California farmworkers need protection during coronavirus crisis; here’s a relief package to help
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2020/04/california-farmworkers-need-protection.html
By California Assemblymember Robert Rivas, Special to
CalMatters |
In the
midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the White House is reportedly working behind
the scenes to reduce wages for farmworkers. According to a recent National
Public Radio report, the
Trump administration claims that cutting wages for farmworkers will help
agricultural businesses struggling during the current crisis.
This is
exactly the wrong approach. Now is the time to expand protections for
vulnerable farmworkers, not dial them back.
The COVID-19 pandemic has
placed stress on our entire food supply system. Before last month, few of us
would have thought of our local grocery store cashiers as frontline workers,
essential to our survival. But they are. So are the gig workers delivering
Instacart orders and the truck drivers keeping food moving on our empty
highways.
At the
far end of this supply chain, often unseen but no less important, are the farmworkers. They
are our food system’s first responders. When there’s a shortage, our
farmworkers step up their labor to meet the demand. I know this first-hand. My
grandfather was a farmworker, and I saw how hard he and his friends worked
every day.
Gov.
Gavin Newsom has rightly designated farmworkers as essential workers during
this crisis. California supplies more than one-third of the nation’s vegetables
and nearly two-thirds of its fruit and nuts. The entire nation is counting on
our farmworkers to help keep them fed, as supply chain disruptions and
panic-buying leave some grocery store shelves empty.
We need our
farmworkers to show up for work even as most of us shelter in place at home.
Unfortunately, living and working
conditions for farmworkers leave them highly vulnerable to communicable
diseases like COVID-19.
Many
farmworkers live in substandard, crowded housing. Such housing conditions make
it nearly impossible to practice social distancing or isolate someone if they
get sick. Farmworkers often commute to the fields in vans or converted school
buses packed with other workers.
Harvesting
crops also can bring workers into frequent contact with others as they harvest
the same row or handle machinery. Hand-washing stations are scarce, as is
bilingual guidance on personal protection measures.
Even if
workers take every precaution to protect themselves, they are still uniquely
vulnerable. Roughly half of all farmworkers are undocumented and don’t qualify
for most medical services under Medi-Cal. Chronic health issues are common,
since access to health care is limited and the work itself can be hard on the
body.
While
California has a paid sick leave law that covers farmworkers, the allotted
number of sick days required is three. Public health experts say it can take at
least two weeks to recover from COVID-19. Many farmworkers, unable to cover
lost wages and fearful of losing work, will keep working through an
illness.
Together
with Assemblymember
Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, I recently introduced the first COVID-19 relief
package in the nation focused on farmworkers. The “California Farmworker
COVID-19 Relief Package” includes expanded
paid sick leave, supplemental hazard pay to cover increased health and
childcare costs, a bilingual outreach campaign to educate workers on personal
protection practices, expanded telehealth for rural areas, temporary housing to
reduce crowding and allow for social distancing, and a tax credit for farmers
who offer overtime work to their workers. This package of legislation needs
urgent consideration.
One of
the touchstones of my legislative philosophy is that adage from the Bible,
“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye
have done it unto me.”
The Trump
effort to single out vulnerable farmworkers for less pay during the current
health crisis is a call to action. I hope my colleagues in the California
Legislature will join me in answering that call and protect this critical
workforce. Our food supply depends on it.
_____
Assemblymember Robert Rivas is
a Democrat from Hollister, who represents an estimated 100,000 farmworkers in
the 30th Assembly District, Assemblymember.RRivas@assembly.ca.gov. Rivas wrote
this commentary for CalMatters, a public interest journalism venture committed
to explaining how California's Capitol works and why it matters.
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