This year, Farmworker Awareness Week will take place from March 28 through April 3. Farmworker Awareness Week (FAW) is a nation-wide week of action for students, community members, and congregations to raise awareness about farm worker issues during the week of Cesar Chavez' birthday. The week honors his legacy as a leader of the farm worker movement.

NFWM and NFWM-YAYA are co-sponsors of the week. We are planning activities and actions around the country. We encourage you to plan an activity too. Let us know what you are doing for FAW 2010 by emailing or calling the national office.

CLICK HERE for Ideas for Action. CLICK HERE to go to the Farmworker Awareness Week website.

On January 30th and 31st, the NFWM Board and Staff held it’s winter meeting at the United Methodist Church Life Enrichment Center near Leesburg, Fl. One of the highlights of the weekend was to have thirteen YAYAs (NFWM’s Youth & Young Adult Network) join us on Saturday.

On Tuesday, December 15, 2009, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D.-Ill.) introduced a comprehensive immigration reform bill – Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP). CIR ASAP includes the AgJOBS farmworker immigration legislation, which would provide undocumented farmworkers an opportunity to earn legal status through continued work in agriculture. CIR ASAP has 91 cosponsors and is supported by the Congressional Hispanic , Black , Progressive , and Asian Pacific American Caucuses.

Take action now! Please call the White House and support Congressman Gutierrez' bill.

For the National Immigration Forum’s summary of the bill, click HERE

By John Munson, Director Oregon Farm Worker Ministry

Two workers active in an effort to form a union were fired over the weekend (August 15 - 16) by Ruby Ridge Dairy owners Dick and Ruby Bengen in Pasco, Washington. Four workers who had circulated pro-union pledge cards were fired in the last few weeks.

Workers report a climate of fear at the dairy, which employs some forty people. They also report that they received less than the wages to which they were entitled, that they were required to work long hours without rest or lunch breaks, were not allowed sick leave with or without pay, and that they were required to use machinery without proper instruction or protection. Bengen, who is vocal in his opposition to the union and who has stated that a union would "take the fun away from diary farming" alleges that the workers were fired for cause.

Several former workers from the dairy have filed a complaint against Ruby Ridge in the Superior Court of Franklin County, Washington.

On Tuesday, July 28th, about 200 farm worker supporters, including members of clergy from Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim faith traditions gathered at the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market to raise awareness about the 15 heat-related deaths in the fields of California since 2004. The vigil was held on the 5-year anniversary of the death of Asuncion Valdivia, the first of the fifteen to pass away who died while he was picking grapes for Guimarra Vineyards. Virginia Nesmith, NFWM director, welcomed the crowd to the vigil, sponsored by NFWM and the UFW. Arturo Rodriguez, UFW spoke as well as farm workers, clergy and several politicians.

Two days later, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) affiliates of Southern California and San Diego and Imperial Counties, and the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, filed a landmark lawsuit against the state and its Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Cal/OSHA) for failing to live up to their constitutional and statutory duties to protect the safety of farm workers. Click here for more information.

Most of the workers who hand harvest the crops in our multi-billion dollar agricultural industry are immigrants and the majority lack legal documentation—despite our dependence on them. On May 14th, the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act - AgJOBS was reintroduced in the Senate by Sen. Diane Feinstein (SB 1038) and in the House by Reps. Berman and Putnam (HR 2414). AgJOBS is a bi-partisan bill agreed to by both farm worker advocates and major agricultural employers to address the agricultural immigration crisis. It allows immigrant farm workers to earn the legal right to permanently stay in this country by continuing to work in agriculture and reforms the current H2A guestworker program, providing growers with a safe and stable workforce.

Contact your Congress Member to Support AgJOBS
Learn More
Read a News Report
 
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Low-income Latino immigrants in the South are routinely the targets of wage theft, racial profiling and other abuses driven by an anti-immigrant climate that harms all Latinos regardless of their immigration status, according to a report released today by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The report — Under Siege: Life for Low-Income Latinos in the South — documents the experiences of Latino immigrants who face increasing hostility as they fill low-wage jobs in Southern states that had few Latino residents until recent years.

For more & to access the report, click here.
 
 

This year, Farmworker Awareness Week took place from March 29 through April 4. Farmworker Awareness Week (FAW) is a nation-wide week of action for students and community members to raise awareness about farm worker issues on their campuses and in their communities during the week of Cesar Chavez' birthday. The week honors his legacy as a leader of the farm worker movement. NFWM and NFWM-YAYA co-sponsor the week, along with Student Action with Farm Workers, farm worker unions and community organizations.

 Arturo Rodriguez, UFW President, talks to students at University of So. California at Long Beach during the Cesar Chavez event, March 26, 2009.

For news of more events around the country: California - Oregon - North Carolina - YAYA
 
 
 

Thirteen students from the University of Florida - Gainesville spent their spring break in North Carolina learning about and supporting farm workers and interacted with young people in North Carolina who are active in the farm worker movement. The week of action and education was organized by NFWM’s YAYA Coordinator, Lariza Garzon, and NFWM’s North Carolina staffer, Alexandria Jones, and in collaboration with UF's Florida Alternative Breaks.