Terrible treatment; the meals I've had in King and Snohomish County jails look like gourmet feasts compared to that picture of slop. This Whatcom County Blueberry Farm sounds like a Sweatshop operation. I hope L&I busts their ass. BUT, how about getting one of the Stranger's crackerjack reporters find out who they sell to, so folks can can boycott or let their fury be known. If Joe's diner serves them on their waffles, let old Joe know that you ain't going to buy the hash he's slinging until he buys blueberries from people with morals...

Ignorant question: what's the situation with unionization? Too easy to scab?

Well, they did walk off; at which point, once fired, their visas were basically yanked. They were committed to entering and working legally. Unfortunately, that does not give them much protection under the law.

If they leave, they retain their ability to return legally again. If they attempt to stay--to protest or for any other purpose--then they become undocumented. Worse, they're the "documented undocumented," with full records of their identity and location, which is a huge deportation target on their backs.

In other words, they have (or had) something to lose, and that something is being (or was) used against them, to prevent them from organizing. That's presumably why anti-union political types, especially anti-immigrant, anti-union types--often strongly support these exploitative visa classes.