Part 6 in the series “Immigration Reform: Know the Players”, from MaribelHastings.com.
How often do you think about the working conditions of the people who pick the fruit and vegetables you eat? And how many acres of farmland have gone unharvested for lack of workers, thanks to fear of increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement?
This year, proposing the AgJOBS bill, which would legalize undocumented farmworkers, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) recalled that between 2007 and 2008, a total of 1.56 million acres of farmland in the United States fell out of use. American farmers transferred 84,155 acres of production—and, with them, 22,285 jobs—to Mexico in order to stay in business.
The workers who have stayed here—documented and undocumented alike—suffer under conditions that serve as daily reminders of why the fight started by César Chávez, Dolores Huerta and so many others continues.
Bruce Goldstein, executive director of the Farmworkers Justice Fund, wrote that in 2010 the United States will export $5.7 million in fresh fruits and vegetables, compared with $5.4 million in exports in 2009, and $4.471 million in 2008. “Needless to say, farmworkers’ wages and benefits during the period 2007-2010 will not have come close to rising 27.5% in value,” said Goldstein.
AgJOBS formed part of the failed 2007 immigration reform bill and will be integrated into whatever plan is ultimately proposed in 2010, although there have been attempts to pass it as an independent piece of legislation.
From 2007 to today, Goldstein told America’s Voice, “farmers have felt the effects of intensified immigration enforcement policies in agriculture, and that’s resulted in growing interest in legalization.”
Arturo Rodriguez, president of United Farm Workers (UFW), told America’s Voice that every day that passes without legalization affects not only workers but the entire agricultural industry, and by extension, the consumer.
“70% of farmworkers are undocumented. The surge in enforcement has created fear, and this fear has ensured there aren’t enough people for the harvest,” he pointed out.
In the words of Senator Feinstein: “The central issue here is not immigration. It’s about protecting and preserving the American economy.”
To that, I would add the guarantee that such difficult and necessary labor receives the just and humane treatment it deserves…
To read the full post, visit MaribelHastings.com
Categories: California, labor
Tags: farmworker justice, pathway to citizenship, united farm workers
