“The federal exclusions complicating #farmworkers fight to unionize were rooted in #racism & notably put the agricultural industry and consumers ahead of worker rights, according to a federal history documenting farmworker struggle and other historians and policy experts…” #UnionStrong https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/advocates-ramp-up-support-in-seattle-for-farmworker-union-recognition/

“State Democratic legislators & members of labor committees are exploring a policy to explicitly give #farmworkers the right to unionize & supplement the federal exclusions, said Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, who attended Thursday’s rally wearing a pin reading “Sin Miedo,” or “without fear” in English.” #WorkersRights #UnionStrong https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/northwest/advocates-ramp-up-support-in-seattle-for-farmworker-union-recognition/

Today in Labor History August 27, 1934: 7,000 Filipino lettuce cutters and mainly white packing shed workers went on strike against the powerful Salinas Valley growers and shippers, demanding union recognition & improved wages and working conditions. Many of the white workers were Dust Bowl refugees. Most of the Filipino workers had immigrated as U.S. nationals, after the U.S. took over the Philippines, in the wake of the Spanish-American War. There was rampant persecution of Filipino workers in California. Laws prohibited Filipino women from immigrating to the U.S. and prevented Filipino men from consorting with Anglo women. The American Federation of Labor initially refused to recognize or support the Filipino Labor Union (FLU). Scabs and vigilantes viciously beat Filipino strikers and chased 800 out of the Salinas Valley at gunpoint. They also burned down a labor camp. Police arrested picketers and union leaders for violation of the Criminal Syndicalism laws (laws that prohibited advocating any change to the economic and political status quo). The FLU ultimately won a raise and union recognition. However, discrimination and racist violence against Filipinos continued.

Steinbeck wrote about the plight of Filipino migrant farmworkers in the Salinas Valley in a 1936 series of articles for the San Francisco News called “The Harvest of Gypsies,” which formed part of the basis for his novel, Grapes of Wrath. He said they were among the most discriminated, and best organized, ethnic group in the U.S. Their organizing, he went on to say, brought on terrorism against them by vigilantes and the government.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #union #strike #filipino #Salinas #farmworkers #racism #immigration #colonialism #police #PoliceBrutality #vigilantes #DustBowl #Steinbeck #journalism #books #author #writer #fiction @bookstadon

“#Farmworkers aren’t covered by the National Labor Relations Act, which lays out a legal framework for union recognition, it’s up to individual employers to choose whether to recognize union committees” #WorkersRights #UnionStrong
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/its-nearly-impossible-for-wa-farmworkers-to-unionize-heres-why-that-matters/

Global News BC: Wellness checks underway for migrant workers amid B.C. wildfires https://globalnews.ca/news/9915033/wellness-checks-migrant-workers-bc-wildfires/ #globalnews #britishcolumbia #news #TemporaryForeignWorkers #BritishColumbia #MigrantWorkers #ClimateChange #Environment #BCwildfires #FarmWorkers #Wildfires #Okanagan #Kelowna #Canada

Global News BC: Hundreds of migrant workers among B.C. wildfire evacuees. What do they face? https://globalnews.ca/news/9911579/b-c-wildfires-temporary-foreign-worker-safety/ #globalnews #britishcolumbia #news #TemporaryForeignWorkers #BritishColumbia #MigrantWorkers #ClimateChange #Environment #BCwildfires #FarmWorkers #Wildfires #Okanagan #Kelowna #Canada #Health #Fire

#Mushroom company fined over several violations of #farmworkers’ rights
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/mushroom-company-fined-over-several-violations-of-farmworkers-rights/

113 degrees at work, failing AC at home: Farmworkers can’t escape life-threatening heat https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-16/california-farmworkers-life-threatening-heat-climate-change #climatechange #globalwarming #environment #farmworkers

Truth: American farmers don’t want to prevent undocumented workers from coming to America; they want to keep their workers undocumented so they can underpay and abuse them.
#farming #immigration #undocumented #farmlabor #farmworkers

https://www.sltrib.com/news/business/2023/08/11/utah-farm-bureau-president-accused/

Hope we establish safe working conditions stat.

Chronic #KidneyDisease Is Poised to Become the Black Lung of #ClimateChange
https://time.com/6303020/chronic-kidney-disease-climate-change/

"As temperatures increase around the globe, CKDnt cases are on the rise, contributing to what is arguably the world’s first occupational disease caused by climate change, one that, like a coal-miner’s black lung, can be prevented with the addition of #workplace safety standards."

#WorkersRights #FoodWorkers #FarmWorkers

Our monthly newsletter is out. We celebrate the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington with images of some members of the Williamston Freedom Movement in North Carolina. We also showcase our new landing page for the Farmworker Movement Collection. And finally, Richard Cross’s images of Palenque de San Basilio got the attention of scholars and community members participating in the planning of the new Museo Afro de Colombia #blackhistory #farmworkers #afrocolombians https://bradleycenterliberated.substack.com/p/march-for-jobs-and-freedom

https://iufap.org/2023/07/27/state-owned-farm-workers-fighting-for-permanent-jobs-in-bangladesh/

State-owned #FarmWorkers fighting for permanent #jobs in #Bangladesh

#IUF #BAFLF #union #UnionStrong #strike #protest #FullTime #PartTime

America's #Farms Are Facing A Serious #LaborShortage

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM1NS9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbA/episode/NjYzMTBjNTAtY2RkYS00ZTVjLTgyOTMtNDBjYjZiODQzNjQ2?sa=X&ved=0CI4CEM-BB2oXChMI6Orsjeq4gAMVAAAAAB0AAAAAEAE
For #farmers across #America, finding enough #labor has become a top concern. Decades ago, whole families of migrant #farmworkers, the majority of them from #Mexico, would travel around the U.S. in search of #seasonalwork. But over time, farmworkers began to settle. Now, many of them are aging out. And their children and grandchildren are finding opportunities in other sectors.

