New Farmworker Report Paints a Big, Grim Picture

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from Civil Eats:




New Farmworker Report Paints a Big, Grim Picture

April 11th, 2011
By Twilight Greenaway


When it comes to improving conditions for farmworkers, a lack of good data is a huge obstacle. Anna Reynoso, the Mexico program director at the United Farm Workers UFW), says she’s never had a comprehensive source of answers to questions like what protections farmworkers have under the law, what type of challenges they face, or even how many of them are living in the US. “Finding this info has been a very piecemeal process as far as having to go to one agency or organization for one report at a time,” she says.

That’s why the newly released Inventory of Farmworker Issues and Protections in the United States is a big step forward for farmworker advocacy. The report, a joint effort by the Bon Appétit Management Company (BAMCO) Foundation and the UFW (with additional support from Oxfam America), compiles crucial data on the six states (California, Florida, Oregon, Washington, North Carolina, and Texas) with the largest farmworker populations.

The Letter of the Law

BAMCO vice president Maisie Greenawalt spearheads the company’s farmworker justice efforts, including a Code of Conduct agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (a farmworker organization fighting for more humane labor standards for Florida tomato pickers ) and an ongoing effort to survey workers on small farms that participate in BAMCO’s Farm to Fork Program. Greenawalt was motivated to create the new inventory after a series of meetings with Erik Nicholson, the national vice president at the UFW. In one such meeting, they were talking to a produce distributor about poor working conditions for farmworkers.

According to Greenawalt, the distributor dismissed the suggestion of illegal labor practices, saying, “‘These are big companies; they’ve got too much to lose. There’s just no way they wouldn’t be complying with the law.’” When he left, Greenawalt recalls, “Erik and I looked at each other and said, ‘He really doesn’t understand!’ The laws are so inadequate to begin with, and enforcement is so rare.” ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2011/04/11/new-farmworker-report-paints-a-big-grim-picture/

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