Workers’ Memorial Day: Remembering those who have died on the job in NC

By Tom O'Connor, Executive Director, National Council for Occupational Safety and Health

2011 was a bad year for North Carolina’s Hispanic workers, especially those working in construction and agriculture. Although they make up only about seven percent of the state’s population, Latinos accounted for 30 percent of deaths on the job in NC in 2011 according to a report to be released this week in conjunction with Workers’ Memorial Day, April 28. A majority of these deaths occurred in the construction and agriculture industries and most were due to highly preventable causes.

"North Carolina Workers: Dying for a Job," produced by the Raleigh-based National Council for Occupational Safety and Health and the recently formed Triangle area Jobs with Justice chapter, found that:

• The State Department of Labor grossly understates the problem of worker deaths in NC. The NCDOL reported earlier this year that 53 people died on the job in NC in 2011. The report counted a total of 83 deaths.
• Fines imposed by Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry’s OSHA are pathetically low, even in cases of worker deaths. The median fine paid by employers in cases of worker deaths in NC in which at least one OSHA violation was found was only $3,250. These fines are far too low to act as an effective deterrent to unsafe employer behavior.
• State and local governments are using taxpayer dollars to support some employers who criminally neglect their workers’ safety and health, sometimes with tragic consequences.

The case of Triangle Grading and Paving is a prime example. Luis Castaneda Gomez, an employee of the company, told his wife that he feared for his life on his construction job. “Luis didn't want to work for the company….He would say they would force him to do stuff that was dangerous,” his wife told a reporter. But he couldn’t find any other jobs in the slow economy. Sadly, the 34 year old construction worker’s worst fears came to pass. He and a co-worker, Jesus Martinez Benitez, were sent down into a manhole on the site of a road construction project in Durham. The men had not been given oxygen detectors nor equipment that is required for work in confined spaces. Both men died from asphyxiation in the oxygen-deficient atmosphere of the manhole. The company had been awarded the contract because they were the lowest bidder, despite a long history of OSHA violations and a previous fatality. (Click here for more on this case.)

The groups will be releasing their report at a Workers’ Memorial Day commemoration event in front of the State Department of Labor office at 4 W. Edenton St. in downtown Raleigh on Friday April 27 at 12:00 noon.

Please come out and show your support for safe workplaces for all North Carolina workers!

The NC Farm Bureau Shares Concern about Immigration Enforcement’s Effects on Agriculture

By Erin Krauss

This spring, the North Carolina Farm Bureau released a video-advertisement that encourages North Carolina lawmakers to think about the implications of harsh immigration enforcement policies on the agriculture industry. The NC Farm Bureau, founded in 1936, claims to represent 500,000 member families with ties to the agriculture economy.

The video’s message is clear: when agricultural states crack down on immigrant workers, there is a huge cost to farmers and the states’ economies overall.

Alabama is mentioned as an example; and recent events there make for a depressing situation. Last summer, AL enacted a harsh local immigration law that resulted in numerous consequences for the immigrant community. After the law went into effect, a mass exodus of community members fled the state causing a major blow to the state’s farm industry, which depends heavily on immigrant labor to be successful. Replacing these workers has proven to be virtually impossible.

As one AL farmer states in an interview on NPR: "That isn't the kind of job most of us want to do…I don't blame them for not wanting to do [it], but somebody's got to do it if we're going to keep eating for the price that we are eating at." The interview goes on to quote a farmer who recognizes that many farmworkers have come to make the US their home and have families and community here: "You got people's been living here 25 years. They've raised families here, they've got a residence; they've made a life here… I've got very good friends, almost like family, that's been working for us for years and years. I don't think that's right."

Here at home, North Carolina has been facing it’s own set of proposed anti-immigrant legislation. Beyond instilling fear, anger, and magnifying a strong sense of dehumanization in the immigrant community; these kinds of immigration laws threaten to bring the local agriculture industry to a halt. How would NC presume to be any different or be any more prepared than Alabama was to deal with the consequences of ostracizing and criminalizing an already undervalued workforce? The success of North Carolina economy depends heavily on agriculture (it provides 22% of the state’s income), and it could not survive without the workers that keep fruits and vegetables moving from the fields to our tables.

Farmworkers, farmworker advocates, and the farm owner community don’t always agree. But this year, the concern about draconian immigration enforcement and the inevitable devastation of NC agriculture is one concern that many stakeholders share. Although farmworker advocates have long recognized that farmworker justice cannot be achieved by way of immigration advocacy only (fair treatment of farm workers is a labor rights issue that should be recognized as such for any population working in the fields), there is no denying that immigration law *does* effect the farmworker community and the agriculture industry in North Carolina.

We must think deeply about the multiple impacts (economic & humanitarian) of immigration laws, and in doing so, perhaps we will begin to finally recognize the human element behind immigration enforcement & the human element that has always existed behind the production of our food.

"Uprooted Innocence" featured on "The State of Things"

Photo by Joe Wolf

Did you know that almost half a million children work in agriculture in the U.S.?

Emily Drakage with the Children in the Fields campaign and Catherine Bittar, a Duke University student who helped produce the short documentary "Uprooted Innocence" talk about the reality of child labor with WUNC's "The State of Things."

• Listen to "The State of Things"
• Watch "Uprooted Innocence"
• Take action with the Harvest of Dignity Campaign

Independent Weekly Highlights Child Labor in NC

Last week, the Independent Weekly published an excellent article on the realities faced by children working in the agricultural industry in North Carolina.

