Workers Memorial Week Reflection

“Every day in America, 13 people go to work and never come home. Every year in America, nearly 4 million people suffer a workplace injury from which some may never recover. These are preventable tragedies that disable our workers, devastate our families, and damage our economy. American workers are not looking for a handout or a free lunch. They are looking for a good day’s pay for a hard day’s work. They just want to go to work, provide for their families, and get home in one piece.” 
– Former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, Workers Memorial Day speech April 26, 2012 

Last week we wrapped up the annual Workers Memorial Week. A look at worker safety and health numbers in 2011 indicate there were 4,693 work-related deaths in the general work population in the United States.  Included in that number are farmworkers who have died from grain bin entrapments, farm equipment accidents, and falls from ladders or equipment.  Likewise, there are an average 50,000 work-related illness fatalities each year within the general population, with farmworkers considered to be a highly vulnerable portion of the workforce—subject to heat stress, pesticide poisoning, musculoskeletal and repetitive motion conditions, and green tobacco sickness, just to name a few.

In 2010, there were 31.5 occupational fatalities among agricultural workers per 100,000 workers; a rate higher than in industries more commonly viewed as dangerous, such as mining and construction.  Reports from the federal government indicate there were 1,500 crop production deaths between 2005 and 2010; though we believe those numbers are much higher because it does not include premature death due to pesticide exposure or other stresses upon the body.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates there are between 10,000 and 20,000 incidents of pesticide illness from farm work every year.  These estimates are likely a woeful underestimate as we, along with the EPA, recognize that farmworkers often do not report occupational illnesses or seek treatment.  Fear of lost time and wages combined with apprehension about losing their job are barriers to reporting when they become ill.  Even when pesticide exposure results in a farmworker going to the doctor, it may be misdiagnosed, as symptoms of pesticide poisoning can mimic flu-like symptoms.

The United States Occupational Safety and Health Act was signed by President Nixon in 1970 with the purpose of “assuring so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions.” The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the agency within the U.S. Department of Labor responsible for carrying out the mission of that law. There are no OSHA regulations that address the agricultural sector specifically, but employers are required to provide drinking water, hand washing facilities and toilets for the workers if they employ 11 or more people. All employers are obligated under OSHA’s General Duty clause to provide a workplace that is free from recognized hazards that can cause injury, illness, or death to the workers.

The EPA’s Worker Protection Standard (WPS) provides agricultural workers with protections against pesticide exposure.  The WPS covers all agricultural workers and focuses on three important areas:

1. Notification of pesticide applications
2. Providing information and training to workers about the hazards of pesticide residues and how to protect themselves
3. Mitigation of pesticide exposure such as providing personal protective equipment and decontamination supplies

While these laws include provisions to protect workers from retaliation from their bosses, we know from numerous accounts shared by farmworkers across the nation threats of withholding pay, cutting pay, firing, blacklisting and other coercion exist.  Knowing that their workers are unlikely to file a complaint, or even know how to file a complaint, allows bad actors to flout the law.  With only one OSHA inspector for every 59,000 workers in the general workforce, and even fewer EPA inspectors, enforcement is a great challenge.  In resource-strapped agencies, the focus shifts from enforcement to other tools such as worker training.

Worker training, particularly among the 2.5 million farmworkers in the United States, is a critical need.  AFOP is joined by many farmworker advocacy groups in providing worker health and safety to those who harvest the food we eat.  AFOP’s Health & Safety Programs is pleased to have reached over 550,000 farmworkers since 1995 with our pesticide safety education and well over 30,000 farmworkers with heat stress prevention training.  Obviously, there is much more work to be done.  AFOP honors the memory of all workers who have died from an occupational illness or injury.  We will continue to support farmworkers in the fields with training and educational materials that just may help them go home healthy and safely at the end of the day.

Immigration Now and Then: The Elusiveness of the American Dream

Both my mother and father left Vietnam in April 1975, a time known to expatriates as “Black April,” the month Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong. Their homeland had been torn asunder by years of bitter war. My mother, my aunts and uncle, and my grandmother escaped to the United States through a series of helicopter rescues orchestrated by the U.S. government. After being routed to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and San Jose, California, my mom and her family settled in Fresno, California where they found work as farmworkers, picking raspberries, bitter melons, onions, and a variety of other crops in Fresno, California. She was 16 years old.

