Farm Workers

Historic heat wave highlights the need for farmworker protections

Leave a Comment / Agriculture, Climate Change, Farm Workers, workplace safety / By max cyril

Summer heat is a danger for farmworkers every year, with heat deaths happening steadily. But with climate change and heat waves like the one that hit the Pacific Northwest in recent weeks becoming more frequent, the need for legal protections for farmworkers is becoming more urgent. At least one worker died during that heat wave. California farmworkers have a right to shade when …

Historic heat wave highlights the need for farmworker protections Read More »

How the Covid Land Rush Is Hurting New Farmers

Leave a Comment / Agriculture, economy, Farm Workers, Rural America, Uncategorized / By max cyril

The pandemic has inspired city dwellers and investors to buy land in rural areas. That’s driving up farmland prices and pushing some beginning farmers out of the market. Abel Dowden, age 20, grew up on his family’s beef farm in the Missouri Ozarks. He just got married and is ready to start his own farm. Dowden …

How the Covid Land Rush Is Hurting New Farmers Read More »

How the Deep Roots of Farm Labor Solidarity Helped Wisconsin Survive the Pandemic

Leave a Comment / Farm Workers, unions / By max cyril

When Covid-19 forced Wisconsin to shut down in late March last year, supply shocks to the agricultural industry delivered a staggering blow to family farmers, many of whom have long teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. Decades of consolidation and monopolization have made the industry inflexible to changes in demand brought about by school, restaurant and commercial closures. Processing …

How the Deep Roots of Farm Labor Solidarity Helped Wisconsin Survive the Pandemic Read More »

How Decades of Local Activism Led to the Biggest Dam Removal Deal In U.S. History

Leave a Comment / Farm Workers, labor / By max cyril

“The Klamath River is the center of our traditions, culture and community, and has always been the centerpiece of our way of life,” says Frankie Myers, vice-chairperson for the Yurok Tribe. “We are connected to the salmon in a really deep way, and there is a belief that their existence is our existence.” The Yurok people …

How Decades of Local Activism Led to the Biggest Dam Removal Deal In U.S. History Read More »

HOW FARMWORKERS IN MICHIGAN ARE FIGHTING FOR LABOR RIGHTS AND RESPECT

Leave a Comment / Farm Workers, labor, Uncategorized / By max cyril

On December 6, 2020, a federal judge heard arguments on a motion to dismiss in Reyes-Trujillo v. Four Star Greenhouse, a case brought by a group of farmworkers alleging wage and hour violations against the greenhouse company where they worked. The case illustrates why a strong Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) joint employment standard is critical …

HOW FARMWORKERS IN MICHIGAN ARE FIGHTING FOR LABOR RIGHTS AND RESPECT Read More »

Will the Supreme Court Overrule Farmworker Union Rights?

Leave a Comment / Farm Workers, unions / By max cyril

Not long before Donald Trump’s election in 2016, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed suit against California’s farmworker access rule in federal court on behalf of two companies—Cedar Point Nursery in Siskiyou County and the Fowler Packing Company in Fresno. The foundation is a conservative libertarian group that holds property rights sacred and campaigns against racial equity. It fought …

Will the Supreme Court Overrule Farmworker Union Rights? Read More »

Groups Petition OSHA to Issue Heat Standard

Wendy’s refuses to join program protecting farm workers from sexual abuse

Leave a Comment / sexual harassment / By max cyril

When Silvia Perez came to Immokalee, Florida from Guatemala in 1993, there was one profession that made sense: working in the fields. “Tomato-picking is the biggest industry in Florida, and you find out about it right when you arrive,” she said. “It’s bigger than textiles or the restaurant business.” Perez got a job on a …

Wendy’s refuses to join program protecting farm workers from sexual abuse Read More »

Overtime for farmworkers passes California legislature, heads to governor’s desk

Leave a Comment / Farm Workers / By max cyril

The California legislature has passed a bill that would give farmworkers the same overtime protections as other workers. Now the question is whether Gov. Jerry Brown, who has not taken a position on the proposal, will sign the expansion from the state’s current law, which requires employers to pay time-and-a-half after farmworkers put in 10 hours …

Overtime for farmworkers passes California legislature, heads to governor’s desk Read More »

Supreme Court’s E-Verify Decision Devastating for Employers, Immigrant Workers

Leave a Comment / Farm Workers, immigration, Migrant Workers, Supreme Court / By max cyril

Immigrants rights advocates and employers, including farmers, are lashing out at the Supreme Court’s May 26 decision upholding Arizona’s right to demand employers use the controversial e-Verify system, which is meant to confirm whether someone is in the country legally. The decision also allowed Arizona to continue the so-called “business death penalty,” which entails denying …

Supreme Court’s E-Verify Decision Devastating for Employers, Immigrant Workers Read More »