All leaders must frame their COVID-19 responses within existing obligations under international law. Whilst states may temporarily close their borders to limit transmission, any such measures should be non-discriminatory, necessary, proportionate and reasonable in all circumstances. It is … [Read more...]
Yakima County farmworkers called ‘sacrificial lambs’ of pandemic
Yakima County has the highest per capita rate of COVID-19 infections on the entire West Coast, a distinction the community leaders blame on a slow response from the governor and state and local officials to demands for stronger health and safety protections for agricultural workers. The Central … [Read more...]
In Yakima County, as cases soar, community spread increasingly drives the coronavirus pandemic
Still, the novel coronavirus has continued to rage through the ranks of Yakima’s agricultural workers and the broader county population in a pandemic that health district officials believe to be increasingly driven by what happens outside of the workplace, where masks are often not worn in stores … [Read more...]
YAKIMA’S HOLDOUT
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports: Workers at the Columbia Reach plant in Yakima have had to tap into their inner strength as their strike approaches the four-week mark. Columbia Reach is the last fruit-packing plant with workers on strike. While workers at other plants have been able to reach … [Read more...]
Opening all Hearts: A Vigil for immigrants in a time of pandemic – June 10th
Over two days from June 9th and 10th, Jesuit Ministries in Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma will host a virtual Vigil (a devotional watching or keeping awake in the Catholic tradition) calling for support of and financial relief for undocumented workers in Washington State during this time of COVID-19. … [Read more...]
Slicing into whether agencies are watching out for agricultural workers’ health and safety
There have been strikes that have occurred at seven Yakima County fruit growers and packing companies over the last three weeks, and various news outlets have been covering those strikes. The striking workers have been seeking safer working conditions, increased transparency from companies regarding … [Read more...]
ICE DETAINEE WHO DIED OF COVID-19 SUFFERED HORRIFYING NEGLECT
From the moment the coronavirus began spreading in the United States, advocates and experts warned that ICE’s network of detention centers posed a serious problem — medical experts at the Department of Homeland Security called the facilities a “tinderbox” for the spread of the disease — and … [Read more...]
ACTION ALERT! Show your Solidarity Today with WA’s Farmworkers: Covid-19 Protections Now!
Familias Unidas por la Justicia and Community to Community Development are currently supporting six farmworker strikes in Yakima County in solidarity with workers who have walked off the job due to health and safety concerns around Covid-19. Workers at Allan Brothers Fruit walked out on May 7 after … [Read more...]
Movement to End Deportations and Detention
It's Time Our Elected Officials #ActOnIt and Move Their Talk into Action to #FreeThemAll Go to https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2632349890425924 to watch and share La Resistencia’s latest video, featuring testimonies from family members with detained loved ones, Senator Rebecca Saldaña, essential … [Read more...]
For Latinos and COVID-19, Doctors Are Seeing an ‘Alarming’ Disparity
In Iowa, Latinos account for more than 20 percent of coronavirus cases though they are only 6 percent of the population. Latinos in Washington State make up 13 percent of the population but 31 percent of cases. In Florida, they are just over a quarter of the population but account for two of every … [Read more...]
Lifting the Voices of Farmworkers through Community Organizing.
More than 3 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers are estimated to harvest food in the United States. Farmworkers help provide the majority of the food people in America consume, harvesting produce, maintaining dairies, and working in the meat industry. Farmworkers make a substantially lower wage … [Read more...]
LNI & DEPT OF HEALTH MUST FOLLOW FARMWORKER LEADERSHIP WITH EMERGENCY RULES
Dear supporters, C2C has been sounding the alarm about substandard and often nonexistent health and safety protections for farmworkers, most notably with regard to the dangers of pesticide exposure, for 15 years. For the last month, we have been begging the state to implement emergency rules to … [Read more...]
As farm work carries on, some worry about becoming Washington state’s new coronavirus epicenter
Crews huddle in the morning to hear instructions, then prune trees, tie up branches and replant orchards, often in close proximity to one another. Those who want to wash their hands — vital workplace safety in the age of the novel coronavirus — need to bring soap from home, and until recently their … [Read more...]
The Farm Workforce Modernization Act Does Not Solve the Farm Labor Dilemma
"Familias Unidas por la Justicia, Community to Community Development, CATA, Farmworker Association of Florida and UFCW, who unite in the Food Chain Workers Alliance — vigorously oppose H.R. 5038." "A close reading of H.R. 5038 leads me to the same conclusion. If we want to end this country's … [Read more...]
10 US immigration issues to watch in 2020
Last year, the Trump administration rolled out several policies that restricted access to asylum as well as employment-based and family-based immigration pathways. With a presidential election on the horizon, 2020 could bring even more restrictions as US President Donald Trump makes a final push to … [Read more...]
Resetting the Table
Support for Resetting the Table, a Crosscut Focus series examining food insecurity in Washington, is provided by Northwest Harvest. Washington is an agricultural powerhouse, producing some of the highest yields of fruit, vegetables and grains in the country — yet despite this bounty, plenty of … [Read more...]
Environmental Heroes 2019: Remarks by Rosalinda Guillen
Rosalinda Guillen is the executive director of Community to Community Development (C2C). Listen to the story of who she is and how her speech speaks to a profound understanding of intersectionality . . . racism, immigration, earth culture, environmental justice and climate change among many others … [Read more...]
‘We just want to work’: Washington farmworkers say enough to sexual assault
by Emily McCarty, December 11, 2019 New bilingual curriculum targets Washington growers and farm managers in stopping harassment. Zambrano didn’t know what to expect on her first day, but what she did see shocked her. Sexual harassment from supervisors and foremen started from day one. … [Read more...]
Help Stop Climate Change Threats to Workers
Interfaith Worker Justice asks you to: Tell your Representatives to endorse sensible heat protections TODAY!!! It’s time to cool things down for workers. Eighteen of the last nineteen hottest years on record have occurred since 2001 and this year is on track to continue that trend. The effects of … [Read more...]
WA farmers and laborers are struggling under the H-2A guest worker program — and it may get worse
by Lilly Fowler/August 28, 2019 Farms in the state are part of the fourth largest guest worker program in the nation, but growers say they can't keep up with the costs and advocates say local workers are being left behind. . . . Despite the costs of the H-2A program, an increasing number of … [Read more...]