The Dangers of Agricultural Work

By Elaine Bartlett, Episcopal Farm Worker Ministry

The dangers of agricultural work have been widely reported—machinery accidents and heat stroke alone cause hundreds of farmworker deaths each year. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the fatality rate for agricultural workers is seven times higher than for all workers in private industry. OSHA recently launched a campaign to prevent heat illness among outdoor workers, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has announced it is making a “major research and outreach priority” of retrofitting older tractors – the cause of most rollover deaths – with protective structures.

However, little has been done to ensure that farmworkers are educated about and provided the means to prevent or treat another major occupational hazard of agricultural work. Skin diseases and disorders are widely prevalent among U.S. farmworkers, with an incident rate of four to six times higher than workers in all other industries. Excessive exposure to sun, as well as to pesticides, dust and fungi, combined with lack of medical treatment, contribute to a widespread problem that has a major impact on farmworkers’ quality of life. Recent research of North Carolina agricultural workers, published in the Journal of Rural Health, showed that over 95 percent of farmworkers studied were afflicted by some form of skin disease. Fungal infections and sunburn regularly affected 58 percent of North Carolina farmworkers in a 2008 study that appeared in the International Journal of Dermatology. Acne, calluses, dermatitis and tinea pedis afflicted between 40 and 67 percent of the farmworkers.

Although such problems are readily acknowledged within farmworker communities, several factors prevent effective prevention and treatment, including lack of health insurance and money for treatment. U.S. health care reform, which will be fully implemented in 2014, is not likely to have a significant impact on farmworkers’ lives. At least half of farmworkers nationwide do not have the necessary immigration status to qualify for Medicaid expansion and health insurance exchanges available to low income Americans.

Under health care reform, migrant health clinics will receive funding that will allow for an increased level of services. However, only about 20 percent of farmworkers nationwide currently utilize such clinics, according to a 2005 report by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, and the issues that limit farmworkers’ use of such clinics are ones that cannot be addressed by the Affordable Care Act. About 90 percent of farmworkers report that they speak and read little to no English, according to the Kaiser report. The vast majority of farmworkers are Latinos from Mexico and other central American countries. While the primary language is Spanish, the Journal of Rural Health study found that 10 to 15 percent of their participants primarily spoke an indigenous language, such as Mixteco or Zapoteco, that made even Spanish language health care inaccessible.

Lack of transportation to clinics and fear of missing work – and wages – can be other factors that serve as a barrier to health care.

For these reasons, it is imperative to focus on outreach services to farmworkers in our communities to cover the gaps that government funded health care cannot address.

Providing farmworkers with access to a sufficient amount of clothing and hygienic items is key in decreasing the rate of skin disorders and other illnesses related to dermal exposure, such as green tobacco illness. Long sleeve shirts, long pants and gloves provide necessary protection from sun, chemicals, and insects, as well as nicotine residue in tobacco plants. For optimal health workers must have access to several changes of clothes per day as the fabric frequently becomes saturated with pesticides, perspiration, dust and other elements. Given that up to 30 workers may share a wash tub at camp, it is not always feasible to launder regularly, increasing the need for a significant supply of clothes per worker.

Equally important is the availability of soap, shampoo and other toiletries that cleanse the skin of pesticides - and, in the case of tobacco workers, crop residues. Providing workers with full spectrum sunblock can help reduce the incidence of sunburn and, ultimately, skin cancer. Access to hydrocortisone cream and other topical treatments significantly reduces the level of discomfort associated with dermatitis, and hydrogen peroxide and bandages can prevent infection from abrasions common to agricultural work.

Farmworkers serve a vital function in our country, harvesting crops for a wage that few Americans would consider acceptable. Farmworkers often spend the majority of each year far away from their homes and families, doing backbreaking labor and living in isolated camps in often substandard conditions. In these last weeks of summer, let us consider the harvest that we have enjoyed this season and what we can do to improve the quality of life for those who have provided for us.

Elaine Bartlett serves on the board of directors of Episcopal Farmworker Ministry. EFwM, in partnership with faith communities of all denominations in North Carolina, provides work clothing, toiletries and over-the-counter skin treatments to workers in 50 migrant labor camps in Sampson, Harnett and Johnson counties. To learn more, visit www.efwm.org

Indy Weekly Notes Appalling Conditions in NC Fields

Earlier this month, the Independent Weekly did a feature-length story on farmworker conditions, especially in North Carolina’s tobacco fields. With the insight of a new report issued jointly by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and Oxfam America, the public is learning more and more about the deplorable conditions in the fields that make possible huge agribusiness profits. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

We found shocking pieces in all of those different categories. We've seen some pretty bad conditions, but this was the first time that we were able to really take an in-depth, personal look and hear from the workers in a very detailed way about a lot of the abuses," says FLOC representative Briana Connors, who helped write the report and conduct 86 farmworker interviews.

