![]() ![]() “But now, after the farm is closed, the people - they find other jobs but they don’t make the same money.” Colorado Mushroom Farm filed for bankruptcy in December. “Most of the people, they work 10, 15, 20 years in this (mushroom farm). He loved working at the farm and said most of the former workers want to return. Growing supervisor Esteban Lucas, 47, said he earned $80,000 at the mushroom farm - and now makes $14 an hour at Arby’s. Many of the mushroom growers and pickers came from Santa Eulalia, a mountainous town in northwestern Guatemala, and are part of the same Mayan tribe, offering them a sense of community. Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center expects to produce a feasibility study for the former workers in January or February. “It was a good place to work for,” said Lucia Gaspar, who worked at the mushroom farm for a few years starting in 2009.ĭespite the farm’s troubled history, some former employees are considering taking over the operation as a worker cooperative. Community leaders said mushroom farm officials allowed worker advocates into their facility, and donated money or goods to local organizations. And unlike other agricultural work, employees could pick and package produce indoors and year-round. Employees earned above average wages for the region. The farm has been a major employer in Alamosa - at its best, contributing $15 million a year to the local economy, Nanda said. “There’s no way this can happen in the United States.” Workers pick mushrooms at the Colorado Mushroom Farm, then known as Rakhra Mushroom Farm, on Oct. “All the families are victims - my family and my kids, other families and their kids,” said Juan Mejia, who worked at the mushroom farm until June 8, operating heating and cooling systems that kept conditions ideal for growing mushrooms. ![]() Some of the former workers are undocumented, leaving them little recourse to pursue lost wages or compensation for workplace injuries. The farm filed for bankruptcy in December, citing $100,000 or less in assets and $10 million to $50 million in liabilities. When some employees confronted a manager at Colorado Mushroom Farm last year, he threatened to call immigration authorities. Laborers and at least one vendor were paid with checks that bounced. Another had her finger amputated after her hand was caught in equipment. One woman was struck by a forklift while working at the farm. Unpaid wages, injuries: Colorado Mushroom Farm's dark side Close ![]()
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