farmworkers

Who'd have thought? United Farmworkers (UFW) and the California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF) are on the same side of the table when it comes to farm labor and immigration reform. Since 2007 the Farm Bureau has been supporting and promoting AgJobs — a compromise bill negotiated by farmworker leaders and farmers.

This month CFBF took their message to Washington, D.C. to argue against introduction of E-Verify, a mandatory electronic verification program to determine an employee's eligibility for employment. E-Verify, the Bureau claims, would lead to the collapse of the agricultural industry. UFW agrees.

In California and throughout the country hard-working farmworker men and women face abuses on and off the field in part because they enjoy few legal protections.

On May 16, California legislators will be voting on a proposed law that tackles this issue: The Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act (SB 104). This legislation would strengthen farmworker voices and give them tools to protect the basic rights that most workers already enjoy — and should be wholeheartedly supported.

This week, in a fitting tribute to Cesar Chávez, the union that the farmworker leader co-founded in 1962 joined with a Palo Alto-based food service company to release a groundbreaking report describing the current status of the nation’s 1.4 million farmworkers, and calling for fundamental changes to improve farmworker welfare.