Farmworkers

Appeals Court Recognizes That Farmworkers Have A Fundamental Right To Organize

May 27, 2019 Staff, Nyclu.org Organize! Courts, Farmworkers, Labor

ALBANY - A state appellate court today declared unconstitutional a Jim Crow-era exclusion in state law that denies farmworkers the right to organize and collectively bargain. Plaintiffs Crispin Hernandez, the Workers’ Center of Central New York and the Worker Justice Center of New York, represented by the New York Civil Liberties Union, originally challenged the exclusion of farmworkers from basic labor protections in 2016. “This is a victory for farmworkers, as we have finally had our day in court,” said Crispin Hernandez, who was fired from his job as a dairy worker in Lowville...

The Farmworkers Who Pick Your Halo Mandarins Just Organized A Massive Labor Strike

April 22, 2019 By Sam Ribakoff, Civileats.com Resist! Class Struggle, Farmworkers, Strikes, Workers

The sun is setting on the east side of Bakersfield, California, as Salvador Calsadillas sits down with his cousins and their kids for a dinner of caldo de mantarraya, a hearty stingray and tomato stew, a specialty of the coastal regions of the Mexican state of Sonora. Calsadillas and his family are from Oaxaca, further south in Mexico, but like many others, they moved to Bakersfield looking for work. Bakersfield is the entryway to California’s 450-mile-long Central Valley, the site of a sprawling $50 billion a year agriculture network that produces more than one-third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of our nuts and fruits.

Are We Prepared To Pay The Price For Farmworker Justice?

January 14, 2019 Olivia Heffernan, Pendemocracy.net Create! Class Struggle, Farmworkers, Labor

Wearing a flannel shirt, Wrangler jeans and worn-in beige boots, Juan Antonio Zuniga has the look of a farmer but not the entitlements that come with owning an actual farm. Fleeing violence in El Salvador, Zuniga came to the US in 1991 and has been a farmworker in New York ever since. Today, he lives and works on a farm in Mattituck, Long Island, where he picks grains and grows vegetables. According to the National Farmworker Ministry, the annual average income of crop workers is between $10,000 and $12,499 for individuals and $15,000 to $17,499 for a family, an offensively noticeable difference from the $5 billion-plus that New York’s agricultural industry brought in last year.

Migrant Injustice: Ben & Jerry’s Farmworker Exploitation

August 26, 2018 Michael Colby, Organic Consumers Association. Resist! Ben and Jerrys, Farmworkers, Migrant justice

These are harrowing times for the nearly 1,500 migrant workers laboring on Vermont’s largest dairy farms. These farmworkers, predominantly from Mexico, are forced to live in the shadows, where their farm bosses harbor them in exchange for long hours, low wages, and cheap housing. It’s a human rights stain on the state, allowing these migrant workers to live and be treated this way. And it continues because there’s a whole lot of “looking away” from the deep-rooted ugliness of this system, which has been described by human rights advocates as “close to slavery.”

Sarbanand: A “Dirty Dozen” Corporation Contesting Being Fined In District Court For Working A Farmworker To Death In Whatcom County

May 23, 2018 Edgar Franks, Foodjustice.org Resist! Class Struggle, Exploitation, Farmworkers, Labor

On Wednesday May 23rd at 9:00am Sarbanand Farms is scheduled to appear in the Whatcom County District Court to appeal a fine that was imposed on them by the WA State Dept of Labor and Industries after the death of a worker on August 6, 2017. This is happening in a courtroom that normally handles driving citations. This is the level of disrespect we are receiving for a farmworker’s death in Whatcom County. We believe the WA State Dept of Labor and Industries has given permission to agricultural corporations and the courts to normalize the deaths of farmworkers by exploitation. This past February, Sarbanand was fined over $150,000 for not allowing workers to take their rest breaks and lunches.

