| reaDER,
This week's Supreme Court decision in the case Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid was a huge setback in efforts to organize hundreds of thousands of farmworkers in California.
These workers deserve to benefit from fair treatment and a collective bargaining voice. As I outlined in my analysis of the decision, the agricultural industry is notorious for hazardous and low-paying jobs, and as EPI research has shown, its employers commit disproportionately high rates of wage and hour violations.
At the same time, the vast majority of farmworkers across the country are not protected by the National Labor Relations Act—the federal law that enshrines the right of workers to join and form unions. California passed a law in the 1970s to give farmworkers labor rights and increase protections for them—it was one of the key victories of Cesar Chavez—but the Supreme Court decision this week has dealt a serious blow to those hard-fought gains.
reaDER, will you donate to EPI today to ensure we have the resources needed to continue producing research that helps advocate for the rights of farmworkers in the United States?
As EPI's director of immigration law and policy research, I regularly analyze farm labor issues and write about how to improve labor standards for farmworkers. Many of the farmworkers in the United States are vulnerable because they are here on temporary work visas (known as H-2A visas) where their immigration status is contingent on keeping their current jobs, and more than half of farmworkers are undocumented, making it hard to exercise any of their rights. In both cases, fear of deportation leaves farmworkers scared to report labor violations—no matter how egregious.
This is wrong. We rely on farmworkers to keep our shelves stocked and our families fed. Last year, while many workers in other industries began working from home to protect themselves from COVID-19, farmworkers kept returning to the fields—often without the proper gear or protections to keep them safe—and as a result thousands became sick or lost their lives. Farmworkers deserve fair treatment and a safe workplace, just like all workers. But the United States has a long way to go to achieve that.
We need stronger labor standards and workplace protections for all farmworkers. We need better oversight of our temporary work visa programs, which EPI has documented are often abused by employers who seek to exploit vulnerable migrant workers and undercut wages across multiple industries. And we need comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for farmworkers and all undocumented immigrants, so they can have equal rights and participate as full members of society.
reaDER, donate to EPI to help us shine a light on the labor violations in agriculture and the systemic flaws that our policymakers must address to protect farmworkers, and so we can continue advancing policy solutions to reform our immigration system, protect farmworkers, and raise standards in U.S work visa programs.
Thank you for helping to fund the research powering the movement for economic justice.
Daniel Costa,
Director of Immigration Law and Policy Research
Economic Policy Institute
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