My family was lucky. They had a sponsor and a support system already present in the United States and were also never separated from each other. My mom and her sisters were young and they eventually got the chance to enroll in school, learn English, and make better lives for themselves. It wasn’t always the easiest transition, and it certainly wasn’t easy working in the fields while going to school, but they knew that they had opportunities here in the United States that wouldn’t exist anywhere else.

My mother (center) holding her nephew with her sponsor, my aunt, and my grandmother in 1977.

It is a sobering reality that the United States my mother first experienced, a land ripe with the promise of opportunity for herself and her family, is so drastically changed from the United States we see today in terms of immigration policy. In just the last four years, the federal government has spent more than $73 billion  on immigration enforcement alone. The border between the U.S. and Mexico is now separated by 651 miles of fencing and patrolled by 18,500 agents. These facts reinforce the notion of an “illegal invasion” popularized by anti-immigration reform fear-mongers.  The fact of the matter is the problem is not how to deal with an “unprecedented influx” of immigrants crossing the border illegally, as they would have us think.  The actual number of people seeking illegal entry into the country is down dramatically, as indicated by the steep drop in those caught making illegal crossings.  The real issue is about reforming immigration laws now and implementing a realistic path towards citizenship for those individuals who live in the U.S. and consider themselves Americans, but just don’t have the proper documentation.

My mother came to this country legally, but she came during a time of uncertainty when the U.S. was ending its engagement in an unpopular war. Immigration to the U.S. isn’t just about filling out paperwork in your country of origin and waiting to hear your name called – it often is rife with themes of political persecution, warfare, a lack of opportunities available, or being brought to the U.S. at a young age and not ever even considering your legal status. There are a numerous instances, in fact, of young people not even knowing of their legal status until they apply for a driver’s license or submit applications for college.

This afternoon, thousands will converge for an immigration reform rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to challenge the broken system in place now. Dozens of cities nationwide will also host their own immigration reform events, as well as reach out to their representatives, in solidarity with the rally at the Capitol. Prominent experts on the subject of immigration reform, such as civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, Illinois Representative Luis Gutierrez, Executive Director of CASA de Maryland Immigration Gustavo Torres, and SEIU President Mary Kay Henry are scheduled to speak, as well as members of immigrant families speaking about their own experiences. The purpose of the rally is to demand comprehensive immigration reform that also provides a clear cut path towards citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in living and working in the United States.

In my mother’s case, the path towards American citizenship meant better pay, better jobs, and better lives. She and my aunts and uncle began their lives in the U.S. as refugees, and then worked as farmworkers. Today they all have steady jobs, warm homes, and bragging rights for all their kids who have gone to college. They are the epitome of the American Dream.

The United States is a country of founded by immigrants. Only when there is an equitable immigration policy, can the American Dream ethos continue to reflect the values on which the nation was founded.

Remembering and Celebrating César Chávez

Today marks the 86^th anniversary of the birth of César Chávez and of the final day of this year’s National Farmworker Awareness Week.  It is fitting we celebrate farmworkers this week for all the difficult and dangerous work they do in ensuring a ready food supply for our nation.  It is also fitting to recognize the man who did so much to make our nation aware of the troubles and perils farmworkers face in planting and harvesting its crops and to help secure basic labor rights for them. 

AFOP President Jesús Gamboa was just fifteen years old when he first met César Chávez in 1965.  That day, Jesús had ridden with his father to the Arvin, California grape fields “in a ’56 Chevy” to work that year’s harvest.  As they arrived, they came upon a large group of protesters waving large red flags emblazoned with a black eagle, and asking people not to go into the fields.  That experience made an impression on Jesús and his father, who accepted Chávez’s personal invitation and joined the organization that would eventually become the United Farmworkers of America.

The entire Gamboa family subsequently got involved in the labor movement.  Jesús recalls routinely visiting the union’s offices in Lamont, California with family members and seeing Chávez at work there on labor issues. Jesús remembers Chávez also helping the farmworker community with advice on meeting the challenges of everyday life, utilizing the skills he developed as a community advocate with the Community Service Organization.

It was here, in those days, that Gamboa, a farmworker until age 25, developed an allegiance to Chávez and the UFW movement that endures to this day.  Says Gamboa:

I believe in what César stood for, what the movement still stands for, and for what the union has done for farmworkers.  If not for the union, whatever limited rights workers have, they wouldn’t have: better wages and working conditions, drinking water in the fields, and in some cases health care and unemployment insurance.  I’ve maintained my allegiance to César and the movement to this day because of their efforts to protect the rights of farmworkers.