So much of the discourse around food production does not question the axiom that labour exploitation ("cheap labour") must be maintained to assure low #FoodPrices.

What if we paid food producers and #farmworkers well and instead cut rent by 80%? #Farmers & farm workers actually do work unlike landlords. I can supply a family of 3 with more than enough #vegetables for about €1100 per YEAR. That's healthy, beyond-organic vegetables.

Let's switch it around. More for famers, less for #landlords.

Congrats to Sonoma County farm workers for the NLRB victory, securing the biggest settlement the Santa Rosa office has seen, against the Mauritson Farms winery 👏🏻 https://www.kqed.org/news/11956413/how-california-farmworkers-took-on-a-sonoma-winery-over-abuses-and-won

And deep gratitude to North Bay Jobs with Justice (NBJWJ), the nonprofit who had workers' backs the entire way: https://www.northbayjobswithjustice.org/

#Labor #Workers #Farmworkers #SonomaCounty #SFBayArea

As the #SaltonSea Shrinks, #Agriculture’s Legacy Turns to Dust

As drought dries up the shallow sea, near a half-million farmable acres in the #ImperialValley, #farmworkers living nearby are exposed to #toxic dust and airborne #pollution from algae blooms. Asthma, allergies, and other health impacts are rising at alarming rates.

By Virginia Gewin, July 17, 2023

"Building on findings from a recent study documenting the health impacts of poor air quality around the Salton Sea, California’s largest inland lake, López was one of 15 mothers who subsequently agreed to photograph their children and their environments. Three-quarters of the 36 caregivers in the study identified as Hispanic or Latino, and 24 percent identified as #Purepecha, an #Indigenous group from the Mexican state of Michoacan. Over half of them are #farmworkers, as is common in the small, unincorporated communities that surround the sea.

"On bad air quality days, López keeps her 8-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter inside to protect them from a cascade of symptoms that she says worsen with outdoor exposure, including congestion, skin allergies, and shallow, labored breathing that makes sleep elusive. A 2019 survey found that 22 percent of children have asthma in the region, almost three times the national rate of 8.3 percent.

"Imperial County residents were exposed to over 1,200 pounds of #pesticides—via the air, water, and on the plants themselves—per square mile from 2017-2019. That exposure rate is over 90 percent higher than the rest of #California. On top of that, the region is the hottest in the state—with over 117 days over 100 degrees, according to a 2022 Hazardous Heat report.

"Farmers around the Salton Sea have worked to use water more efficiently and reduce field burning. But they also use intensive, conventional practices that rely on chemical inputs. And there is little if any conversation about changing those practices for the good of the Salton Sea or the area’s residents.

"In the last few years, the long-neglected region has been dubbed #Lithium Valley as it has received unprecedented attention due to its precious lithium reserves needed to fuel the state’s clean energy economy. But residents, scientists, and public health advocates worry that this new gold rush will further an extractive dynamic without adequately addressing community health. And new science about the connection between water pollution and air quality suggests more investment is needed."

#LithiumMining #BigAg #Farming

https://civileats.com/2023/07/17/as-the-salton-sea-shrinks-agricultures-legacy-turns-to-dust/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

India is facing a deadly heat wave that is killing hundreds of people and affecting millions more. The most vulnerable are the farmworkers, who have to work in the scorching sun for long hours. The heat wave is linked to climate change, which is making extreme weather events more frequent and intense. The farmworkers demand better working conditions and social protection. #india #heatwave #farmworkers https://www.thenation.com/article/world/india-heat-wave-farmworkers-climate-change/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=HariTulsidas%2Fmagazine%2FArchetypes

“Mily Trevino-Sauceda was 9 when her mother fell as she worked to move irrigation pipes along rows of potato & alfalfa on an ID farm.…[Her] mother had fainted from the heat, & could never again work as fast or as long in the sun.

“Decades later, the memory remains sharp for Trevino-Sauceda, who says few systemic changes have been made to safeguard #farmworkers from extreme heat.”
#climatechange

https://apnews.com/article/heat-record-farmworkers-danger-climate-c0ca69cf71871ff07c5731cca55738c7

#Heat is a mortal threat to #farmworkers. A nurse may have found a way to protect them.
Educating field workers to listen to their bodies can help save lives as the #climate grows warmer
"lower-level heat-related illness combined with dehydration is associated with kidney injury....On any given day that the workers were tested, 33 percent of them had incurred kidney injury and that the likelihood of injury increased with the #heatindex."
https://wapo.st/3JOxaQ0

In India, It’s Getting Too Hot to Farm. Heat waves are pushing agricultural workers across a wide swath of India to the edge of survival. The Nation magazine.
#ClimateCrisis #farmworkers #India
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/india-heat-wave-farmworkers-climate-change/