Farmworker Advocacy Network

Working for a Harvest of Dignity

Lucy Thames

‘We’re not disposable’: Agricultural workers demand COVID-19 protections from state

· Raleigh News & Observer

RALEIGH

Statewide and local organizations gathered in downtown Raleigh Thursday night to repeat calls to state officials to mandate rigorous protections for workers in the meat processing and produce agriculture industries in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The North Carolina Farmworker Advocacy Network, a coalition of groups calling for Gov. Roy Cooper’s office and the North Carolina Department of Labor to protect workers, also held a vigil for the largely Latino immigrant essential workers who died due to COVID-19 contracted while on the job.

The coronavirus spread rapidly throughout the spring and summer in various meatpacking plants and the housing facilities of seasonal immigrant farmworkers, both places where workers are in close quarters and where COVID-19 safety recommendations were in place, but not mandatory laws.

Large skeleton figurines and a giant puppet representing the sun loomed over the crowd at the event at Bicentennial Plaza, which featured a Day of the Dead-style altar with candles and images of laborers who died from COVID-19 related causes.

“Since March, essential workers, especially farmworkers and processing [plant] workers, have risked their lives at work,” said Lariza Garzón, executive director of the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry in Harnett County. “North Carolina’s food system and the profitability of farms and meat processing plants have been maintained at the expense of these workers’ health and safety.” 

Cooper told the labor advocacy groups of NCFAN in the summer that he would issue an executive order for sweeping protections for farm and plant laborers, but he backed down from issuing the order after pushback from state labor and agriculture officials, The News & Observer previously reported.

COVID-19’S TOLL ON WORKERS

Since April, the state Department of Health and Human Services reports, at least 19 deaths were related to virus clusters at meatpacking plants. It attributes 3,859 cases to them in a new weekly report on clusters.

Another DHHS report attributes 3,799 cases and 17 deaths to the category of congregate living facilities, which includes immigrant farmworker housing. The exact number of affected farmworkers is unknown.

Johnston County farmworkers recently featured in a series of stories on climate change by McClatchy had a virus outbreak at their housing, workers and advocacy groups told The N&O.

Several farm and poultry plant workers spoke at the event in Spanish through a translator, denouncing a lack of protections at their jobs, such as paid time off, sick leave, or enough access to personal protective equipment. They also spoke about being required to show up to work while feeling sick and not being allowed paid time off to recover from the virus.

Out of economic need, many immigrant workers continued to work as coronavirus outbreaks struck workplaces, such as in meatpacking plants — where state health officials have refused to disclose virus data by facility, as was done for nursing home facilities.

“Us farmworkers, we are not disposable workers, we are people that deserve respect and we deserve a dignified life,” said Alicia Soriano, a tobacco farmworker, in Spanish. “We provide food to your tables and we ask the governor to take action for all of us.”

A poultry plant worker from a Burke County facility in Morganton said that she wasn’t allowed time off from work when she felt sick until she tested positive for COVID-19. 

“It makes me angry because we’re the ones who get sick, and the [companies] don’t,” said Evelin, who declined to give her last name out of fear of losing employment.

“We ask [state labor officials] to put regulations into place not only in the poultry plants but for all the workers who are out there,” she said.

PETITION TO THE STATE LABOR DEPARTMENT

The event comes a week before the state Department of Labor has to legally respond to a petition from advocacy groups that are part of the NCFAN coalition.

The Petition for Rule Making that was filed in October is a formal document that lays out demands for sweeping mandatory coronavirus protections for agricultural workers. State labor officials are given a month to respond under state law, Clermont Ripley, an N.C. Justice Center attorney, told The N&O.

The petition notes that the Department of Labor closed nearly 1,000 workplace health and safety complaints related to COVID-19 and only responded to six cases with investigations since September, according to COVID-19 data published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Labor officials can choose to respond to the petition or reject it and advocacy groups may choose to either take the case to court or wait to petition the incoming labor commissioner after the official 2020 election results are in.

Farmworkers, Poultry Processing Workers, and Community Members Remember Lives Lost from COVID-19 and Call on NC Dept. of Labor to Take Action

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Raleigh, NC- Thursday, November 05, 2020– Workers and members of the Farmworker Advocacy Network (FAN) will gather at Bicentennial Plaza in Raleigh, NC to commemorate the lives of farmworkers and poultry and meat processing workers who have died from COVID-19. An altar will be assembled and community members will be invited to lay down an item to honor those who have perished. There will also be large Day of the Dead puppets.