Gamboa also tells of the times in the mid-1970s when Chávez would come to his university to address the student body.   Jesús recalls that Chávez brought with him two very unusual body guards, named, respectively, “Boycott,” and “Huelga” (“strike,” in Spanish).  Those guards were not people, but two large German Shepherds.   “Yeah, nobody messed with him,” says Jesús.

Still an associate member of the union today, Jesús carries on Chávez’s work through his service as AFOP’s national president.  Says Gamboa, “I see AFOP’s mission as similar to that of César’s: taking care of the farmworker, helping to secure for them the rights and dignity they deserve, and affording them a chance to succeed.  Chávez was a great leader, but also relied on those in the trenches, those organizations that shared his values and desire to improve conditions for the farmworker.  AFOP is not that different.  Our member organizations, and the good work they do for farmworkers, are reminiscent of the work of César Chávez.”

Gamboa helped organize the 20th Annual César Chávez Celebration March on Saturday, March 30, 2013 in Visalia, California to commemorate the life and work of this great man.  Paul Chávez, César’s son and president of the César Chávez Foundation, led the march and spoke to the assembled crowd of more than 500 about his father and the importance of carrying on his mission.  A celebration including live mariachi, health screenings, Easter egg hunt, food vendors, art exhibit, and magic show, the event was, by all accounts, something special to remember.

Cultivating Brighter Futures

National Farmworker Awareness Week is a time for all of us to recognize the challenges faced by the 2.5 million workers on America’s farms. Of those farmworkers, it is estimated between 400,000 and 500,000 are children. AFOP’s Children in the Fields Campaign is committed to improving the lives of farmworker children and amplifying their stories in our Nation’s Capital.

Many times in the advocacy world, without intending to, the voice of those we represent is lost. The Children in the Fields Campaign believes the best way to advocate for farmworker children is to have them advocate for themselves. Through the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we created farmworker youth councils in the agricultural communities of Texas and North Carolina and worked with them to develop their leadership skills.

Over the years, we have brought farmworker children from all over the country to Washington, D.C. to share their powerful testimonies with top policy leaders. We also gather these stories of their struggles with school, the long days of work in the fields, and the sacrifices they make to help their families put food on the table to help educate the public.

Through AFOP’s annual Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Children Essay & Art Contests, we have been able to collect the stories and art works from hundreds of farmworker children from around the country. The contest entries reveal the incredible talent farmworker children possess and their willingness to share how the farmworker experience has shaped their lives. The Child Labor Coalition, of which AFOP is a member, helps promote the contests and select the winning entries each year.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a member of the Child Labor Coalition, has taken its commitment a step further. This year, AFT will be sponsoring the 2013 Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Children Essay & Art Contests. Together, AFOP and AFT have selected this year’s contest theme: Cultivating Brighter Futures. All entries will be due on August 2, 2013. Full contest guidelines and entry forms can be found on the Contests webpage.

The selected winners of the contest will win cash prizes to help their families cover educational expenses, such as school supplies and backpacks. Their winning entries will be featured by AFOP on the organization’s website, in its national newsletter the Washington Newsline, and in its educational materials distributed to national policy leaders, media, and the public. Press releases will be distributed to the local papers of the winners to ensure they receive recognition in their communities too. In addition, our national partners typically publicize the winning entries on their websites and through their networks.

Along with the cash prize, all first-prize winners are offered an all-expense paid trip to the AFOP National Conference. The 2013 winners will be joining the AFOP community to receive their awards in Washington, D.C. this September.

In honor of National Farmworker Awareness Week, we ask our partners and allies to help us spread the word about this opportunity, and to encourage farmworker children in their communities to participate in the essay and art contest.

Contest guidelines can be found on our website. For additional information or questions, please contact Norma Flores López, Director of the Children in the Fields Campaign.

Socioeconomic Status and Life Expectancy: Can Job Training Improve the Odds for Farmworkers?

