Union members press AG Brown on farmworker protections and housing monopolies; Brown points to ongoing cases

Speakers representing farmworkers and drivers raised separate but related concerns about employer practices and the role of large investors in housing affordability at the town hall.

Jose Ramirez, introduced as a farmworker and translator, said growers increasingly hire H‑2A workers and advertise terms that undercut local skilled harvesters, and asked what the attorney general's office can do. Brown said his civil‑rights and worker‑rights divisions are pursuing active cases to protect farmworkers and noted that many cases come forward because workers tell their stories to investigators.

A Drivers' Union representative identified himself as Garfield and asked whether the AG planned suits against institutional landlords and asset managers such as BlackRock or Vanguard. Brown said his office will pursue antitrust or consumer protection cases where they meet the legal threshold and pointed to an earlier RealPage case alleging an illegal price‑fixing algorithm affecting rental markets in Washington. "If there are opportunities for us to do that against national monopolies, we will absolutely do that," he said.

Brown also recounted other housing‑related cases against developers that allegedly misrepresented services and rents in low‑income senior housing. He said the office brings complex cases out of its antitrust, civil‑rights and complex‑case divisions and will not create a separate division solely for monopoly investigations but will use existing teams.

The exchanges emphasized the AG's dual message: the office will continue to litigate where violations of state law exist, and it needs worker and community reports to build cases that target systemic harms.