'This Farmworker Awareness Week, it’s critical we continue to recognize the vital role farmworkers play to sustain our country’s entire food system, their proud history of union mobilizing and organizing, and the need to respect their humanity.' NFAW2022
Even one death on the job is too many. We need real labor standards to mitigate these gruesome conditions.and actually enforcing them—a call many advocacy groups have made. Employers should be required to prevent heat-related illnesses by providing clean drinking water, shade, and rest periods. And they should be held accountable for deaths caused by dangerous working conditions.
Protecting farmworkers on the job also means addressing the issues that make them so vulnerable in the first place. The complete marginalization of farmworkers is due to decisions made by our policymakers, as well as an exploitative food system that profits from their misfortunes. But these decisions can be changed.
And real action to address our climate crisis and protect our environment would have the added benefit of protecting our most essential workers.