Agricultural Workers: Health and Rights

Key Documents and News Articles

Compiled by members of Strengthening Sanctuary Alliance

Documents:

Western States PACT 2021 Letter on Heat and Wildfire Smoke: includes regional and national signers, cited literature and appendices on Heat/Smoke Comparison Charts (on California, Oregon and Washington), and AQI (Air Quality Index) Basics for Ozone & Particle Pollution: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XhlmFUfhYQooLNHCNmT8p167_EU8cKPhtOSWpJnraMc/edit

Northwest Regional Regional Primary Care Association… primary strategist on the PACT letter to Governors.

https://www.nwrpca.org/news/583928/Western-States-Pact-for-Heat--Wildfire-Smoke.htm

WA Emergency Rule on Heat – July 9, 2021

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WADLI/bulletins/2e781d8

WA Emergency Rule on Wildfire Smoke – July 16, 2021

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WADLI/bulletins/2e8733a

Proclamation by Governor Inslee Protecting the Health of Agricultural Workers (May 28, 2020) https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/COVID19Proc20.57AgrWorkersHealth.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Governor Inslee’s Agricultural Covid-19 Requirements (May 28, 2020)

https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/COVID19AgriculturalSafetyPlan.pdf

Letter to Governor Inslee: Strengthening Sanctuary Alliance Asks for Protection for Agricultural Workers

WA. State Department of Health Reports:

COVID-19 Cases by Occupation (June 2020)

Shows disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on agricultural workers

COVID-19 Cases by Race, Ethnicity and Language (July 2020)

Shows disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on people of color, especially Latino/as and Hawaian and Pacific Islanders

COVID-19 Death Reports (July 2020)

Shows high rates of deaths in Yakima County

Confirmed Cases, Hospitalizations and Deaths

https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/Coronavirus

Statement on COVID-19 and Risks to Farmworkers

Signed by 12 Farmworker Advocacy Groups

Powerful summary of the many challenges farmworker communities face that make them vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

From National Center for Farmworker Health: COVID-19 in Rural America: Impact on Farms & Agricultural Workers

http://www.ncfh.org/msaws-and-covid-19.html

2017 Agricultural Workforce Report (from WA. State Dept. of Employment Security)

Published 2019

Reading Resources: Conditions Facing Farmworkers and their Families

David Bacon Photographs & Stories. Bacon is one of the most recognized chroniclers of the lives of farmworkers. His work spans decades.

http://dbacon.igc.org/

CA Institute for Rural Studies –

Research project on Farmworkers in the Covid era, tri-state study,

multi-faceted methodology.

https://cirsinc.org/covid-19-farmworker-study/

Kristin Dahl, et.al., “Killer Heat in the US: Climate Choices and the Future of Dangerously Hot Days” Union of Concerned Scientists, 7- 2/2019. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/killer-heat-united-states-0

Juley Fulcher, Boiling Point: OSHA Must Act Immediately to Protect Workers from Deadly Temperatures; Public Citizen, 6-28-22. https://www.citizen.org/article/boiling-point/

Seth Holmes, Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the US (UC Press, 2013)

LL Jackson, “Preventing health-related illness among agricultural workers,” Journal of Agromedicine, July 2010

Union of Concerned Scientists – “Too Hot to Work” Assessing the Threats Climate Change Poses to Outdoor Workers. (info by state, county, congressional district; GIS maps; video; medical & economic impacts) https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/too-hot-to-work https://www.ucsusa.org/about/people/rachel-licker (articles by UCS climate scientist Dr. Rachel Licker)

Bill McKibben article on heat, focusing on kidney disorders… FWs enduring kidney disease and kidney stones in disproportionate numbers. https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/a-hotter-planet-takes-another-toll-on-human-health?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_011923&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_term=tny_daily_digest&bxid=5be9c9ea24c17c6adf392ace&cndid=53201906&hasha=84bef765678a9f3fe8f1462b81e8dafc&hashb=5dd01f35c273721093b849578ce57fb063fe857e&hashc=cd7d586dfd286c8a6bd66a80451352c9f9685363845de73ef9929b3fc83b2e2e&esrc=bounceX

Dvera Saxton, The Devil’s Fruit: Farmworkers, Health & Environmental Justice. (Rutgers University Press, 2021)

Dr. June Spector, UW Department of Occupational/Environmental Health Sciences, talk entitled “Heat-related Illness and Injuries, Climate & Practical Solutions for Agriculture”,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4eubRoLHsA

American Public Health Association –

“Health & Climate Resource Guide” key issues, advocates & approaches

https://www.apha.org/-/media/Files/PDF/topics/climate/Health_and_Climate_Resource_Guide.ashx

Environmental Health News – www.ehn.org – daily news on heat, workers

Farmworker Justice Guide for Clinicians on Heat Exposure

https://www.farmworkerjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021_Heat-Stress_Clinicians-Guide_Aug-2021.pdf

FWJ on the proposed national bill… Valdivia Heat Illness & Fatality Prevention Act:

https://www.farmworkerjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Heat-Stress-Bill-Fact-Sheet.pdf

National Council on Occupational Safety & Health –

https://nationalcosh.org/climate-justice (general info & strategies)

https://www.coshnetwork.org/fatality-database (gathering info on workers who’ve died of heat exposure)

Public Citizen – Health & Safety Advocacy Project is a prime mover of federal actions to protect workers from heat exposure; PC is working with unions, worker centers and health organizations around the country to build momentum around heat/smoke/climate impacts. https://www.citizen.org/topic/climate-energy/protecting-health-the-environment/ https://www.citizen.org/news/public-citizen-renews-osha-petition-on-heat-stress-standard/

https://www.citizen.org/news/110-plus-worker-safety-and-health-groups-activists-unions-call-on-biden-administration-to-protect-workers-from-heat-related-illness-injuries-and-death/

WA Labor & Industries June 2022 – Increased protection from heat & smoke – https://lni.wa.gov/news-events/article/22-016

Western States Pact for Heat & Wildfire Smoke – https://www.nwrpca.org/news/583928/Western-States-Pact-for-Heat--Wildfire-Smoke.htm

PCUN (OR farmworkers) “Pledge for Heat/Smoke Rules”

https://secure.everyaction.com/b3yY6XCA6kaV-ggtb3nn7g2

www.frontandcentered.org “Communities of color, low-income and indigenous people on the frontlines of climate and environmental change”

(Washington community-based network working toward a “just transition”)

Some general information, some specific to Yakima:

Pre-existing Conditions, No Sick Leave and Health Insurance Put Farmworkers at Increased Coronavirus Risk (The Counter, March 18, 2020)

https://thecounter.org/farmworkers-uninsured-covid-19-coronavirus/

Vulnerability of farmworker communities in in Florida, New York State, Washington State, and Arizona.

David Bacon, Are Washington’s Farmworkers COVID-19 Guinea Pigs?