The event will also feature farmworkers and poultry workers speaking about their experiences on the job and about the health and safety risks they have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers will call on the North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL) to accept a recent rule-making petition that would protect workers during the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis. The rule-making petition calls on NCDOL to put an end to dangerous conditions, saying that the current voluntary guidance for workplaces is insufficient in protecting workers who are on the frontlines of the pandemic.

This event and the submission of the rule-making petition to NCDOL comes at a crucial time for farmworkers and meat and poultry processing workers. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 71,000 farm, food-processing, and meatpacking workers have fallen ill with COVID-19 – more than 5,000 in North Carolina alone. Due to lack of transparency regarding the number of cases the exact number is unknown. NCDOL has received roughly 1,000 complaints from workers who report their employers are not taking adequate precautions to protect them from COVID-19. In all but a handful of instances, NCDOL has closed these cases and done nothing more than send the employer a letter outlining best practices and offering guidance. Experts now warn that COVID-19 cases in meatpacking plants may rise again this winter. Farmworkers will continue to work in Western North Carolina until the end of this year, more will arrive in the Spring of 2021. Seasonal workers live in North Carolina year-round with their families. Now is a critical time to protect workers and public health.

“Lack of action from the government has resulted in thousands of Latinx workers testing positive for the virus. Many have died. Employers could provide basic protections for their workers, but many choose not to do so. Our lives are not disposable. There should be consequences for those who ignore our safety and the wellbeing of our families. We call on NCDOL to take action,” said “Alicia Soriano”,  a farmworker and community leader with the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry. 

“Too many workers in North Carolina’s food system have died from COVID-19. These deaths could have been prevented if the NCDOL would have done more to hold companies accountable for their lack of  protection of workers against exposure to COVID-19. The NCDOL has an opportunity to adapt an emergency rule that will ensure workers receive the protections they deserve,” said Bacilio Castro, an organizer with the Western NC Workers’ Center. 

What: Call to action and remembrance of farmworkers and meatpacking workers

When: 5:30 – 6:30pm on Thursday, Nov. 5th, 2020

Where: Bicentennial Plaza, Raleigh, NCSpeakers: Representatives from Western NC Worker’s Center, Eposical Farmworker Ministry, and workers from the farm and poultry worker community, The Rev. Daniel Dario Robayo Hidalgo, Missioner for Latino/Hispanic Ministries at the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, and a health outreach worker.

124 Groups Urge North Carolina Government Officials to Issue Immediate COVID-19 Protections for Essential Food Workers

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RALEIGH, N.C. — More than 120 labor, farm, environmental, faith and civil rights groups representing millions of people in North Carolina and across the country sent a letter (here in Spanish) today to Governor Roy Cooper, Secretary Cohen, Commissioner Berry, and Commissioner Troxler calling for immediate, comprehensive COVID-19 protections for essential workers in the food supply chain.

More than 3,000 North Carolina workers in meatpacking plants alone have contracted COVID-19, and hundreds of complaints to state health officials have gone unanswered. Despite initially promising a group of Latinx worker advocates that he would issue an executive order protecting workers, Governor Cooper has failed to take action to address this dire situation.

“Workers in North Carolina’s food supply chain face health risks every day this crisis continues, but they show up to do their jobs anyway,” said Edna Rodriguez, Executive Director of the Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA, one of the organizations delivering the letter. “Workers are essential members of our community. They are our family, friends, and neighbors. Governor Cooper needs to do his job and keep his promise to issue an executive order to protect these workers.”

The open letter calls on the state to adopt an emergency standard to protect workers by enforcing requirements for fundamental safety measures such as physical distancing, improved ventilation, personal protective equipment, COVID-19 screening and transparent reporting about cases of COVID-19.

“Because of the fear, we all got sick and we didn’t know what to do. We were scared to speak up because if it was the virus, they would send us back to Mexico,” says a fieldworker from eastern NC who has requested to remain anonymous out of fear for retaliation. “And the truth is that many of us had symptoms, but we didn’t do anything. They didn’t give us masks or any protection on the job … they never tested us. We felt forgotten.”

