3 to $5 per hour less across the board.

Growers who responded to the survey paid between $1 to $4 less than  management companies, according to Yetman’s analysis.

Pay raises between 2007-08 were between 1 percent to 9 percent, with an average of 3 percent, “which approximates the economy as a whole,” Yetman added.

As far as benefits, 61 percent of those surveyed offer medical benefits, 64 percent gave paid vacations and 46 percent offered some form of a 401(k) plan. “I am impressed that 46 percent offered some sort of 401(k) plan,” Yetman said.

“Will workers face pay cuts in the Napa Valley?” Yetman asked the audience. “I don’t know. Only you do.”

Yetman said it is harder to cut workers’ salaries if they are mobile or if their skills are easily transferable.

“Vineyard work is skilled work ... they could take it to another wine-growing state,” he said.

“The highest paid workers in agriculture labor can be found in the Napa Valley,” Yetman said in an interview. “It is reasonable to assume some of the highest quality workers in agriculture are here.”

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