On March 30, 2024, a historic tribunal took place at The People’s Forum in midtown Manhattan. Fourteen current and former farmworkers presented testimony on behalf of themselves and their fellow workers, reporting on conditions they face working in dairies in Vermont and New York; in greenhouses in Ontario, Canada; and on farms in Massachusetts, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Video messages from workers in Vermont and Jamaica were also shown.
This is a historic moment for farmworkers. I can't remember the last time or the first time there's ever been a gathering like this of farmworker organizations from all around the U.S., from Canada, coming together and strategizing and building this analysis together. Usually we're isolated, we're just doing the work on our local level or state level, never coming together like this on an international level, to discuss what does a farmworker movement from the grassroots really look like? And how do we build power from the bottom up?
Edgar Franks, Familias Unidas por la Justicia
Nothing has changed. And that's why this is so important, that's why it's so historic, because to my memory, in the forty plus years that I've been a revolutionary, this is the first farmworker tribunal that I know of, and that I've attended.
Jaribu Hill, Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights
Over the course of sessions focused on Health & Safety, Freedom of Movement, and Climate Justice, worker leaders spoke about life-changing injuries, abysmal housing, sexual assault and harassment, heat exhaustion, social isolation, employer retaliation for organizing, and other everyday realities for agricultural workers.
This tribunal was organized by the Farmworker Committee of the Food Chain Workers Alliance to unite and amplify the voices of farmworkers across North America and beyond. Because our current systems do not function to provide justice for farmworkers, testimonies we heard at the tribunal must be answered by collective organizing at the grassroots level.
Now, our new report on the tribunal is live at farmworkertribunal.org, featuring excerpts from worker testimonies and key findings from the jurors and Farmworker Committee.
Review the report today to learn about issues of housing, sexual violence, workplace injuries, exploitative guest worker programs, extreme temperatures, forced migration, climate disasters and more. The report also lays out our Farmworker Committee’s alternative vision of liberation: a world in which immigrant workers do not live in fear, farmworkers are not robbed of their health and lifespan, farmworker children have access to schools and community, agroecology farms and co-ops abound, our environment is protected, workers unite for fair wages across the food chain, and people work for life and earth, instead of profit for the few.
Go to farmworkertribunal.org to read the report today.
Go to the FCWA YouTube Channel to watch all the recorded testimonies with interpretation in English and Spanish.