Farmworkers continue struggle for basic rights LYONS — On a recent day near the shore of Lake Ontario — the heart of New York’s apple growing region — Peter Mares stared down a narrow road and wondered how someone could treat a worker like roadkill. Mares, a former farmworker turned advocate, was telling a delegation of activists from New York City how a farmworker was recently the victim of a hit-and-run on that same road. That worker went to work at a fruit-packing plant despite several broken ribs and other bones. A short time later, after being taken to a local hospital, he was told the U.S. Border Patrol was also on its way to pick him up. “We just want a little respect,” said Mares to members of the delegation organized by Rural & Migrant Ministry. “Simple things like bathrooms and water.” Instead, these workers are often subject to racial profiling by the authorities, forced to live in subhuman conditions and denied basic worker rights and protections. Fighting for change The Justice for Farmworkers campaign, working with a coalition of unions and organizations that include CSEA, is hoping to change that by working to pass the Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act in New York State. The act would give farmworkers a day of rest, overtime pay, collective bargaining protections, disability insurance, unemployment insurance, A container of apples, the region’s most important crop, that was filled by farmworkers. child labor protections and occupational safety and health standards. Farmworkers are excluded from basic labor protections, a legacy of the Jim Crow era. When labor rights for most workers expanded during the 1930s, Southern segregationist legislators opposed giving greater rights to African Americans, who at the time worked primarily as farmworkers. In exchange for these legislators’ votes in favor of the labor protections, farmworkers were excluded. New generation, old struggle This injustice still exists today, but it now affects a new generation of farmworkers, 78 percent of whom are Latino. Children as young as 12 years old are often exploited and paid less than minimum wage. In New York state, there are about 40,000 to 80,000 farmworkers. Wayne County is the second largest apple producing county in the U.S. Most workers come with special work visas and usually return to their native countries after six months. Some workers remain to work in packing and processing plants and to continue farm work for the next harvest. Farmworker advocate Peter Mares stares down a Wayne County road where a farmworker was the victim of a hit and run. Cruel irony Nearly three-quarters of U.S. farmworkers earn less than $10,000 per year, and about 60 percent of farmworker families have incomes below the poverty level. In one community, a food pantry farmworkers visit was highlighted, illustrating the cruel irony that exists for those who grow and harvest food yet cannot afford to buy it. In a study of Hudson Valley farmworkers, the annual average income reported was $8,078, well below the official poverty line and the more realistic and humane living wage guidelines. In New York, agriculture is a $3.6 billion industry. Agriculture is also ranked as one of the most dangerous occupations in the nation. Risks and causes of common injury include: exposure to pesticides, use of dangerous equipment, falls, heat stress, repetitive movements, and dehydration. But the farmworkers’ greatest concern is the constant intimidation and harassment by law enforcement even though many are here on worker visas. They told stories about workers being rounded up before or after church services and mass arrests at their trailer camps, often leaving their children unattended. On May 5, there will be Farmworker Albany Day with buses leaving from New York City, Long Island and Western New York. To reserve a seat or learn how to participate, call the Rural & Migrant Ministry at 845-485-8627. — David Galarza Trailers where farmworkers and their families live, such as these, are often squalid and unsafe. 6 The Work Force May 2014
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