FARMWORKERS Basic Introduction

INTRODUCTION

•  Dan Choi •  Attorney with Friends of Farmworkers •  Tel: (215) 733-0878 ext 180 •  Email: dchoi@friendsfw.org •  Address: 699 Ranstead St, 4th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106

Friends of Farmworkers

•  Non-LSC statewide legal aid organization that assists low-wage immigrant workers in Pennsylvania (founded in 1975) •  While our roots are with Farmworkers, we assist all types of low

wage immigrant workers in PA (restaurant workers, construction workers, etc.) •  Offices in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh •  Issue areas: Employment (wage-and-hour, discrimination, OSHA,

etc.), Immigration for Special Victims (U visa, T visa), Consumer (actions against unscrupulous notarios and immigration attorneys)

Pennsylvania Farms – Where Are They?

•  Short Answer: They’re everywhere •  Small Family farms to large corporate farms

•  In PA, there are approximately 58,000 farms covering 7.7 million acres of land (avg: 131 acres per operation)

•  Production of crops, fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, Christmas trees, etc.

•  Top sales: grains, poultry, milk ($1.21, 1.36, and 1.96 billion in 2012)

•  By $ values/sales amongst non dairy/meat: hay, mushroom, corn, soy were top in 2016

Pennsylvania Farms – Who Operates Them?

•  PA Farm operators are mostly: •  Older: 56.1 average age •  Non-Hispanic: 99% •  White: 99% •  Male: 87% •  ~ ½ of them who have other primary work: 49% •  Data based on 2012 numbers

SMALL FARMS ARE STRUGGLING TREND TOWARDS LARGER FARMS Nationally, while 90% of farms are still small (<$350k gross annual sales) and family owned, they account for a smaller % of production (24%) <according to 2015 numbers> - The trend is reduction of number of family farms, and increased production by fewer larger farms.

Farmworkers – Who are they (Immigration Status)?

•  U.S. residents - Work Authorized •  U.S. Citizens •  Legal Permanent Residents/Green Cards •  Other

•  U.S. residents - Work Unauthorized •  Undocumented

•  Non-U.S. residents - Guestworker •  H2A

Farmworkers – U.S. Residents

•  2014 report based on NAWS 2011-2012 data (no H-2A)(crop agriculture)

•  2.5 million farmworkers •  Immigration Status: 48% undocumented (possibly upto 70%), 33%

US citizens, 18% LPRs, 1% other work authorization •  Birth: 71% immigrants (95% from Mexico, 3% CA, 2% other) •  Sex/gender: 72% men, 28% women •  Age: 55 and over (12%), 45-54 (17%), 35-44 (25%), 25-34 (29%),

14-24 (18%)

Farmworkers – U.S. Residents cont’d

•  Experience: >15 year (35%), 11-15 years (20%), <10years (49%) <<2-5 year (13%), <1year (13%)>> •  Seasonality: 84% work more than 60 days per year, 77% work more

than 90 days per year, 60% work for more than 180 days per year •  Migrants: 2011-2012 17% were migrant workers (down from 27%

20007-2009, 42% 2001-2002) <travel at least 75 miles in one year> •  Labor Contractors: 1/3 employed by labor contractors •  Entered USA: >15 years ago (27%), >10years ago (59%), <10 years

(41%), <5 years ago (13%)

Farmworkers – U.S. Residents cont’d

•  58% married, with 64% of spouses employed (29% farm work, 34% non-farmwork). -- Fifty-four percent of undocumented farmworkers are married. Eighty-two percent of spouses of undocumented farmworkers live in the U.S. while 18% live abroad. Roughly 65% of undocumented farmworkers are parents. Forty-nine percent of undocumented farmworkers live in a household with children under 18. Some parents have children who reside outside the household, including outside the country. •  Annual Income: $15-17.5k individual, $17.5-$19.9k household (25%

below federal poverty guidelines)

Farmworkers – H2A

•  An H2A visa is a temporary work visa for foreign agricultural workers with a job offer for seasonal agricultural work in the US. The H2A visa program is open to nationals of countries that the United States Secretary of Homeland Security has designated as eligible to participate and is revised annually.

•  Guestworkers – They receive visas to temporarily work in the USA (10 months or less); their visas are tied to the employer and the work period

•  H2A is for agricultural guest workers •  Both employers and workers apply to participate •  No Cap

•  Exact number not known •  74,859 estimated in 2013 •  FY 2011 – 90,328 approved by DOL, 51,927 visas granted by State, 174,898 admissions recorded by CBP

•  Housing, visa, travel fees picked up by employer

Farmworkers – H2A

Why don’t Americans want to do the job?

•  Short answer: They do and they don’t. •  90% of farms are small, and operated by family members •  What’s American?: 29% of native born, and between 30-52% of non-

H2A farmworkers are documented •  That said, vast majority of farm workers (not operators) are

Mexican and Mexican-Americans.

Why Mexican and Mexican Americans?

•  Immigrants… they get the job done?

•  Cut-throat business atmosphere: Corporatization, globalization, and laws (end of certain subsidies) leads to demand for cheap labor

•  Cheap labor = Long hours, hard-work, low-pay, few legal protections. •  Culture and History: Bracero program, history of immigration, rural

atmosphere, etc.

