The dairy industry is one of the most powerful economic forces in New York State, but dairy workers continue to labor under extremely poor conditions: 12 hour work days, unsafe housing, discrimination, sexual harassment, and an overtime threshold of 60 hours. 

Our member Workers Center of Central New York has a long history of holding Chobani accountable to take responsibility for the conditions in their supply chain. Dairy workers across NYS are standing up and saying that Fair Trade USA’s “Milk Matters” program is not the answer! Instead, Chobani should support the right to organize for farm workers and to join workers who are advocating to lower the overtime threshold to 40 hours!

Send a tweet to Chobani today:

@Chobani: Milk cannot matter without workers’ wellbeing coming first! Support workers in your supply chain! #FoodWorkersRising #UnfairDairy

Read more about why the Milk Matters program fails labor here!

On the eve of Black Friday and the 2021 holiday season, Warehouse Workers for Justice will host an important panel discussion centering the workers who have kept our economy moving throughout the global pandemic and hear firsthand what they need for a better future. While much has been made about expanded unemployment and stimulus checks contributing to labor shortages and supply chain disruptions, the other half of the story is workers facing burnout from death and sickness in workplaces, understaffing and, most importantly, the long term underlining issues in the industry: low wages, discrimination and unstable jobs in the industry.

Tune in to the Future of Work Town Hall to hear directly from the workers who have participated and sacrificed to keep our country & economy open during the pandemic. They will talk about what it’s been like to work at major warehouses like Amazon and Walmart, what they see as the contributing factors to the labor shortages and supply chain disruptions and what must change to end both. 

Warehouse Workers for Justice invites you to join this important discussion here

In 2013, dozens of migrant workers in Ontario were the subjects of racial profiling in a police DNA sweep. Our member Justicia for Migrant Workers has been supporting these workers in their fight for nearly a decade, and finally their day in court begins today! 

In this case, police targeted nearly 100 male migrant workers solely on the basis of their skin color and where they were from– entirely ignoring details about the suspect’s age, height and weight. The wide range of appearances of those who were swabbed makes it clear that the only characteristic they had in common was the color of their skin and their national origin. Many of the swabbed workers were coerced by their employer to comply with the test. 

Please join us in taking action to support these workers today: 

1. Watch the trial starting at 10am EST: https://zoom.us/j/99671396600. Please label yourself as an “Observer” when you enter the zoom, so the Tribunal knows you are not a participant.
2. Follow and reach out to Justicia For Migrant Workers to participate in further actions
3. Click here to tweet at Ontario premier Doug Ford and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to let them know that racist policing is their responsibility!

Read powerful words from indigenous campesinos in the new report by California Institute for Rural Studies: “Experts in their Fields: Contributions and Realities of Indigenous Campesinos in California During COVID-19.” 

915 surveys and 63 in-depth interviews provide critical missing information on California farmworkers’ abilities to protect themselves and their families during the pandemic: https://cirsinc.org/covid-19-farmworker-study/

I wouldn’t know what to do if someone in my family got sick because I don’t have an extra room… We only live in a trailer, all crowded..

–NATIVIDAD, 25 year old Triqui woman, Central Coast

I hurt myself two weeks ago, I fell off a ladder. Now they have me cleaning the little weeds around the tree for hours because I can’t pick right now because of my hand…and now I am fighting with the workers’ compensation insurance company to get help since I am working less.

–ABELINO, 29 year old Mixtec man, Central Coast

…I would like them to change the water [because] it tastes very salty when I drink the water. It does not take away my thirst.

–PRUDENCIA, 35year old Mixtec woman, Central Coast

…We just want to leave a little earlier. It’s getting very hot, 104 degrees.

–EVERARDO, 26 year old Indigenous man, San Joaquin Valley

For the first time, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is seeking sorely-needed standardized heat protections for workers, including those in restaurant kitchens. On October 27, they announced the newly proposed “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings” rule, and now they are accepting public comments to help shape the finalized version.

We need to urge OSHA to finally take action to curb excessive heat in workplaces like restaurant kitchens, where temperatures can become unbearable and unsafe, as well as on farms, where workers are constantly exposed to extreme climate conditions.

