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20 making a difference: Labor

Luis Miguel Esparza Jr. is on a mission.

Esparza is well aware of the low pay and lack of job stability most farm and industrial workers face. Both he and his father, Luis Miguel Esparza Sr. worked in the fields.

Armed with that experience, the Esparzas have made improving farm and industrial workers conditions their entrepreneurial mission.

Esparza, a 22 year-old operations manager and helping to run Esparza Enterprises — an employment services company — that made $52 million in revenue last year by providing job security and fair pay to farm and industrial laborers in Kern County.

“It is revolutionary — the ability to provide people comfort, to help people 9-5. (It) helps a lot of people to wake up in the morning, knowing they have stability,” he said.

The elder Esparza started Esparza Enterprises because he saw a need for farm and industrial laborers to have job stability and fair, steady pay.

Esparza Sr. immigrated from Mexico in the 60’s to work as a farm laborer in Visalia. After moving around in the Central Valley, Esparza decided to relocate his business to Bakersfield located next to the San Joaquin, Coachella, and Santa Nella valleys because it had the right market for his company’s clients.

“I am blessed with this opportunity, I really enjoy the  business. I have the entrepreneurial blood in me, I am resilient, and love to take risks,” Esparza Jr. said.

The younger Esparza attributes his own success and the success of the business to his father, who he considers his role model.

What sets Esparza Enterprises apart from other farmworker contractors is the company’s commitment to putting people first.

Although it does not seem like such a revolutionary idea, providing job stability and fair wages can be a much-needed reality in farm and industrial labor, Esparza Jr. said.

Esparza Enterprises’ services enables laborers to stay in one place, rather than move around the country. Workers are more home-based through the agency, allowing their children to remain in one place as well.

Esparza Enterprises serves from 5,000 to15,000 farm and industrial laborers, 99 percent of which are Latino, according to Esparza.

Crews do not need to be trained and laborers have flexible skills to provide work on farms for all crops and seasons.

About 60 percent to 70 percent of workers have worked for Esparza Enterprises before and stay employed with the company, he said.

In the June 2006 issue of HispanicBusiness.com, Esparza Enterprises was ranked 115th out of 500 top Hispanic businesses noted for an exceptionally healthy performance.