“Learning about other workers falling ill or even dying around them but not receiving information, care, or benefits can be deadly for workers. The financial pressures they face arriving in the US in debt and the constant fear of retaliation by their employer for causing upheaval may result in their silence despite being sick,” said Lariza Garzon, Executive Director of the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, “To merely offer guidance during this crisis, as opposed to issuing actual, enforceable base-level requirements, is to ignore the inherent imbalance of power endemic to industries with workers most at risk. We need action now.”

“In times of crisis, we need leaders and leadership requires a moral compass, which means that we actually have to care for our fellow human beings,” said Rev. Fred Clarkson, the Spanish Language Ministry Coordinator of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina. “Secondly, we also need clarity — there is no dichotomy between the economy and people’s lives. Dead people don’t support economies, living people do. Also, there isn’t a segmentation. If certain people get sick, eventually we will all get sick.”

A family member of North Carolina poultry processing workers says, “My mother was infected at this plant because it didn’t have the necessary precautions. There was no protection, they didn’t require masks, and everyone worked shoulder-to-shoulder … then, when my mother returned to work, everything was the same. They said that they had implemented security measures, and sure, they were checking people’s temperatures when they entered, but everything inside was the same. Everyone was working shoulder- to-shoulder.”

Anna Jensen, Coordinator of the Farmworker Advocacy Network, states, “Since the beginning of this deadly pandemic, North Carolina has prioritized corporate profits and industry relationships over the health of our food workers, their families, and our communities. This must end today. We’re calling on state leaders to take immediate action to protect workers who put their lives on the line while sustaining North Carolina’s largest industries and our food supply.”

After pushback from officials, Cooper halts executive order to protect agricultural workers

· Raleigh News & Observer

Weeks after a public commitment to issue a new executive order with sweeping labor protections for vulnerable agricultural workers in the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said they couldn’t follow through, citing pushback from state officials.

The decision was communicated to the N.C. Farmworker Advocacy Network, a coalition of organizations, which has demanded worker safety measures since the start of the pandemic and had been in conversation with state health officials and the governor’s office. It was first reported by Spanish language outlets Enlace Latino NC and Qué Pasa.

“We are told the governor has rescinded his commitment, largely based on pushback from the Department or Labor and (the Department of) Agriculture, which has claimed it is not interested in enforcing these kinds of safety regulations,” said a news release from the coalition. “…The Department of Health and Human Services (said) that such an order would impede progress made between the agencies and companies to ensure cooperation.”

NCFAN denounced these reasons as not being “true or valid,” while Cooper’s office told The News & Observer in an email that disagreement with stakeholders kept the governor from issuing the order.

“Protecting agriculture and meat processing workers is a high priority,” said Dory MacMillan, a spokesperson. “While the governor and public health officials have had success on increasing some safety protocols and outbreak reporting, there remains significant disagreement among growers, state labor officials and workers about overall solutions.”

“These entities must cooperate to protect our workers and their families,” MacMillan said. “The governor and his administration are pushing growers and companies to protect workers and they are still working on the most effective solutions make sure that happens.”

As the coronavirus pandemic dealt a blow to the largely Latino immigrant agricultural workforce in North Carolina’s fields and meat processing plants, organizations sounded alarms for months and urged the state to respond, culminating in a virtual August town hall where the executive order was discussed.

Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein promised cooperation on these concerns and others ahead of November elections. Hundreds of people from Latino and immigrant labor rights organizations attended the town hall.

Harvest of Shame: Farmworkers Face Coronavirus Disaster

· Politico

“We saw this coming and we were speaking out about it. We did a press conference in April about how this was going to affect farmworkers and meat processing workers,” said Joanna Welborn, communication arts director for Student Action with Farmworkers. “We have always known that the conditions they live and work in are just ripe for potential abuse.”

According to Welborn, members of the Farmworker Advocacy Network have been meeting with Cooper’s staff members biweekly and the governor promised to issue an executive order giving farmworkers access to health care and protections against retaliation. But after three weeks of planning, the governor changed his mind and no order will be issued.

The protections are needed because one of the biggest obstacles to getting farmworkers in North Carolina screened is their concern about their undocumented status, said Benjamin William, a staff attorney for NC Legal Aid who works with H-2A workers.