Collection:LPB

Genre: Newsmagazine

Place Covered: Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, Henderson, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana

Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority

Date Issued: 2015-03-06

Duration: 00:04:50

Subjects: Crawfish industry | United States. Department of Labor | Migrant labor

Contributors:

• Sanford, Shauna Host
• Woods, Virnado Photographer
• Thevenot, Richard Interviewee
• Freeman, Najah Interviewee
• Smith, Andre Interviewee
• Pizzolato, Bill Interviewee
• Patin, Gillray Interviewee
• Randol, Frank Interviewee

This segment from the March 6, 2015, episode of the series “Louisiana: The State We’re In” features Shauna Sanford’s report on the ongoing battle between the Louisiana crawfish industry and the United States Department of Labor on the availability of migrant workers to process crawfish. Sanford reports that the U.S. Department of Labor increased the prevailing wage for workers processing crawfish by $5 an hour in 2014 and has only approved the H2B visas for migrant workers from Mexico and Central America for one crawfish processor in the state, Bonanza Crawfish in Henderson. Sanford interviews: Richard Thevenot, Najah Freeman, and Andre Smith, customers at Tony’s Seafood; Bill Pizzolato, the owner of Tony’s Seafood in Baton Rouge; Gillray Patin, the owner of Bonanza Crawfish Farms in Henderson; and Frank Randol, the owner of Randol’s Restaurant.