How Filipino Migrants Gave The Grape Strike Its Radical Politics

May 17, 2018 David Bacon, Dollarsandsense.org Strategize! Farmworkers, Food and Agriculture, Left Politics, Strikes, The Philippines

The great Delano grape strike started on September 8, 1965, when Filipino pickers stayed in their labor camps, and refused to go into the fields. Mexican workers joined them two weeks later. The strike went on for five years, until all California table grape growers were forced to sign contracts in 1970. The conflict was a watershed struggle for civil and labor rights, supported by millions of people across the country. It breathed new life into the labor movement and opened doors for immigrants and people of color. California’s politics have changed profoundly in the 52 years since then, in large part because of that strike. Delano’s mayor today is a Filipino. That would have been unthinkable in 1965, when growers treated the town as a plantation. Children of farm worker families have become members of the state legislature.

No Loopholes, No Exceptions

May 9, 2018 Penelope Kyritsis, Opendemocracy.net Resist! Farmworkers, Sexual Violence, Women, Workers Rights and Jobs

For decades, domestic workers and farmworker women have been systematically excluded from labour protection laws and have faced extensive barriers to justice for sexual harassment, among other forms of abuse. Most have no human resources department to turn to, and are not covered by Title VII, the federal anti-discrimination law that prohibits sexual harassment, as the law currently only applies to workplaces with 15 employees or more. Since most workers in the care sector are the only or one of just a few employees in their workplace, they – along with independent contractors – fall beyond the purview of this federal labour protection instrument. “It’s happening to us because we are invisible workers,” said Teresa Arredondo, farmworker leader from Alianza de Campesinas.

Farm Workers Sue North Carolina To Protect Their Union Rights

November 16, 2017 Brian Hauss, aclu.org Resist! ACLU, Farmworkers, Lawsuit, North Carolina, Unions

By Brian Hauss for ACLU - Dolores Huerta, the legendary civil rights icon and farmworker activist, had it right: “Organized labor is a necessary part of democracy.” Day in and day out, unions struggle to make sure that farmworkers have a voice in in their workplace and in their communities, but they face enormous obstacles. Farmworkers, most of whom are people of color and many of whom are in this country on temporary visas, have long been excluded from federal and state labor laws. That means they don’t enjoy many of the key protections under the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and numerous state minimum wage, workers’ compensation, and youth employment laws. As a result, they face high risks to their health and safety, substandard living conditions, and abuse and exploitation by their employers. Now North Carolina has mounted a direct assault on the state’s only farmworkers union, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), which works tirelessly to protect those workers. A new state law, sponsored and supported by legislators who have a financial interest in suppressing farmworker organizing, would make it all but impossible for the union to operate effectively in the state.

Thousands Of Mexicans Hold Protest Against NAFTA

August 11, 2017 Staff, www.bilaterals.org Resist! Farmworkers, Mexico, NAFTA, Protests, Trade Deal

By Staff of Bilaterals - Mexican farmers and workers have staged a mass rally in the capital to voice their opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement, commonly known as NAFTA, with the United States and Canada. The protesters, who numbered up to 10,000 people, took to the streets in Mexico City on Monday, saying the trilateral trade deal was ruining Mexican farmers’ and workers’ livelihoods. The protesters said that they wanted the government to leave the agriculture sector out of the new NAFTA free trade agreement, accusing Mexico City of failing to support the peasant farmers. President Enrique Peña Nieto, the protesters said, has broken the promises he had made to the farmers and workers in regard to land and labor reforms The protest comes as NAFTA re-negotiations are scheduled to take place from August 16 to 20 in Washington. Reports suggest around two million Mexican farmers have lost their land under the current NAFTA conditions. US-imported products make up nearly half of all of the food consumed in Mexico. During his election campaign, US President Donald Trump vowed to either renegotiate or scrap the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump described NAFTA as the worst trade deal the US had ever signed. He blamed the three-nation deal for the outsourcing of thousands of American jobs to Mexico and China.