In another Wilson County camp, I spoke with a group of teenage workers from Guatemala. The young men opened a flimsy wooden door to reveal a cramped, flea-infested space with unfinished particleboard flooring and old mattresses void of sheets, bedding or pillows, their corners black with mold. According to the report, when some workers complained about bedbugs, their growers allegedly told them to buy Clorox and bleach their mattresses, or to spray the mattresses, and themselves, with Raid.

Similar complaints were filed with the North Carolina Department of Labor (DOL), according to farmworker accounts in the report, which stated the agency initially investigated them but did not follow up.

Continue reading the story and download the report here. You can also learn more about a recent complaint filed against the NCDOL for not enforcing existing laws on the books that are meant to protect farmworkers.

Farmworker Conditions Make National Headlines

NBC News recently ran a national story that highlights the poor living and working conditions that farmworkers face here in North Carolina. From the report:

WILSON, N.C. – The lines on Celdin’s face and the dim look in his eyes make him seem at least 10 years older than his age, 53. They reflect the 12 long years the undocumented migrant worker from Honduras has spent laboring in the fields of North Carolina and doing construction in the United States.

"Kneeling down is hard on my knees," Celdin said in a tired voice as he showed off the inflatable bed that he keeps on the floor. "But it sure beats getting devoured by bed bugs." He says he saved up to buy the plastic mattress that helps keep the insects away.

He wouldn't begin to describe the bathroom conditions at the labor camp in Wilson, N.C., that he shares with dozens of other workers. He wanted me to see it for myself. 

Walking in, one is immediately hit by a dreadful stench coming from a small garbage can on the floor that’s overflowing with used pieces of toilet paper. At the end of the room stand three showerheads with no curtains, and to the left, three toilets side by side, but without stalls or panels to provide workers any privacy.

Continue reading here.

Help put an end to these dehumanizing conditions - get involved in the Harvest of Dignity campaign today.

Betting the Farm

Earlier this month, there was a fascinating article by the Philadelphia CityPaper about how homeless men in Philadelphia sometimes end up picking potatoes in North Carolina. With the promise of housing and steady work, recruiters find men who are willing to make the trek down South. The article highlights their experiences, which often consist of various kinds of exploitation.

Exploitation of farmworkers, whether homeless men or recent immigrants, is no accident. As the story notes:

For the 4,000-some labor camps across North Carolina, the state's Department of Labor has only seven employees inspecting for working violations, according to Melinda Wiggins, executive director of Student Action with Farmworkers in North Carolina, who is herself the daughter and granddaughter of sharecroppers. She and her team visit labor camps across North Carolina to interview migrant workers and encourage them to stand up for their rights.

They also pressure federal and state authorities to crack down on housing and labor violations. Beyond the lack of resources, she says, is a lack of will by federal and state officials whom she says have been heavily influenced by the agriculture lobby. In 2008, the Charlotte Observer reported that campaign donors for the Department of Labor commissioner, Cherie K. Berry, had systematically reduced fines for labor law violations for certain companies. The Observer investigation found that companies that donated to the commissioners' campaign saw a reduction of 70 percent in their citation fines.

Click here to read the whole article.

Student Action with Farmworkers is a founding member of the Farmworker Advocacy Network.

Shameful Harvest

In late July, the Durham News published an amazing op-ed written by a rising 10^th-grader at Carolina Friends School.  Lucas Selvidge’s “Shameful Harvest” talks about his experiences during a week-long service project at Episcopal Farmworker Ministry – a member of FAN. 

While there, Lucas did everything from sorting clothes to visiting labor camps, and he talks about the lasting impression that these experiences made on him:

Some evenings, Father Tony took us to the camps where the farm workers and their families live, where we distributed toiletries, clothes, food and toys. On our first night of visiting we heard that the men had been working in the fields since seven-thirty that morning. They had worked until dusk, which was when we showed up. Hearing that fact alone made me feel tired. I was exhausted from doing two hours of easy work that day. But they work in the fields from dawn until dusk every day for almost no money, which allows us to buy food as cheaply as possible.

No wonder they were too tired to play when our class challenged them to a game of soccer.

What we saw when we went to the camps was that when the farm workers finish their long day of work, they come home to living spaces that are not very pleasant. When I had first seen the farm workers and their children at Father Tony's church service, I had no idea that they were living crammed with lots of people into small trailers with inadequate heating, cooling and insulation, as well as no indoor plumbing, no privacy in bathrooms, and minimal belongings. And that they were working hard all day harvesting our food but barely had enough to feed their own families. Seeing it with our own eyes made a big impression.

Click here to read the entire article.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of the truth that all people deserve dignity in their homes and on the job.  I think we’re all grateful to Lucas for both the week of his life that he offered to others and for raising his voice to help improve their lives over the long-term.