The reporter interviewed several members of the Farmworker Advocacy Network, including the NC Justice Center attorney Carol Brooke and Emily Drakage from Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs' Children in the Fields Campaign. Here's an excerpt:

While the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 sets the minimum working age at 14, the law allows children ages 12–14 to work in the agricultural industry as accompanied minors or with parental consent. According to Carol Brooke, a lawyer with the NC Justice Center specializing in child labor laws and policy, it is legal in North Carolina for children as young as 10 to be a paid employee in agriculture. They can work as long as 14 hours a day.

The law hasn't been touched since 1938, says Emily Drakage, a regional director at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and co-founder of NC FIELD. At the time, U.S. agriculture was based on family farms, not agribusiness.

Nearly 75 years later, Drakage says, the law "does not reflect the current realities of industrial agriculture. There is a big difference between working for your dad who is a farmer, and a farmworker."

You can read the full article, share it and comment on it here. Many thanks to the Indy for giving this issue the attention it deserves!

New study: Rampant housing violations at migrant worker camps

Wake Forest University Study Finds Violations Rampant in Migrant Housing

Study reveals multiple housing law violations at every camp inspected; advocates urging NCDOL to increase inspections of farm worker housing

RALEIGH (March 30, 2012) – A newly released study from the Center for Worker Health at Wake Forest University School of Medicine found that migrant housing in North Carolina is plagued with violations. Researchers uncovered at least four violations of housing law in each of the 183 camps they inspected for the study.

The study, printed in the March edition of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, is the largest and most comprehensive study of farm worker housing ever conducted in the Southeastern United States. Researchers documented many serious violations of the North Carolina Migrant Housing Act, including:

-Infestations of roaches, mice and rats;
-Non-working toilets and showers;
-Contaminated drinking water;
-Lack of fire safety equipment and smoke alarms.

The North Carolina Department of Labor is responsible for enforcing migrant housing law. Wake Forest University researchers used NCDOL migrant housing standards to evaluate the homes and labor camps they visited.

Farmworker advocates will meet with NCDOL Commissioner Cherie Berry next week to discuss the findings of the study.

For questions regarding the Wake Forest University study, contact Dr. Thomas A. Arcury, PhD at (336) 716-9438, or tarcury@wakehealth.edu.

For More Information, Contact:  Clermont Fraser, NC Justice Center, (919) 861-0606(office), clermont@ncjustice.org; Ana Duncan Pardo, Toxic Free North Carolina, (919) 818-5933, ana@toxicfreenc.org; Jeff Shaw, Director of Communications, NC Justice Center, (503) 551-3615, jeff@ncjustice.org.

Thank you for showing love for farmworkers this past Valentines Day

If you sent a heartfelt valentine to NC Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry this past Valentines Day asking her to get serious about protecting farmworkers and their families, then by now you've probably received a disappointing form letter in response...that you've likely seen before. In February, farmworker supporters across the state rallied to show their passion for workers' rights (and demonstrate artistic talent!) by mailing in nearly 100 special valentines to the commissioner, calling on her to 'stop breaking hearts" and enforce the laws in place to protect some our state's most vulnerable residents from hazardous, and sometimes fatal, living and working conditions.

 

Unfortunately, the department's response to our action was to send an identical copy of the form letter they mailed to those who participated in FAN's Christmas card action in December last year. We feel that farmworkers deserve more. Stay tuned for more opportunities to stay involved.

 

Cherie Berry: Quit Breaking Our Hearts!

Send a “Broken Heart” Valentine to the NC Department of Labor Today!Let Commissioner Berry know she's breaking your heart with this ready-to-print valentine!

This Valentine’s Day, send a valentine to Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry showing your support for farmworkers and their families, and demanding that department officials take their job of protecting ALL workers in our state seriously. Sending a valentine is easy, fun, and meaningful! Here’s how!

Step 1: Make a valentine for Commissioner Berry-either by printing out the pre-made valentine here with your name included, or making your own. Scroll down for sample language and background about the Harvest of Dignity campaign messages.

Step 2: Take a picture of your creation and email it to harvestofdignity@gmail.com so that campaign organizers can share and count the cards! You also may want to show off your valentine on FAN’s facebook page.

Step 3: Mail your valentine to:

Labor Commissioner Berry

1101 Mail Service Center

Raleigh, NC 27699-1101

Step 4:  Send this action alert to friends and family, or have a Valentine’s Day party to make cards together. When spreading the word about this action opportunity, inform people about the Harvest of Dignity Campaign and the invitation to stay involved through email action alerts, events, and other opportunities in support of farmworkers.

More about your message:

We want to tell Cherie Berry that she is “breaking our heart” this Valentine’s Day with her department’s responses that fall shockingly short of addressing the concerns about enforcement of farmworker protections raised by farmworker advocates. For example, the agency brushed off an official complaint (CASPA) filed by NC attorneys with the US Department of Labor last year that cites the NCDOL’s failings.

And more recently, when concerned members of the public mailed Christmas cards to Berry’s office asking for serious examination of farmworker hazards in the fields, all they received in return was a generic letter stating that the department "is committed to enforcing the[law]", which contradicts the department's record of routinely neglecting to enforce it.

We believe the NCDOL should do more than that--lives depend on it. Read more about the NCDOL's patterns of inconsistent record-keeping and classification of law violations, 100% downward negotiation of fines, and failure to inspect the worst migrant camps here : Background and Facts.

Día de los Muertos Video

Check out this new video from our Nov. 1 Día de los Muertos event: