Defend the Right of Agricultural Workers to Organize & Defend Their Rights

Article Reposted from the Buffalo Forum Newspaper. Outlines detail about issues facing agricultural workers in New York state and throughout the country.

On May 1, New York farmworkers and their supporters began a 200-mile march across the State in defense of their rights and dignity. On April 30, a send-off rally and dinner was held in Rochester, with the march beginning the next day at the home of Harriet Tubman in Auburn. The farmworkers are proceeding eastward over the next ten days with stops along the way in Camillus, Syracuse, Oneida, Utica, Little Falls, Canajoharie, Amsterdam, Schenectady and Colonie. A 24-hour Harvest of Hope Vigil will be held at the Capitol Park in Albany on May 10, followed by a noon rally on Tuesday, May 11. The march and rally are being organized by the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign, a coalition of over two hundred organizations, congregations and unions. A similar march last year saw more than 1,600 people participate.



Farm workers in New York and nationwide are among the most impoverished sections of the working class and face abysmal working and living conditions. These conditions are perpetuated in part by the fact that they are legally prohibited from bargaining collectively or taking strike or other action to enforce changes in these conditions. For the majority who come to the U.S. as migrant laborers, these conditions are further enforced under the threat that if they dare to stand up for their rights or even to complain about their intolerable conditions of life and work, they will be deported. It is well known that the monopolies rely upon the exploitation of this insecure sector of the farm-workforce, with immigration raids only conducted where and when the monopolies demand.



Historically, farmworkers nationwide have been excluded from government recognition of their right to establish unions and bargain collectively, including the 1937 National Labor Relations Act. They have also been excluded from legislation governing hours of work, pay and vacations, as well as occupational health and safety. Most New York labor laws are governed by a provision stating that “the term employees ... shall not include ... individuals employed as farm laborers.”



Nationwide, there are more than 3 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers who hand harvest and cultivate the country’s fruits and vegetables. They are the producers in a $28 billion agriculture industry. More than 80 percent are foreign born, with three-quarters earning less than $10,000 a year.



Agriculture is consistently ranked one of the three most dangerous occupations in the nation. On average, 500 farmworkers suffer disabling injuries every day, 25 of them resulting in permanent impairment. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 300,000 farmworkers and their families are poisoned by pesticides each year, in the fields, the farm camps beside them, or through contaminated water. Physicians report some 20,000 related illnesses every year, but even the EPA recognizes that most ill workers never see a doctor.



The 80,000 farmworkers in New York are the backbone of the State’s $3 billion agriculture industry. Approximately 47,000 are migratory workers, with the majority of Mexican origin. Others come from Jamaica, Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and other states within the U.S. The Justice for Farmworkers Campaign reports:



“Farmworkers live in almost every county in New York. They live in western New York along Lake Ontario and Lake Erie harvesting apples, grapes, and other fruits; in central New York planting and harvesting vegetables; in the Finger Lakes region trimming and harvesting grapes; in the Hudson Valley harvesting apples, onions, and corn; in the Champlain Valley harvesting apples; and on Long Island working in nurseries and harvesting a variety of fruits and vegetables. Some migrant workers live and work on dairy farms and move frequently within the state. They often work 60 to 70 hour weeks and face the same poverty as workers who move from state to state.”



The Campaign is demanding passage of the Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act. The legislation passed the State Assembly last year, but Senate leadership has refused to put it to a vote. Only recently have New York farmworkers seen State recognition of their right to clean drinking water in the fields, sanitation facilities, and the same minimum wage as other workers. As they continue to organize to defend their rights, farmworkers are demanding the elimination of all exclusions from State labor laws, recognizing their rights and providing protections including:



• the right to bargain collectively and protection from summary retribution for even discussing organizing;


• a mandatory day of rest each week;


• overtime pay for more than 40 hours of work;


• disability insurance;


• unemployment insurance (employers with a payroll below $20,000 are now exempt);


• child labor protections (currently restrictions on children’s hours, ages and hazardous work are far fewer on farms);


• shortened work periods and areas to cool down when exposed to extreme heat;


• monitoring of worker exposure to pesticides;


• dignified and healthy sanitation facilities (currently, latrines are permitted in work camps, and toilets are not required and no inspections are made if there are fewer than 5 workers).

For more information on the march, including detailed schedule, see www.ruralmigrantministry.org.