Comparing Conditions of Labor-Intensive Forestry and Fire Suppression Workers

Abstract

Since the late 1970s, labor-intensive forest workers in the Pacific Northwest have been mostly Latino. These workers and their Anglo counterparts plant and thin trees, perform other forestry services, and fight wildland fires. Poor job quality has been persistent, especially for Latino workers. We compare working conditions between fire suppression and nonsuppression forest work across Latino and non-Latino populations in Oregon. We find that although both groups share some similar conditions, Latino workers often faced poorer conditions, including disrespectful treatment, uncompensated injuries, risk of being blackballed if they complained, and little opportunity for advancement. However, there were some important job quality improvements for Latinos in fire suppression, including compensation for travel and training. Differences in contracting market structure and federal oversight between fire suppression and other forest work may contribute to improved job quality. This suggests the potential for improving conditions by focusing on improving contracting markets and oversight.

Keywords:

• fire suppression
• Forest Service
• forest workers
• job quality
• Latino
• Oregon
• pinero

Acknowledgments

This project was made possible through the efforts of Enrique Santos and Erin Halcomb, who worked tirelessly to find and interview forest workers. The authors also thank Cece Headley, Denise Smith, Bradley Porterfield, Kimberly Barker, M. Kay Mansfield, Jillian Nichols, and anonymous reviewers for assistance with this project. The authors especially appreciate the forest workers who were willing to tell their stories. Errors remain the authors’.