•  My view: People with fewer options take these jobs (undocumented, foreign nations) and there already is an established network of these workers from Mexico.

Farmwork Conditions – Occupational Safety and Health

•  Very dangerous job •  Long hours •  Repetitive physical motions (physical

exhaustion) •  Work with dangerous equipment, machines

and/or animals •  Open field (heat strokes common) •  Pesticides (cancer, birth defects, etc.) •  Transportation between camps (many

accidents)

Farmwork - Benefits

•  Ususally… •  No retirement •  No vacation days •  No sick days •  Sometimes, not even worker’s comp…

Farmwork Pay

•  Often paid hourly or by piece-work (amount of work you do) •  Farms don’t have to pay overtime •  Small farms don’t even need to pay minimum wage

Housing

•  Employers generally do provide and/or assist with housing •  For H2A workers, sanitary housing must

be registered and provided. That said, this is not always the case •  Free or clean housing is not guaranteed

for undocumented workers

Discrimination and Harassment

•  White owners, majority male Mexican workers •  Based on race/nationality/color/sex: •  Hostile work environment, harassment, discrimination,

disparate pay, sexual violence

•  Especially hard for women… •  “In 2010 the

Southern Poverty Law Center interviewed 150 immigrant women who were undocumented or spent time as undocumented workers in agriculture and food-processing jobs; all of them said harassment was a problem, and the majority had experienced it. Like Perez, these workers often don’t know their rights and work in isolation.”

Child Labor

•  Legally allowed to work if age 12 (age 18 during school periods) •  70% of child labor occurs in farms •  Some estimate there are 500,000 child farm laborers.

•  Why? •  Extra income for family •  Children sometimes taken out of schools, because seasonal work may

begin sooner •  Lack of day care… because it’s expensive, and children help out

•  Undocumented parents of US citizen children use their SS to get jobs.

Right to Organize

•  Not a legal right… exempt from NLRA •  However, it can be and it’s been done •  UFW, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, etc.

Patron/Crewleader system

•  Patron or crew-leader can be a labor contractor or a supervisor •  They often take role of negotiating farmworkers’ work/housing/

transportation and/or supervise their work •  Can and has used position to

•  Steal money (taking part of earned pay) •  threaten and assault •  Retaliate (blacklist workers)

H2A Worker Challenges

•  Though employer should pay, many invested money to come to USA •  Not familiar geographically and dependent on employer •  Isolated in Rural Areas •  Can’t (easily legally) change employer •  Visa dependent on work •  Doesn’t know legal rights •  Employer may illegally coerce workers to stay in employment •  Fear of other types of retaliation

•  Just FYI - Thai H2As… why?

Undocumented Worker Challenges

•  Often desperate for paid work and accepts poorer working conditions (even more than H2A) •  Not always familiar with geographic area and dependent on crew

leader •  Isolated in rural areas •  Fear of losing employment •  Doesn’t kow legal rights •  Employer may threaten to call police or immigration •  Fears of other types of retaliation

Immigration Relief – U Visa

•  Victims of qualifying crime (violence, fraud) in the USA •  3 year U visa à Green Card à US citizenship

•  Can also include family member derivatives

•  Suffered substantial physical or mental abuse •  Requires cooperation with police (LEA certification required) •  Very long backlog (Over 2 year per decision, 10,000 per year, backlog 100,000)

Immigration Relief – T visa

•  Victims of sexual or labor trafficking in the USA •  3 year T visa à Green card à US citizenship

•  Can also include family member derivatives

•  Required reporting to LEA •  Threats, coercion to prevent worker from leaving employment •  In the USA on the account of trafficking •  Extreme hardship if removed from the USA •  5,000 per year

Other Immigration Reliefs

•  Don’t forget… •  Asylum/Withholding/CAT, COR, family, employment, other

What YOU can do

•  Donate money and/or time to immigrant, immigrant worker and farmworker rights organizations

What can YOU do

•  Educate yourself and other community members – As mentioned, one of the greatest problems is that farmworkers do not know or don’t understand their rights

•  Outreach and assist: issue-and-people spot – Unscrupulous farms are everywhere, and so are their victims. Please keep an eye out for suspicious activity. (e.g., in one of our cases, a chain retailer store worker was key in acting as a connection to the outside world)

•  Refer with “Confianza”: Victims are placed in positions where they must be suspicious and not-trusting of others. You can be the bridge to connect them to the right service providers and legal organizations.

Disclaimer 29

The Pennsylvania Immigration & Citizenship Coalition is a diverse coalition of over 50 member organizations across the state. PICC is committed to educating and engaging allies to be more effective advocates for pro-immigrant legislation. Our biweekly #StoptheHate Conference calls are the main platform for allies to learn how they can take action to advance immigrant rights. All presentations produced by PICC and its partners are intended for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice.

The end

•  Dan Choi •  Attorney with Friends of Farmworkers •  Tel: (215) 733-0878 ext 180 •  Email: dchoi@friendsfw.org •  Address: 699 Ranstead St, 4th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106