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The
case could have implications for how antitrust laws are applied
to labor markets, according to legal experts, as the Biden
administration pushes for greater competition in every sector of
the economy.
The suit alleges that ranches coordinate through the Western
Range Association (WRA), a ranching trade group, to suppress
sheepherder wages and avoid competing for labor.
Herders apply to jobs through the WRA which then assigns them to
ranches, leaving no room for the herders to negotiate or shop
around among ranches, the complaint said.
The arrangement violates the Sherman Act, a 130-year-old
antitrust law that prohibits wage-fixing agreements among
employers, the suit alleged.
"Even workers who make some of the lowest wages in our economy
should be able to benefit from the fair competition that our
antitrust laws ensure," said David Seligman, executive director
of Towards Justice, which brought the suit.
Ellen Jean Winograd, WRA's general counsel, said the suit's
allegations "appear to lack merit," but that the group could not
comment in more detail.
Sheepherders are typically men from rural Peru who come to the
United States on agricultural H-2A visas and live in isolated
areas, according to the complaint. Their wages have stagnated
even as pay for other agricultural labor has risen in recent
years, the complaint said.
An earlier version of the suit was dismissed by the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in 2017 because the court said
the herders had not sufficiently proven collusion. Several
antitrust experts have argued the case was wrongly decided.
There are around 100,000 sheep farms in the United States that
sell about $750 million of sheep, lambs, and wool annually,
according to Department of Agriculture data.
(Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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