FARM WORKER FACTS
- Most of the fruits and vegetables in the U.S. are hand picked. Without farm workers, our multi-billion dollar agricultural industry would not survive.
- The detention and deportation of immigrants is a multi-billion dollar industry. Many private prison corporations and state and county governments profit from detention.
- Farm workers have the lowest annual family incomes of any U.S. wage and salary workers. They are excluded from most minimum wage and hour guarantees and do not have the right to overtime pay.
- Farm workers are exposed to toxic pesticides, which have been linked to health problems including reproductive problems, birth defects, and various conditions such as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.
- There have been multiple legally recognized cases of modern day slavery in the fields in the United States. Farm workers living in indentured servitude are held as slaves through threats, violence, coercion, and manipulation. “And this,” as a representative for the Coalition for Immokalee Workers states, “is not ‘slavery-like,’ or ‘exploitation’– it’s actual slavery, as defined by federal law.”
- Farm workers often live in substandard housing with unsanitary conditions. In many cases, the property owner has a monopoly on the housing, which allows him or her to charge high rent prices for these poor living conditions.
- Children as young as 12 can be hired for farm work according to federal law. Farm workers as young as 16 perform dangerous tasks that are legally prohibited in other industries.
- Children from migrant worker families have the lowest high school graduation rate in the country, around 10%. Many must work to help their parents make ends meet, and they change schools every time their family travels for seasonal work.
- While farm workers in general endure poor living conditions and lack access to health care, farm worker women often bear the biggest burden. Exposure to toxic chemicals through pesticides can lead to infertility, miscarriage, low birth weight, and birth defects. Domestic violence and sexual harassment are widely acknowledged by farm worker women as serious issues they face.
- Farm workers are excluded from many state protections as well as the National Labor Relations Act (which protects workers who join unions) and most of the Fair Labor Standards Act (which provides workers with minimum wage, overtime pay, and safety protections). Most farm workers also lack basic labor protections such as workers’ compensation, health insurance and disability insurance.
Mission