Many facets of life are affected by socioeconomic status. These include quality of education and health care, job benefits, such as paid time off and sick leave, access to transportation and services, and many more.  One you may not have thought about before is life expectancy. A recent article by the Washington Post discusses the correlation between lower socioeconomic class and shorter life expectancy and shows the problem is only getting worse. In 1980, the highest socioeconomic groups outlived lower socioeconomic groups by an average of 2.8 years; that figure rose to 4.5 years by the year 2000.  More recently, a Social Security Administration study found the life expectancy of male workers retiring at 65 rose six years in the top half of the income distribution over the previous three decades, but rose only 1.3 years in the bottom half during the same time frame. An almost five year difference in life expectancy is no small matter.  This issue is particularly troubling for farmworkers, one-fourth of whom live below the poverty line.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report the average life expectancy for migrant farmworkers is just 49 years old, compared to 73 years for the population as a whole. Bending, stooping, crawling among crops along the rocky ground, and lifting heavy containers—all common tasks performed by farmworkers for 10 to 12 hours per day, most days of the week—result in extremely high rates of persistent musculoskeletal injuries. Despite the incredible physicality of the work, most farmworkers earn very little, with the average annual income falling between $10,000 and  $12,000, far below the National Poverty Line.

Year after year, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks agriculture as one of the three most hazardous industries in the United States, alongside construction and mining. Currently, agriculture is the most dangerous, with the highest rate of fatal occupational injuries and high rates of occupational illness and injury.  Farmworkers are exposed to pesticides on a daily basis which are absorbed primarily through the skin.  Their families are also exposed to dangerous pesticides when they come home from work and their bodies and clothing are covered in residue. AFOP’s Health & Safety Programs has long-reported on the effects of long-term exposure to pesticides, which have been linked to cancers, birth defects, blood disorders, neurological problems, and reproductive problems. Farmworkers are also exposed to the heat and the sun which can cause heat stress, organ failure, and death.

As farmworkers age, agricultural work becomes more and more difficult and risk of injury is greater. Being able to find employment outside of agricultural that is not as physically taxing and hazardous is important because low wages and extreme poverty require farmworkers to continue working in order to support themselves and their families.  Farmworkers face multiple barriers to employment, such language skills, education, and lack of knowledge of hiring processes. Age can add an additional barrier if employers believe they will not be able to keep up or will have a harder time learning new skills.  This is why it is very important that older farmworkers are able to participate in the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) to obtain the training, education, and job coaching assistance they need in order to find employment in other fields of work. In the past year, the MET, Inc. program in Plainview, Texas enrolled three farmworkers over the age of 55.  Due to the training and support they received from the NFJP, two went on to obtain employment as truck drivers and the third as an electrical groundsman at a renewable energy company.

Through the MET, Inc. National Farmworker Jobs Program, Moises Cavazos received the support and training he needed to get his CDL and obtain a job as a truck driver.

The health statistics for farmworkers are staggering. They face long term medical issues and shortened life spans due to the hazards of their jobs and the poverty in which they live, without benefits such as health care, medical leave, or workers compensation.  These are reasons the NFJP exists—to address the unique needs of farmworkers, and assist them in moving into higher paying jobs which provide benefits for them and their families. In Program Year 2011, the NFJP served 19,000 migrant and seasonal farmworkers and exceeded their program outcomes in every category. Not only are participants earning more money for themselves and their families right now, but the steps they are taking will help them for years to come.  With better jobs, higher incomes, and benefits, NFJP participants can possibly avoid or decrease some of the health outcomes lifetime farmworkers face.

Demanding Equality and Respect for the Women Who Feed America

March is the month during which National Farmworker Awareness Week and César Chávez Day take place—two very important events in the farmworker community. It is also the month the United States pays tribute to the many women who have made great contributions to our society. Every year since 1995, the U.S. President has proclaimed March as Women’s History Month. Harvesting the food that we all consume is certainly a great and most honorable contribution, but it is a role that is rife with inopportunity and abuse—especially for women. Farmworker women often see their hard work and desire to achieve the American Dream undermined by poverty, their gender, and racial discrimination.

There have been many noteworthy advancements in addressing gender inequality, but a wide gap still remains when it comes to earnings. For women of color, that gap continues to be a chasm often too great to traverse. In fact, according to the “Survivors of Color & Economic Security” report published last month by Wider Opportunities for Women, 80 percent of Hispanic women fail to make ends meet, higher than black and white women, and their male counterparts. This is especially true for many farmworker women.