Support food workers by taking action with our member @ROCUntied and submitting a comment to OSHA to demand that extreme heat conditions are addressed. Sample comment and submission form available here:

The first-ever union organizing video game has launched! This week FCWA member @globallaborjustice launched “Union Drive” to teach the fundamentals of organizing that every worker interested in forming or joining a union needs to know. And it is available for use, free of charge, for labor organizations and activists around the world in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. When workers have the knowledge and the tools to organize their coworkers, they can build the power they need to stand up for their rights in the workplace. Click here to play now: https://uniondrive.itch.io/union-drive

“Migranta con M de mamà” is a short film focusing on three migrant women in Canada under the Agricultural Worker Program, and their struggles to be mothers from afar. This screening kicks off FCWA’s 2021 #FoodWorkersRising week of solidarity with food workers, and is brought to you by Justice for Migrant Workers, J4MW and the Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF).

Click here to screen the film from anywhere in North America starting at 7pm Eastern on Nov. 17, 2021. At 7:30pm, join us for a panel discussion with director Aaraón Diaz Mendiburo, Justicia 4 Migrant Workers Organizer Dr. Evelyn Encalada Grez, and FCWA’s own Lead Organizer Fabiola Ortiz Valdez. 

On our last day of our Food Workers Rising days of action, we are sharing a call for solidarity with migrant farmworkers standing up for fairness and respect.

Martin’s Family Fruit Farm employs migrant farmworkers at their Ontario, Canada apple farm. In October, a COVID-19 outbreak struck Martin’s Family Fruit Farm. Dozens of workers contracted the virus.

As a result, workers engaged in a work refusal and ceased work until they had confirmation whether or not they were COVID positive. Rather than respect the health and well-being of the workers, the employer is alleged to have threatened the workers with disbarment from the program if they continued their acts of resistance.

Please join Justicia for Migrant Workers in demanding fairness and respect for the workers who put food on our table. We are asking Martin’s Family Fruit Farm to commit to no reprisals against its workforce and to implement immediate steps to provide strong health and safety protections and adequate housing accommodations to prevent further outbreaks.

Martin’s Family Fruit Farm Apple Chips are sold at Starbucks stores. Today, supporters will be organizing solidarity actions at over 19 Starbucks stores in Canada and the US.

Please join us in sending a message to Starbucks asking them to support farmworkers’ rights to work in an environment that is free from harassment and that is safe and dignified and to call on Martin’s Family Fruit Farm to commit to the above steps.

TAKE ACTION

• TAKE A PHOTO OUTSIDE STARBUCKS TODAY. Hold up a sign with your solidarity message and post on social media using #Justice4AppleWorkers. Sample messages include: Starbucks, support farmworkers in your supply chain; #Justice4AppleWorkers; Stand up for farmworkers rights

• CLICK HERE TO SEND A TWEET AMPLIFYING WORKERS DEMANDS

Thank you so much for your solidarity with food workers today and during the entire week of action!

Thousands of Central American farmworkers have been left in a state of emergency due to the flooding and devastation from Hurricane Eta.

Banana and Palm Oil plantation workers in Honduras and Guatemala have lost everything, including hundreds who spent days atop roofs waiting to be rescued while their homes and communities flooded.

Global Labor Justice – International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) has been supporting union members from El Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Agroindustria y Similares and Izabal Banana Workers’ Union— unions that have played a critical role in defending labor rights and building worker power in the fields for nearly a decade. As they rebuild their own lives, these union organizers are supporting recovery efforts for workers and their families in Honduras and Guatemala.

TAKE ACTION

Stand with Central American workers by joining with GLJ-ILRF to help provide basic supplies and relief.

100% of your donation will go directly to Hondurans and Guatemalans affected by Hurricane Eta to help them with their basic needs, including purchasing food, stoves, mattresses, clothing, and home repairs.

Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic and there are still no mandatory federal health and safety federal standards for workers. The second wave is here and workers are still inadequately protected from COVID-19. This means food workers continue to be at risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 at work and bringing the virus home to their communities. We know that every day counts in keeping people safe and healthy. That is why we are urging the new York State legislature to pass the NY HERO Act as soon as possible to stop the second wave of COVID-19.

The NY HERO Act is legislation that provides mandatory safety protocols and regulations to protect workers in every industry and gives workers a stronger voice in the workplace to fight this pandemic.

