7 Chapter 7: Food Justice: Following the History of Latino Farm Workers and its Effects on the People
By Melissa Rosales-Alfaro
Abstract
Latino Farm Workers have been historically marginalized despite being a major factor in our societies. Food justice can be seen in different ways and yet the voices and history of farm workers have been swept under the rug. The focus is on the history of the Bracero Program, and the birth of the United Farm Workers community. Alongside the workers taking back their power to advocate for themselves; including the health risks they are under while doing their job. Another focus is how the United Farm Workers bled into Washington State and allowed the Latino community to build a stronger foundation within one another through organizations and their own local strikes. Farm workers have been and always will be a major part of our society and it is important to focus on the history and yet also allow this to open your eyes to the lives that people have been living and ensure that we as a society are doing enough to bring them justice.
Introduction
Food justice comes in many different forms, whether it is the access to clean food, the ability to create food pantries for the community, or the one we are highlighting in this chapter, which is the history behind the migrant latino farm workers’ rights and how this is one of the most momentous aspects of food justice. Farm workers for years have been undermined and have been pushed aside; instead of being treated as human beings they are being put under the beating sun, discrimination, and low wages with little to no support and low pay. Along with the probability of being under attack by any factors surrounding their visas/citizenship, more often than not, they aren’t being respected despite giving so much towards society with their work of food; food that is on tables and in stores. This chapter provides a focus to the history of oppression and the power that was taken back through organizations crossing state lines and through focusing on the unity of the people.
Bracero Program
The Braceros Program was a series of agreements between the years of 1942 to 1964 with the United States and Mexico to have Mexican men come into the US and promise to work for the same wages as a US citizen, they would have housing and they were promised to be protected from discrimination in their workplace (Britannica, 2021). These men would come into the United States being promised more luxuries than they would get in other places and in return would “perform seasonal agricultural work on U.S farm” (Chien, 2010), it was a deal that many men took to provide for their families. While it was agreed upon in the agreements that the men who were working there would be protected, many of the employers and people involved on the US wide wouldn’t respect what was stated and treat the workers like they weren’t human beings putting them under conditions that were completely unfair, like working in unbearable heat, no clean water, and no contracts to provide them an understanding of their jobs (Worker Voices, n.d.). Despite all of these promises of a safe working environment; the workers weren’t met with respect and instead met with worries that would follow them home.
The program ultimately led to a system of legalized slavery where Mexican laborers would work for the US but be denied the chance of any basic workers rights; they were faced with extensive hours and were constantly put at a health risk. While the Bracero Program opened the floor for migrants to come to the US to find work, it wasn’t the promised work lifestyle that was imagined.
United Farm Workers
After being disgruntled with the bracero program and all of the discrimination from others in the community, people who were being affected by the conditions and everything else that was intertwined with the program; there were all different kinds of people who began to strike. The Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) and National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) were two separate groups with similar goals of advocating for the workers who needed someone to help fight for their rights; these groups banded together to create the United Farm Workers (UFW) and began taking back their power through assembling and vocally advocating for themselves. UFW began because of the 1965 Delano Grape boycott demanding higher wages and better working conditions.
The United Farm Workers spread the word to the people that they shouldn’t buy the grapes that were in the stores due to the people who harvested them getting unjust wages. UFW and their efforts are what allowed for the workers to curate contracts for their workers to ensure that this time around they would be treated with respect and dignity, taking a step forward. While the boycott primarily happened in California, it was the actions that they took to spark a light onto being treated like a real human being (Library of Congress, n.d.). While the UFW also helped eliminate the agreements that were Bracero programs from being implemented again; it didn’t necessarily signify that all of the working conditions were going to be solved automatically. In many rural communities where agriculture is a major source of income for the families there “the workplace conditions [still compare] with those of the 60’s and 70’s” (Tavarez, 2024), with the relentless hours under the sun and insufficient health care options.
Personal statements from many workers state that they “were truly concerned for all farm workers” (Ceron, 2018) and that there were days where there wouldn’t be “food, water, or bathroom breaks” (Sherman, 2016) provided for them as a punishment; conditions in which no person should undergo. While conditions may have improved with the help of the UFW and for the workers finding their voices; there is always room for improvement and justice for those who are pouring their soul into this everyday of their work.
Nowadays the UFW is still working for bettering the conditions of workers all around; like the Farm and Food Workers Relief Program; where workers can receive a one time $600 payment relief to help with wages that were lost during the pandemic (UFW Foundation, n.d.). Their work will not stop until there is a way that all conditions are pristine among all workers.
Spreading Impact of UFW into Washington State
The impact of the unity of the boycotts spread throughout the state of California like an eruption; making its way up to Washington State to begin the strikes within the hops field. Two University of Washington students from Yakima Valley had been involved with the grape strikes and boycott and related it back to their communities struggles within the hops fields. The hops field are the flowers of the hop plant and are used for bittering and flavoring, they can be seen in beer, herbal medicine and a variety of other beverages (Wikipedia, 2019). In Yakima Valley in the fields, it is the same conditions as down in California, the working conditions aren’t up to standard including “seven-day work weeks without overtime pay” (Castañeda, n.d. a). There were long days but the pay wasn’t equal to the amount of hours they worked. The community came together and thus began the strikes in Yakima Valley in 1970; not only did they demand to raise wages and to treat the workers right, they also spread the grape boycott onto the campus of the University of Washington. The beginning of the movement in Washington led to other growth for the latino community; El Centro de La Raza, the Chicano Studies center at the University of Washington, and MEChA organizations creating the union not only for the farm workers but for the latino community as a whole (Castañeda, 2007b). While it may not have been as strong of a force like it was in California, the Hop Strikes sparked fires for the idea of migrant workers rights along all workforces.