Farm work is already one of the lowest paying jobs in America, with an average annual income between $10,000 and $12,000, according to the National Agricultural Workers Survey. Benefits like paid time off, health care, and overtime pay are almost unheard of in agriculture, with the exception of a few thousand workers who are unionized. As a result, most farmworkers live below or at the poverty line—and farmworker women are even worse off. Women performing farm work typically earn substantially less than their male counterparts. Sometimes this disparity in income is due to employers’ preference to hire men for work they deem more physically demanding or as a result of the piece rate system, which pays workers based on the amount picked.  Women are also looked over when there are opportunities for promotions to supervisory roles and those tasks that require the use of heavy equipment, which may offer increased pay and are viewed as male roles.

Photo by Martha Beltran, AFOP Health & Safety Programs AmeriCorps member
Three farmworker women in Arizona at the end of a long day in the fields.

Moreover, some agricultural employers do not permit pregnant women to work due to the harmful effects of pesticides on developing fetuses and fear of liability for birth defects and malformations associated with exposure. This discriminatory practice, which is a violation of the Sex Discrimination in Employment Based on Pregnancy Act, can be devastating for farmworker women who are already struggling to make ends meet. Language, education, and cultural barriers help further trap the women and their families in a cycle of poverty.

Harassment and abuse are also so prevalent in agriculture that female workers in Florida often refer to the fields as a “green motel,” where women are sexually harassed and even raped by supervisors and colleagues. In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that 80 percent of women working in agriculture had been victims of sexual harassment, compared to half of the general population. Extreme poverty, isolation, language barriers, and immigration status often make farmworker women the “perfect victims.” Next month, AFOP’s Health & Safety Programs will release an in-depth report on health issues experienced by female farmworkers, including lack of access to health care and sexual violence. The report titled, “The Hidden Faces of Farmworker Women,” will feature conversations and personal testimony from farmworker women of varying ages from around the country on their experiences.

This week, as farmworker advocates from across the nation come together to highlight agricultural workers through National Farmworker Awareness Week, it is especially important we draw attention to the many issues plaguing the women who not only take care of their families, but help feed America. These extraordinary women offer so much of themselves and ask for so little in return. It is time we demand the change necessary to honor, respect, and provide equal opportunities for farmworker women by insisting on fair pay and equal access to employment and investing in non-traditional training opportunities that lead to higher paying jobs for women.

Farmworkers’ Part in Sustainable Agriculture Conversation

By Jimi Patalano, Communications Intern, AFOP

Recently, sustainability has become a buzzword in a variety of fields and industries—energy, manufacturing, and transportation are a few noteworthy examples. Widespread realization of the looming dangers of climate change to the economy, the environment, human health, and national security are probably behind this. The USDA said in a recent report that coming climate change poses “unprecedented challenges to U.S. agriculture.” Certainly, the prospect of significantly higher summer temperatures should be concerning to farmworkers and those interested in their welfare.

Many modern industrial agriculture techniques contribute to climate change by causing emissions of several important greenhouse gases (as evidenced in this report, pages 12-18). In addition to climate change, normal industrial agricultural practices in the United States contribute to soil erosion, and may be implicated in water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and declining honeybee populations. This loss of resources should be of concern to all of us as it threatens our country’s ability to produce food in the future. Industrial agriculture has been shown to have negative effects on public health by creating pesticide contamination and antibiotic resistance. All of this has led many farmers, scientists and consumers to the conclusion that agriculture as it is practiced in the United States today cannot continue for much longer, and must soon be replaced by sustainable methods.

What exactly is “sustainability”? In a 1987 report for the World Commission on Environment and Development, “sustainable development” was defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” This emphasis on meeting human needs now and in the future has become key to the general definition of sustainability. Sustainability is considered to rest on three pillars, each of which is a crucial ingredient without which a system cannot truly be called sustainable. These pillars are:

• Economic growth
• Environmental protection
• Social equity

Sustainability is applicable to many areas, including agriculture, but also manufacturing, transportation, and energy production. It is a point of intense research and debate currently and there is certainly much we don’t know about it. To evaluate and discuss sustainability, thinking about it from a holistic perspective is necessary. This approach is recognized as systems thinking, a process that involves considering complex interactions between numerous entities. For example, food crops are produced by a system that includes the soil, insects, animals, precipitation, microbes, and humans. Another example of systems thinking in sustainability involves considering the interactions between the economic, political, scientific, and cultural spheres.

It’s important to understand that the term “sustainable agriculture” refers to a wide and varied field of different approaches. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions, because the ecology and the economy vary from place to place. Sustainable agriculture is not just hypothetical. It is being used successfully in a variety of locations. Fortunately, transitioning to sustainable agriculture in the United States and Latin America provides significant opportunities to improve the conditions of those who do the hard work that underlies crop production.

