United Farm Workers Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Washington Farmworkers Ask State Supreme Court For Overtime Pay

By NWPB News August 2, 2020

Sarbanand Farms farmworkers demonstrate after coworker's death in August 2017.

Coronavirus cases in farm country have focused new attention on essential workers there, as well as the food supply chain. One issue is overtime. In most states, farm owners don't have to pay overtime to their employees. Now, a case before the Washington State Supreme Court could change that.Read More

White House Seeks To Lower Foreign Guest Farmworker Pay To Help U.S. Farm Owners

By NPR News April 10, 2020

Farmworkers work at a winery in Clarksburg, Calif., on March 24. Farms continue to operate as essential businesses even as the coronavirus has hurt the agriculture industry. CREDIT: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is working with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to see how wage rates for immigrant farmworkers can be reduced. Critics say it will hurt all workers.Read More

Coronavirus Threatens Food Supply Chain As Farms Worry About Workers Getting Sick

By NPR News March 18, 2020

Workers pick apples in a Wapato, Wash., orchard last October. U.S. farms employ hundreds of thousands of seasonal workers, mostly from Mexico, who enter the country on H-2A visas. The potential impact of the coronavirus on seasonal workers has the food industry on edge. CREDIT: Elaine Thompson/AP

About 250,000 workers came to the U.S. on H-2A visas last year, the majority of them from Mexico. They've become an increasingly important piece of America's food industry.Read More

President Signs USMCA, Yakima Valley Farm Workers Talk Working Conditions With Mexican Senators

By Enrique Pérez de la Rosa January 29, 2020

From left, Mexican Sen. Israel Zamora, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero and Sen. Bertha Alicia Caraveo hold a press conference Monday, Jan. 27, after meeting with dairy workers. They shared stories of poor working conditions on farms, including cases of wage theft, long work hours and sexual harassment. CREDIT: Enrique Pérez de la Rosa/NWPB

A delegation of Mexican government officials visited the Yakima Valley Monday to meet with dairy workers, most of whom are Mexican nationals. The group was looking to expand the role of the Mexican government in protecting the rights of workers.Read More

U.S. House Passes Bipartisan Bill For Relief To Undocumented Farmworkers, Farmers Short On Labor

By Enrique Pérez de la Rosa December 13, 2019

The possible impeachment of President Donald Trump is not the only thing moving through the U.S. House of Representatives. On Wednesday, the House passed a bipartisan bill that could give undocumented farmworkers a path to legal residence and relief to farmers short on labor. Read More