Recently also in the Yakima Valley there were protests and boycotts against the Windmills Farms and its constant abrupt habits of multiple firings in short amount of times and for “suspending [workers] without pay or dissmals” (Sundeen, 2024) due to lack of interpretation and rights within the farms. Workers for the farm joined forces with UFW to be able to stand for their community and receive proper contracts including the option of interpreters and ensuring that the workers were being respected by their employers. The amount of power the UFW took back has allowed for workers all over to be able to stand up and use their voices.
Acts and Laws in History
The laws and acts that are in place for the rights of food workers didn’t just come from thin air; they came from the advocacy of the people or from the people in power that can be an attempt to control those working to survive. One of the more prominent forms of power that was seen in history was the Bracero Program, and yet after the program was stopped it led into the H2-A and H2-B visa programs. The H2-A law applies towards seasonal agricultural workers and the H2-B law applies towards non-agricultural workers like landscaping, construction, and meat or seafood processing (Bruno, 2023). These are distributed through the Department of Homeland Security and supposedly provides people with temporary admission to work and are said to provide protection to both the U.S. and the foreign workers. The workers go through an application process, including interviews and requires for the U.S. employer to apply for a labor certification as well. The H2-A visa program came to be after the dismantling of the Bracero Program; this was a loophole to continue to bring in workers into the U.S. and is often criticized leaving “foreign workers vulnerable to exploitation” (Chien, 2010). No one program is going to be 100% clean, it’s just a matter of if the people working are going to be genuinely protected and looked after.
Another Act that came to be is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), this allowed child labor laws protection, overtime pay, and a federal minimum wage (Perez, 2015) and while this was enacted in 1938 before the Braceros Program it still came to help the workers who are deserving of the benefits and security that others have in their jobs as well. A criticism with the FLSA is that it contains an outdated minimum wage; it is truly representative of the world and economy we live in today. We live in a forever changing world and the workers are deserving of wages that are steady to be able to survive. Another act put in place for the protection of migration and seasonal workers is the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act of 1983 which set employment standards requiring contracts, standards for housing if provided, and, farm labor contractor registration (Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) | U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.). There have been plenty of acts put into place to close the gap of justice for the workers; there have been steps forward and yet there is still a call to action to those who work so hard to provide not only for their families but our country; the people depend on those who harvest the food you eat.
Potential Impact on Personal Life
Not only did their working lifestyle cause an impact on their work life but transcended its way into each worker’s personal lives; the effect of their physical strain on the job could lead to health problems. Back problems, lung, and even skin cancer. Being under the sun for such long hours can lead to heat exhaustion; which can also induce heat rash, cramps, fatigue, and unsafe dehydration (Anderson, 2024). These health problems don’t just happen overnight; these are formed over years of being under the same neglectful conditions. Peoples health is being put at risk not only through extensive hours but also through the materials they are provided to have to work with; like pesticides. There has been an increase in the use of pesticides and in turn the workers are at “high risk of acute toxicity and long term chemical buildup” (Anderson, 2024). Not only does the weather and these health risks play a factor in their personal lives but also the reality of this world; a large chunk of the farm worker community are immigrants leading to the fear of deportation and the way they can react to the way they are being treated by their employers (Silva, 2018). These people have been put in distress and into life-altering conditions which can be seen through their health and through their livelihood. Someone who is doing so much for society should never feel under attack by the people they’re feeding and no job is worth putting your health at risk.
Conclusion
In taking into account all of the different aspects of the history of migrant food workers fighting for their justice, there is still so much to solve. Many field workers don’t have protective working rights against legal actions, they don’t have the right wage for all of the work they do, and the working conditions are still endangering their health. There is much room for growth and for justice; the concept of food justice cannot be fully told without being able to tell the stories of the farm workers who are under these working conditions and how the unity of UFW and the latino community comes together to combat the injustices that they are faced with. The people who are working in the fields are feeding those in every community; it doesn’t do them enough justice to not respect the hands who feed you.
References
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Rosales-Castañeda, O. (n.d.(a)). UFWOC Yakima Valley hop strikes: 1971. Retrieved from https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/farmwk_ch7.htm
Rosales-Castañeda, O. (2007(b)). Chicano movement in Washington: Political activism in the Puget Sound and Yakima Valley regions, 1960s-1980s. Retrieved from https://www.historylink.org/file/7922
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Sundeen, J. (2024). Mushroom farm workers share stories during forum in Sunnyside; UFW reports changes at Windmill Farms. Yakima Herald-Republic. https://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/lower_valley/mushroom-farmworkers-share-stories-during-forum-in-sunnyside-ufw-reports-changes-at-windmill-farms/article_4a2e063a-4ec1-11ef-871a-bbe84bdb907d.html
Tavarez, Jesus E.. “Modern Agricultural Servitude: The Modern Farm Worker Experience in the Salinas Valley.” (2024). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ccs_etds/8
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