Congress passed the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act with overwhelming support from both sides of the aisle. The bill .4efore the Iuse today is likewise a product of a cooperative. bipartisan effort. The grower who uses migrant labor generally contracts with a farm labor contractor who then hires a crew of workers. The contractor. or crew leader as he is called. will frequently provide transportation. housing. and food for his crew. He will direct the field operations. keep a tally of individual production. and act as paymaster. Clearly. any system of contracting for human labor. a system more feudal than 20th century. would be prone to abuses. From testimony before both Houses preceding passage of the 1963 act. It became evident that the crew leaders were exploiting both farmers and migrant farm workers. In spite of promises made. they would fail to show on an agreed date and crops would be left to rot. When recruiting. they would mislead the workers about the kind of work to be done. Housing was substandard or nonexistent. Vehicles used to transport the migrants were unsafe. Payroll deductions made for purchases at the contractoroperated store were not itemized. nor were records kept of tax withheld or even or units worked. The Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act attempted to prevent this exploitation by requiring crew leaders to get a certificate of registration from the Secretary of Labor to operate.
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