Pineros - 9780774821148

The exploitation of Latino workers in many industries, from
agriculture and meat packing to textile manufacturing and janitorial
services, is well known. By contrast, pineros -- itinerant workers who
form the backbone of the forest management labour force on federal land
-- toil in obscurity.

Drawing on government papers, media accounts, and interviews with
federal employees and Latino forest workers in Oregon's Rogue
Valley, Brinda Sarathy investigates how the federal government came to
be one of the single largest employers of Latino labour in the Pacific
Northwest. She documents pinero wages, working conditions, and benefits
in comparison to those of white loggers and tree planters,
exposing exploitation that, she argues, is the product of an ongoing
history of institutionalized racism, fragmented policy, and
intra-ethnic exploitation in the West. To overcome this legacy, Sarathy
offers a number of proposals to improve the visibility and working
conditions of pineros and to provide them with a stronger voice in
immigration and forestry policy-making.

Brinda Sarathy is an assistant professor of
environmental analysis at Pitzer College in Claremont, California.