In Latin America, the Movimiento Campesino a Campesino (MCAC) has demonstrated that the implementation of sustainable agricultural can occur in a way that benefits rural economies of smallholders. Agroecology is the name for the practices spread through MCAC’s decentralized, horizontal “small farmer-to-small farmer” teaching-learning networks. Specifically, agroecology refers to the application of place-specific ecological knowledge in agriculture and results in smallholder operations that are economically and environmentally sustainable. MCAC’s approach differs sharply from state-based approaches that try to diffuse knowledge from centralized sources. The system of horizontal farmer-to-farmer knowledge-sharing can empower small farmers in Mexico and other Latin American countries, strengthen communities, and increase viability of small, independent farms. If adopted on a wide scale, advocates say this could lead to a reduced pressure to emigrate, reducing the supply of ultra-cheap, exploitable agricultural labor in the United States, which both strengthens the position of the farmworkers who are here and weakens business-as-usual agriculture in the United States—a win for sustainability and labor. The same farmer-to-farmer networks, which so far have been used strictly to share agroecological knowledge, could become a political force for structural change by sharing economic and political knowledge as well.

Sustainable agriculture experts in the United States, such as the Union of Concerned Scientists, argue the highly concentrated agriculture industry is incapable of switching to agricultural practices that are truly sustainable. This vision of agriculture imagines an end to the current highly concentrated state of the industry, in which a tiny fraction of the total number of U.S. farms produce most of the food, and a return to the days when the norm was small and medium growers who lived on their farm and had a deep relationship to the land.

In this scenario, farms would require a larger workforce of skilled labor, because growing crops sustainably requires more knowledge, attention, and care than the “assembly-line” techniques of today. The industrial model of agriculture used to grow most crops in the United States often entails enormous fields of a single, annual species, large quantities of pesticides and artificial fertilizer, and off-site management.

Photo by Melanie Forti, Health & Safety Programs, AFOP
Farmworkers harvesting celery in Arizona.

In contrast, sustainable agriculture treats a farm like what it is—an ecosystem. It often involves planting different kinds of plants together, sparking interactions that reduce the need for pesticides and fertilizer. The industrial model may be more efficient when huge amounts of farmland are owned by one company and the costs of externalities–like dying rural economies, soil and water depletion, and public health costs from climate change and pollution are not paid for. The sustainable model, however, actually produces more food per dollar when these costs—which are measurable—are taken into account. In addition, if most crops were produced on small or medium farms, agriculture would employ more skilled labor and operate more efficiently.

Experts believe this transition will never happen if the large agribusiness companies that have come to control most of the market continue to make record profits and hold powerful political sway. The high profitability of these concentrated, industrial agricultural companies is dependent on paying farmworkers poverty-level wages. So by fighting for improved conditions and higher wages for farmworkers, we are fighting for more sustainable agriculture, and vice versa.

The story of sustainable agriculture and the consequences of its implementation is as large and multifaceted as an ecosystem itself. Nonetheless, due to the very serious issues outlined at the beginning of this article, and the many solutions provided by sustainability, it is a story to which all of us may soon need to pay more attention.

National Farmworker Awareness Week 2013

For those of us dedicated to supporting and advocating for the estimated 2.5 million farmworkers in our county who harvest the foods we consume every day, National Farmworker Awareness Week (March 24-31) is a very special time. It not only gives us an opportunity to celebrate farmworker contributions to our nation, it also allows us to acknowledge the staggeringly difficult and dangerous work farmworkers perform day in and day out, and to draw attention to the hardships they endure in delivering produce to our dining room tables.

To mark National Farmworker Awareness Week, students, community members, congregations, and organizations from across the country will seek to raise awareness about farmworker issues through events, blogs, media pieces, videos, and a variety of other activities. The week will then culminate with a celebration of the birthday and continuing legacy of farmworker and organizer César Chávez, on March 31.

AFOP has participated in these efforts in past years by using special blog posts to educate the general public about the many obstacles faced by farmworkers. Pleased with the overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received, AFOP will once again engage in these activities this week, putting out informative posts from our team, including from our Children in the Fields Campaign and Health & Safety Programs experts, on the state of the United States farmworker. AFOP will also post information about events we are hosting or participating in that are taking place throughout the United States. Please check our Facebook page or follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #NFAW13.