Farmworkers, Supporters Take Trump Resistance To Trump Country

April 1, 2017 Staff, www.ufw.sollink.net Resist! Donald Trump, Farmworkers, Protests

By Staff of United Farm Workers - Tens of thousands of farm workers will lead the resistance to Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies by staging marches and events organized by the United Farm Workers and other farm worker organizations around Cesar Chavez’s March 31 birthday in 11 mostly rural communities—most of which backed Trump—across California, Texas, Washington state and Oregon. Most take place on Sunday, April 2, when farm workers have the day off. Rural and agricultural counties voted heavily for Trump during last year’s presidential election.

California First U.S. State To Promise Overtime To Farmworkers

September 16, 2016 Sharon Bernstein, www.reuters.com Create! California, Farmworkers, Jobs and Wages

By Sharon Bernstein for Reuters - SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept 12 (Reuters) - California will become the first U.S. state to require farmers to pay overtime to field workers and fruit pickers under a bill signed on Monday by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown. The bill would phase in overtime pay for farmworkers from 2019 to 2022. In an industry where a work week during the harvest season can be as long as 60 hours, the measure requires farmers to pay overtime after eight hours per day or 40 hours per week.

No State Charges For Cops Who Killed Mexican Farmworker

September 10, 2016 Eric M. Johnson, www.Reuters.com Resist! Farmworkers, police brutality, Washington

By Eric M. Johnson for Reuters - SEATTLE, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. state of Washington has decided not to file criminal charges against the three police officers who fatally shot an undocumented Mexican farm worker in 2015 after he threw rocks at them and ran through a crowded intersection. The killing of Antonio Zambrano-Montes in the southeastern farming hub of Pasco, captured on video by witnesses and shared widely online, sparked days of protests from the city’s majority Latino community and drew criticism from theMexican government and human rights activists.

The Fight Isn’t Over For Farm Worker Overtime

July 6, 2016 David Bacon, www.capitalandmain.com Create! California, Farmworkers, Jobs and Wages, Wages, Workers Rights and Jobs

By David Bacon for Capital and Main - For the state’s first hundred-plus years, certain unspoken rules governed California politics. In a state where agriculture produced more wealth than any industry, the first rule was that growers held enormous power. Tax dollars built giant water projects that turned the Central and Imperial Valleys into some of the nation’s most productive farmland.

Cuomo Supports State Farmworkers After They Sue Him

May 16, 2016 Scott Heins, Chris Hedges, www.gothamist.com Resist! Farmworkers, New York (NY)

By Scott Heins for Gothamist - The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against Governor Cuomo and the state alleging that loopholes in state labor laws deny farmworkers the right to organize, forcing them into "life-threatening, sweatshop-like conditions." In a statement issued hours after the suit, Cuomo quickly voiced his support for farmworkers and said his administration would not fight the NYCLU lawsuit. "Because of a flaw in the state labor relations act, farm workers are not afforded the right to organize without fear of retaliation—which is unacceptable," Cuomo said.

Children Near Farms Pay Steep Price For Food We Eat

May 15, 2016 Elizabeth Grossman, www.civileats.com Educate! Farmworkers, Food and Agriculture, Pesticides

By Elizabeth Grossman for Civil Eats. The report out today from Pesticide Action Network (PAN) found that children in rural and agriculture communities across the United States are effectively exposed to a “double dose” of pesticides. They’re exposed both directly, through pesticide drift, and indirectly, through the residue that makes it home on their family members’ bodies and clothing. At the same time, PAN researchers say many children in rural communities also experience economic and social pressures that can exacerbate the adverse health effects of these chemicals. What’s worse, there is now increasingly solid evidence linking pesticide exposure to an array of childhood cancers—particularly leukemia and brain tumors—which are on the rise, as well as adverse impacts on children’s neurological development. Yet despite mounting evidence that rural children are in very real danger, they are still not being protected, says PAN.

«1 2 3 4 »

Daily movement news and resources