MIGRANT WORKERS FILL VOID FOR FARM LABOR

COBDEN, Ill. -- On Friday, Fidel Bartola put his migrant life behind him. He became a U.S. citizen.

Bartola came to the Cobden area from Mexico 18 years ago as a migrant farm worker who toiled in the area's vegetable fields and fruit orchards. He now manages the USDA migrant camp he first visited in 1977.

Bartola is just one of a number of migrant farm workers who have planted roots in the area they return to every year.

"I've been here 18 years," said Bartola, who learned to speak English during his first few years in the Cobden area. "During that time I have acquired a house and property in Cobden.

"Friday was a memorable day for me," he added. Bartola received his citizenship papers during a ceremony held at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Migrant workers are familiar in the Southern Illinois area.

As many as 14,000 migrant workers can be found during vegetable-growing seasons and fruit-picking time. Migrants have been working six to eight months a year here for years, filling a farm labor void.

"We'll have as many as 200 at the migrant camp north of Cobden," said Elsie Speck, the camp's director.

The camp is operated by the Farmers Home Administration for the United States Department of Agriculture. It has 36 two-bedroom apartments, with five- to six-member families usually living in each one.

Speck, who lives in Carbondale, has served as director of the camp for three years.

"We have made a lot of improvements to the camp during the past three years," she said. "We've added attic fans for each of the apartments, along with a number of new refrigerators and automatic washing machines."

Classes in English as a second language are held at the camp on occasion and more classes are available at the Illinois Migrant Council in Carbondale.

A Migrant Health Clinic at the camp provides for health needs for eight months out of the year.

In addition to the USDA Migrant Center, a number of big farms in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois offer housing for migrant labor. Those farms also provide English classes.

Many of the migrant laborers who lack formal education look forward to the English classes.

"Learning English helps in a lot of ways," said one laborer, who has been a migrant worker for six years. "I learn a lot of reading and writing. It's very important, so I can look for good work in the future."

The work has slowed to a trickle now, but some of the workers, who have been here since March, will probably stay on another month before heading south, said Speck.

"Some of the families have already made plans to go to Florida for the orange-picking season," she said.

The majority of migrant farm workers in Southern Illinois are Mexican. Others come from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

"The people don't talk much about their salaries," said Speck. "Many work for minimum wages. Others who come back from year to year will be paid more."

During fruit-picking time, many of the workers are paid by the bushel and make more money."

They pay rent at the USDA camp based on what they are paid.

Early on in the year, workers prune trees and plant vegetables. Later, they help care for the crops, then assist in the harvest, including peach and apple picking.

The migrants attend church at a number of places -- the Methodist Church Mission at Cobden and Catholic missions in Carbondale and Cobden.

Most families have their own transportation.

Cars and vans are a necessity for migrant workers, Speck points out. "They have to have transportation from job site to job site."

Many of the migrant workers try to find winter jobs and stay here year-around.