We look forward to celebrating with you the 2013 National Farmworker Awareness Week.

Farmworker Immigration Reform: Preventing a “Bridge to Nowhere”

By David Strauss, East Coast Migrant Head Start Board Member and former Executive Director of AFOP

Several years ago, the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee famously steered tens of millions of federal dollars to build a bridge in Alaska that would serve so few people it was dubbed “The Bridge to Nowhere.” We fear that there are at least two potential such bridges in some of the proposals proffered over the past several weeks to reform our broken immigration system.

The U.S. Senate and President Obama recently stated principles on which they will base their support to provide a pathway for the approximately 11 million people in America who do not possess legal documentation to become citizens. Among this group, it has been estimated that at least 40 percent are people who came here on lawful visas, but stayed after the expiration of those documents.

The Department of Labor’s National Agricultural Workers Survey consistently finds that at least 50 percent of America’s migrant and seasonal farmworkers are undocumented. The National Farmworker Alliance, a coalition of 23 national, regional, and state-based farmworker unions, service groups, and advocacy organizations, estimates there are 2.5 million farmworkers. That translates into at least 1.25 million farmworkers who are living in the shadows, awaiting action by the federal government.

Since the founding of our Republic, people who are born in this country are recognized as citizens. The farmworker population is comprised of many families in which one or both parents are undocumented, but their children are American citizens by virtue of being born here. These parents endure the terror of knowing that any day they could be arrested and placed in detention, leaving their citizen children “abandoned.” While not frequent in occurrence, it is a problem that occurs often enough that many farmworkers tell service providers they know of someone or are related to someone to whom this has happened. Moreover, a recent study by Applied Research Center revealed that more than 5,000 children in the United States are in foster care as a result of parental detainment or deportation.

It is an especially odious situation because farmworkers earn so little and have such limited familiarity with state-run child welfare systems. Due to those factors, they are unlikely to have legal documents instructing family or juvenile courts on their preferred custody plans for their children in the event of detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They are also unlikely to have attorneys they can contact in the event of such a situation.

A legalization program is of vital interest to the people who prepare and harvest America’s crops and, consequently, the stability of our country’s agricultural system. The Senate and White House statements on immigration reform are generating a great deal of optimism. While we and many others in the farmworker advocacy and service communities have every reason to feel optimistic about a reform bill passing in the next six months, there are some significant barriers to helping farmworkers’ aspirations to citizenship—barriers everyone who supports the farm labor community will need to help remove.

President Obama and the Senate spokesmen agree that it is critical to create a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people. This path will not only permit farmworkers to increase their stake in American society, but will prevent the creation of a huge subclass of people with no hope for full participation in their adopted home. But what form will that take? If, as the Senators suggest, applicants must “wait in line behind those that applied ahead of them,” then there will be a serious, perhaps insurmountable barrier to farmworkers and other aspiring citizens. As The Washington Post has pointed out, there is no single waiting line. Among the various categories of people awaiting Department of Homeland Security action, are people who applied in 1989.

Immigration quotas are set by Congress and are so inflexible that lengthy backlogs occur for applicants in many countries. Added to this problem are the bureaucratic delays and paperwork issues in the Department of Homeland Security. Absent a change in quotas and other reforms to the current processing system, it could mean that farmworkers who apply pursuant to the Senate principles would need to wait at least 24 years before their applications could result in permanent residency.

The President’s version of waiting in line is a bit more definite.  The “leaked” principles indicate the White House intends to have a maximum eight year wait for green card applicants. Although not ideal, it is a much more limited line than the potentially near-endless process that the Senate principles could mean.

And no matter what year their applications could be processed, could they be stopped by the lack of a certification that the border is secure?  The Senators said applicants would also be required to await a ruling (not clear by whom) that the border is secure before any petitions for permanent residency could be processed. Are they talking only about the U.S.-Mexico border (which has by most accounts, never been more secure) or does this include Canada’s 4,000 mile border?

Both of these conditions create the potential for endless waits, creating a bridge to nowhere for these aspiring citizen farmworkers.

Our hope is that a common sense approach to this and other sticky issues will prevail. For example, determining the amount of back taxes an immigrant owes will be very, very difficult.  Undocumented farmworkers typically do pay taxes and get almost no services in return, since most public services are based on proof of lawful status. Moreover, undocumented farmworkers whose bosses pay FICA taxes will likely never receive benefits they should have accrued. Ironically, while much of the public believes undocumented workers are not paying their share of taxes, in fact they have been propping up our Social Security system with billions of dollars they will never see again.

