Farmworker Justice and Oxfam America have just released a new report, Weeding out abuses: Recommendations for a law-abiding farm labor system. 

 

Download the report (PDF, 1 Mb) 

 

This report describes the employment laws that apply to farmworkers and the widespread violations of those laws by agricultural employers.  Because the human faces of those who suffer these abuses are often lost in the statistics, this report tells  the personal stories of several men and women who pick our fruits and vegetables; these accounts are not merely anecdotes but are representative of the reality.

The report makes specific recommendations for improving the U.S. Department of Labor’s enforcement of the limited employment protections guaranteed to farmworkers.  If DOL takes these steps, tens of thousands of farmworkers will experience better wages and safer working conditions and law-abiding agricultural businesses will not be undermined in the marketplace by unscrupulous employers that seek greater profit by violating the law.