Workers at Lakeside Organics in Watsonville have filed numerous complaints against their employer, including compensation disputes for denied breaks and unpaid overtime totaling more than $10,000, sexual and discriminatory harassment, unsafe working conditions such as employees developing rashes from fertilizers being applied to produce, making employees drink non-potable water "from the hose," overflowing porta-potties that were not cleaned at regular intervals, supervisors drinking on the job and verbally abusing and de-humanizing workers, lack of medical compensation for job related injuries, and "dumping" injured workers.

These complaints were issued in the fall of 2007. Long drawn-out legal efforts to hold Lakeside Organics accountable for their labor abuses have simply highlighted the discrepancy in legal resources between the laborers and the corporation. Traditional legal support systems for migrant laborers such as California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) have been systematically targeted by corporate interests that the government has come to represent. Originally funded via the federal Community Service Agency, CRLA was substantially de-funded during the Reagan administration. During the Clinton administration it was heavily restricted when "Republican [lawmakers] inserted provisions preventing representation of undocumented immigrants and preventing legal aid from collecting attorneys fees". Over the past few years, CRLA has been investigated numerous times for alleged noncompliance with federal funding restrictions, making it difficult for the agency to offer meaningful help in cases where some of the persons making claims may be out of status. Read More