Farmworkers and their advocates must be vigilant as this new energy for immigration reform translates into legislative proposals. We must educate those crafting proposals about the need for recognizing that additional border security and waiting multiple decades for the right to a green card are barriers that create “a bridge to nowhere” situation for farmworkers and other aspiring citizens.

Our country is a nation of immigrants. A welcome to immigrants is enshrined on the Statue of Liberty. Creating a path to legal status for the 1.25 million farmworkers who wish to end their undocumented condition keeps faith with our national history and our values. And it is the right thing to do for the people who work so hard to put fresh food on our tables.

Training for Excellence in Workforce Development

AFOP held its annual Training Day on Friday, February 15th.  It was well attended by nearly 40 National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) grantees, as well as several U.S. Department of Labor representatives.   The event started off with a warm welcome from Jane Oates, Assistant Secretary of the Employment and Training Administration, who remarked on the outstanding work the NFJP is doing for farmworkers across the country.

The first session of the day covered apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, presented by Franchella Kendall, Chief of the Division of Standards and National Industry Promotion in the Office of Apprenticeship at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Ms. Kendall gave an overview of what the DOL Employment and Training Administration is working on in terms of registered apprenticeship programs (RAP) and some new initiatives, such as partnering with CVS for a registered apprenticeship program for pharmacy technicians.

NFJP participants can benefit greatly from apprenticeships because they provide hands-on training and instruction in a skilled industry while paying salary for work performed. At the conclusion of an apprenticeship, the participant is often hired as a permanent employee or will have the education and experience to find a permanent position elsewhere. Chris Paige, CEO of California Human Development Corporation, discussed the need for apprenticeship programs in agriculture, as well. He shared the actions his organization is taking to set up a program in the wine industry in California. The program would cover a variety of skilled positions within wine production and would include 144 hours of classroom instruction paid for through California’s Community College System.

The day also featured four NFJP grantees who are making strides in increasing their retention rates and average earnings figures, or who have maintained high numbers over many quarters. Two staff from Motivation, Education and Training (MET) Inc., Franklin Montgomery, Director of Field Services, and Frailan Sendejo, Workforce Development Coordinator, as well as Richard Lopez, president of SER Corporation in Kansas, presented on increasing average earnings figures.  Important themes from the presentations included the need to identify in-demand jobs in the local area and partner with training programs that will give participants a competitive edge, such as those that will result in a number of certifications from one program. The three presenters noted that jobs in the energy and health care fields pay high wages and are growing in demand in most areas throughout the country.  Mr. Montgomery also stressed the importance of strong communication between program administration, managers, staff, employers, community colleges, and participants, in addition to a willingness to build partnerships amongst these entities. Mr. Lopez touched on the importance of staying connected with the local workforce investment board (WIB) and employers to assess employment needs and learn about new business developments.  By having this type of information early, SER prepares clients with the skills they need to be ready when hiring starts.

Barbara Simcoe, state director at PPEP, Inc., and Jesús Soto, executive director of Proteus, Inc., discussed increasing retention numbers. Ms. Simcoe spoke about PPEP’s targeted job-readiness workshop curriculum, which they started teaching to the participants with the most barriers to staying employed, and with which they have found success.  Mr. Soto highlighted his approach to holding staff accountable for their work and having high expectations for outcomes. All of the grantees talked about the importance of forming a strong relationship with NFJP participants so case managers can adequately assess the strengths and needs of their clients to ensure a more successful placement in the long term.   Additionally, by building a strong rapport, the participants are much more likely to stay in contact with NFJP staff and keep them informed of their employment status, which is necessary for documenting accurate retention figures.

Photo by Ayrianne Parks, AFOP
Jesús Soto shares how his organization achieves its outstanding Retention outcomes.

The day of training provided ample opportunity for attendees to meet and discuss their own approaches to maintain and increase their retention rates and average earnings.  Opportunities to share ideas are invaluable for a national program, such as the NFJP, and I am very pleased so many people took the opportunity to come to Washington, D.C. to do this. If you were not able to attend, please take a look at the presentations posted on the trainings page of the Agricultural Connection. If you have any ideas or requests for next year’s Training Day, please feel free to contact me at Vaughn@afop.org.