We join FCWA members and a statewide coalition of unions, worker centers, community organizations, and faith groups in calling on the State Legislature to pass the NY HERO Act and make New York a national model in protecting workers and communities during this ongoing crisis.

TAKE ACTION

• Sign the petition urging state leaders to protect workers from the second wave of Covid-19
• Share an animated short film on working during Covid-19, and the need for the NY HERO Act to protect our communities

In January 2020, FCWA members in New York State won an important victory with the passage of the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act, affording NY farmworkers long overdue labor protections such as paid overtime. But the fight for farm worker protections continues. The new law stipulates that farmworkers in New York must work 60 hours a week before they receive overtime pay. The NYS Department of Labor is currently holding hearings to consider if that overtime threshold should be lowered.

Farm owners are organizing to keep the 60 hour overtime threshold and make sure farmworkers can continue to be legally exploited by not receiving overtime pay after a long work week.  But farmworkers are also speaking out, sharing their stories today on why farmworkers deserve equal pay for equal hours!

We stand with farmworkers, advocates, and allies to say that a 60-hour work week is too long for farmworkers to receive overtime pay, and that the law should be overtime pay after a 40-hour work week like in many other industries.

TAKE ACTION

Like many other food chain workers, farmworkers will work extra hours this holiday season to make sure we get food on our tables.Show solidarity with NY farmworkers by amplifying their stories and demands for equal pay on social media.

Click here to send a tweet demanding equal pay for equal hours:

Sample tweet:

Farmworkers will work extra hours to make sure we all have food during the holidays, even during a global pandemic! We call on @NYSLabor & @NYGovCuomo to lower the overtime threshold for farmworkers! #EqualPay4EqualHours! #ProtectNYFarmworkers

There are 20,000 street vendors in NYC. Vendors who are primarily immigrants, people of color, and women, keep their city running. But a racist, outdated cap on permits required to run a food cart forces thousands to either work in fear of police harassment without one, or rent a permit in the underground market for up to $25,000. This broken system has gone on for far too long.

On November 12th street vendors from throughout NYC held a historic march across the Brooklyn Bridge demanding:

• NYC council lift the cap on street vendor permits which hasn’t been updated in decades.
• NYC Council pass a resolution to end police harassment of street vendors 
• Financial relief for street vendors who have been financially harmed by COVID19.

Read more about NYC’s street vendors in this powerful NYT expose. 

TAKE ACTION:

Tweet your Support for NYC Street Vendors Today 

Here are some sample tweets:

Demand an end to the racist, outdated vending system that criminalizes NYC street vendors. @NYCMayor @NYCCouncil pass #intro1116 NOW!

Photo 1: Manuel. 

 You read Manuel’s powerful story of surviving by street vending in the @nytimes piece by @arrejuan & @dgbxny

 He’s asking you, @NYCCouncil @NYCMayor, to respect our work. Respect the work of NYC’s street vendors.

Pass #Intro1116 Now!

Photo 2: Yu Xia

“Even after all these yrs, I still don’t have my own permit. I spend $20,000 every 2 yrs to rent someone else’s

 Normally, this is a huge burden. Now during the pandemic, it’s made my situation even more difficult” – Yu Xia, Flushing vendor

 @NYCMayor @NYCCouncil Pass #Intro1116!

Cover photo: Salvador Espinoza 

Today as we launch Food Workers Rising, we are uplifting grocery workers fighting for hazard pay at the grocery chain Food 4 Less.

As COVID-19 cases spike and employees brace for holiday crowds, Food 4 Less workers in Los Angeles rallied Tuesday to demand reinstatement of Hazard Pay and increased safety protections for workers and customers. Despite a huge increase in sales, Kroger, Food 4 Less’ parent company, eliminated hazard pay and has failed to enforce basic workplace protections to keep workers and customers safe.

Workers are concerned that the holiday season and increased COVID infections will put them, their families, and customers at greater risk. Yesterday, Food4Less workers launched their #Fight4More / #Lucha4Más campaign with UFCW Local 770.

Watch Food 4 Less workers deliver a petition to management here and stay tuned for upcoming calls to action to support Local 770 members in their call for hazard pay.

Find out more about the #Fight4More / #Lucha4Más campaign here.