Years ago, the grape harvest was always preceded by a major hiring blitz, but that is now changing as vineyards are increasingly hiring workers fulltime.
“We’ve been kinda in a labor crisis for probably 10 years,” said Karissa Kruse, president of the Sonoma County Winegrowers.
Vintners have been struggling to find skilled seasonal labor because of increasing competition from construction and the legal cannabis industry.
“This isn’t like you can just show up one day and be like, ‘okay go pick the grapes’,” said Kruse. “Well, what grapes? Do I pick all of them? What about those little two grapes that are green are up there but everything else is purple? I don’t know, what do I do?”
That competition has led more and more vineyard owners to hire workers fulltime.
“We actually increased full time employment by about 20%. Which we all feel is a really good thing, it creates a stable workforce locally. It means they’re probably living in our community versus coming in to work for a couple days or weeks and then leaving,” she said.
It is better for workers too, who get more benefits as fulltime employees. Even finding housing can be easier as many vineyards offer workforce housing. And of course during the pandemic as farmworker communities have been hit harder than most, health insurance is critical.
The stronger demand for workers has also been reflected in pay.
“Our pay has actually gone up about 20% since 2017, so we’re just under $20 an hour right now as the average rate,” said Kruse. “The silver lining in all of this is still about taking care of the community, and I think that’s kind of one of the good stories of 2020.”