Power for marginalized workers like farmworkers has always come from strong grassroots organizing. Yet many of the policies with the greatest impact on workers, from wage and hour laws to health and safety standards, are primarily being set at the state level, where local farmworker organizing groups need a voice. This is why the CFC focuses on state policy primarily, while committed to following the lead and needs of farmworker organizing.
California’s farmworkers are responsible for cultivating many of the state’s vegetable and fruit crops, helping supply 3/4ths of the country’s fruits and nuts. However, they experience occupational injuries at nearly double the rate of other private sector workers and die at higher rates as well. With extreme heat days predicted to increase sevenfold in the Central Valleydue to climate change, there is new urgency surrounding safety issues in the agricultural sector, where workers are 35 times more likely to die of heat-related injury than workers in other industries.
