Farm workers in upstate New York constantly face hurdles
in their efforts to organize. As reported in an important article from Documented
,
the workers, who tend to be immigrants, are currently suing to have the state
include them in labor protections afforded other workers. But if some industry
groups have their way, these farm employees will eventually be replaced
by guest workers. Much of the state’s farming is in dairy, and there’s
a lot of pressure to have the H-2A program extended so that dairy farmers can
take advantage of it. David Bacon’s recent article in The American Prospect
describes some of the abuses H-2A guest workers are subjected to, in this case
by farm owners in Washington state.
New York’s diary farmers and others are in fact suffering
economically, but it’s not because their workers are getting paid too much or
have an excess of labor rights. The causes, according to the New
York Times, are global warming, Trump’s tariffs, and a shortage of
immigrant workers intimidated by the threat of ICE raids.—TPOI editor
Farmworkers Struggle to Unionize in New York. Crispin
Hernandez May Change That
Crispin Hernandez and the NYCLU are taking on the New York Farm Bureau
By Clara McMichael, Documented
August 17, 2018
Crispin Hernandez doesn’t want to talk about his personal
life. He’s originally from Mexico. He’s 23. Everyone asks him about his
favorite food, he says, but he doesn’t want to talk about that either, because
you can’t find it here in New York.
What he does want to talk about is the potentially
groundbreaking court case that has dominated his life for the past two years.
Hernandez is fighting the New York Farm Bureau, which represents agricultural
interests, to win the right for farmworkers to organize for collective
bargaining without retaliation. State Supreme Court Judge Richard J. McNally,
Jr. dismissed his case at the state Supreme Court in Albany in January, but the
New York Civil Liberties Union, which represents Hernandez, has appealed the
judgment.[…]
Read the full article:
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| August 5 farm worker protest in Washington state. Photo: David Bacon |
What Was the Life of This Guest Worker Worth?
While Washington state agencies reduce farmworker pay and
find employers faultless for a death in the fields, Trump and congressional
Republicans back proposals to turn farmworking into permanent indentured
servitude.
By David Bacon, American Prospect
August 15, 2018
On Sunday, August 5, a group of 200 farmworkers and
supporters began walking at sunrise along the shoulder of Benson Road, heading
north from Lynden, Washington, toward Canada. When they reached O Road, the
marchers turned right to walk along the border. Unlike the frontier with
Mexico, with its walls, floodlights, and patrols, the border line here is no
line at all—simply a road on each side of a weed-choked median.
The procession, chanting and holding banners, passed a
succession of blueberry fields for the next 14 miles, finally reaching the
official border crossing at Sumas. Pausing for a protest in front of the local
immigrant detention center, it then continued on until it reached its objective
one mile further on—the 1,500-acre spread of Sarbanand Farms. There, in front
of the ranch’s packing and warehouse facilities, participants staged a
tribunal.[…]
Read the full article:
