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For decades, the US agriculture industry has used its economic and political power to keep farmworkers isolated, unorganized and impoverished. Industry associations have convinced lawmakers to exclude farmworkers from federal and state labor legislation, and has pressured for weak or nonexistent enforcement of the limited legal rights afforded farmworkers.
The availability of food products depends on a complex cycle of agricultural production and distribution. Each year millions of farmworkers and their families migrate to the U.S. from their home countries to follow the agricultural crops. The $28 billion dollar fruit, vegetable, and horticultural industries in the United States are dependent on the labor of 3-5 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Yet over three-fifths of farmworker households live in poverty, earning less than $10,000 annually. This is an increase from 1990 when only half were living in poverty.
Seventy percent of farmworkers are foreign born. Sixty-five percent of farmworkers are born in Mexico, and 5% are primarily from other Latin American countries, such as Guatemala and El Salvador, as well as the Caribbean Islands. Of US-born farmworkers, 18% are white, 10% are Latino, and 2% are African American. Many workers live apart from their families for the agricultural season, but increasingly entire families travel together during a season. Women and children are often left out of the discussion about farmworkers, even though 19% of the 3-5 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the U.S. are women, and 8% are minors.
Immigration
Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect in 1994 and the Mexican peso was devalued in 1995, the Mexican economy has been experiencing a crisis of low wages, high unemployment and increasing inflation. Though strict U.S. immigration policies such as the deadly Operation Gatekeeper make it difficult for poor Mexicans and other immigrants without family members here to enter legally, undocumented immigrants continue to take risks to improve their lives by migrating to the U.S., and many of them find work in agricultural fields. While the majority of farmworkers in the U.S. are citizens or legal residents, in 1994-1995 the National Agricultural Workers Survey found that 37% of the farmworkers in the U.S. were undocumented. These workers, who produce food for our nourishment, are especially vulnerable to denial of their rights because of the constant threat of deportation. The history of legislation around farmworkers' rights reflects a legacy of racism and discrimination against people of color and immigrants. We support a campaign by the AFL-CIO, Jobs With Justice and other groups advocating a general immigration Amnesty which would allow farmworkers who have been putting food on our tables for years to become citizens and hence increase their opportunities to exercise their labor rights.
Lack of legislative protection of worker rights
Agricultural labor is exempt from overtime provisions of the minimum wage laws and from coverage under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which protects workers who strike from losing their jobs. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 requires employers to pay at least the minimum wage, but farmworkers were excluded until 1978. Farmers owning small farms are still not required to provide farmworkers with minimum wage. Farmworkers are also excluded from receiving overtime pay.
Few farmworkers have health insurance, are covered through Medicaid or receive Workers' Compensation. Nearly two-thirds of all farms are excluded from coverage by federal occupational safety and health standards. While workers in pesticide manufacturing plants have the right to collective bargaining, overtime pay, and rules against child labor, most workers whose exposure to pesticides is in factories in the fields do not. The Worker Protection Standard, which took effect in 1995, is very weak and poorly enforced.
Right to Organize
Farmworkers are often intimidated or fired for speaking out about the substandard conditions, or for any attempt to organize other workers. Farmworkers who dare complain employer policies of low wages and poor working conditions risk loss of their job, housing, and possibly their immigration status. Farmworker unions have documented numerous examples of farmworkers losing their jobs when they tried to organize.
Wages
Workers sustain long hours in physically dangerous environments for low pay. Although most farmworkers legally are entitled to the minimum wage, often they are cheated out of wages owed them, or they are forced to pay for housing, transportation or "right to work" fees which brings their wages well below the legal minimum. Farmworkers who are paid by the pound for their labor are sometimes cheated by inaccurate weighing of their harvest. Most farm workers do not receive overtime pay or paid days off during the busy harvest season, and often work two weeks or more without a day off.
Child Labor
Exemptions under U.S. federal child labor laws allow children under the age of 12 to work as hired workers in agriculture for an unlimited number of hours before and after school and in excess of 40 hours during the school and work week. Yet children nine years and older frequently work alongside their parents during the harvest season. Other children must be at least 14 to work, cannot work before school and only for a limited number of hours in the evening and on weekends during the school term. The number of workers 15 to 17 years old is twice that of the nonagricultural work force. Migrant farmworker children often work and travel with their families rather than going to school, so many are not able to keep up with classes, and eventually drop out. The average level of education for a farmworker is fifth grade.
Even when children do not work, they may be at risk. Because child care facilities are rarely available, many farmworker children are present in the fields and thus are exposed to pesticides on plants and in the dirt. Children have a smaller body mass than adults and their metabolisms differ from those of adults. As a result, it is thought that the consequences of pesticide exposure may be more severe for children.
Working Conditions
The conditions on many US farms can only be referred to as "sweatshops in the fields." During the harvest, workers often labor 12 or more hours per day. Hand labor is especially vital to the production of the blemish-free fruits and vegetables which American consumers have learned to demand. Laboring in the fields often means stooping over rows of produce for hours under the hot sun with no breaks. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture's own data, agriculture is one of the most accident-prone industries in the United States.
Working long hours means longer exposure to pesticide residues. About 70% of the 1.2 billion pounds of pesticide products that are sold in the U.S. each year are used in agriculture. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 300,000 farmworkers suffer acute pesticide poisoning each year. Farmworkers regularly are assigned to work in fields that have recently been applied with pesticides, and workers who do field application of pesticides rarely receive the proper safety equipment and training mandated by law. Harvesting crops is hard work, and the increased exertion and sweating facilitates the absorption of pesticide residues through the skin. Often neither field workers nor pesticide handlers have facilities to wash or shower before they go home to their families. According to the National Center for Farmworker Heath, farmworkers suffer from the highest rate of toxic chemical injuries of any workers in the U.S. Most farm workers have no idea what pesticide residues are on the crops they cultivate or harvest, or of their potential health effects. Raising concerns or questions about pesticides can result in the loss of jobs or other retaliation from employers.
Housing
Many farmworkers live in substandard and crowded housing that is provided by the farmer or is rented from private sources. Private housing is not subject to federal regulation. The private housing that is available to migrant workers tends to be substandard and many times expensive. Although some hired farmworkers live in well-kept housing, much of the housing available for them is deficient, crowded, and unsanitary. In the absence of housing, farmworkers may be forced to sleep in tents, cars, ditches or open fields. Clean drinking water, wash water, and toilets are not always available even when the law requires them.
Health Care
Health conditions for farmworkers are among the poorest in the nation, with an average life expectancy of only 49 years and with rates of infectious and chronic diseases, malnutrition, infant and maternal mortality well above national averages. Farmworkers suffer higher incidences of heat stress, dermatitis, influenza, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and tuberculosis. Most farm worker women work throughout their pregnancies out of economic necessity. Farmworkers generally do not receive benefits such as medical insurance or workers compensation and have little or no access to medical facilities.
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