By: Samantha Guerrero | Date: September 25, 2024
Photo By: Ricardo Godina
If you haven’t heard, the U.S. The Department of Labor established new rules in 2023 to protect farmworkers from exploitation and retaliation. However, Attorney General Raul Labrador has blocked these protections, prioritizing profit over human lives. Idaho’s guest worker program, known as the H-2A program, continues to grow year after year, but guest workers face numerous challenges and unsafe working conditions when it comes to states like Idaho where industry is not held accountable for violations.
Let’s talk about it.
One area where our volunteers with IORC and the Idaho Immigrant Resource Alliance step up is to provide our farmworker community support through mutual aid and story collection. In the past 4 years we have collected, organized and provided our farm workers with warm clothing during the winter months when workers arrive and are not yet acclimated. Advocates like Ricardo Godina help purchase protective gear every year that many can’t afford and are expected to purchase for themselves. We Have provided food boxes on behalf of IORC volunteers and local small producers and businesses to support our farm workers because although they provide our food many are food insecure.
We often hear about the lack of breaks in extreme heat, the absence of shade, and the shortage of clean bathroom facilities. Workers report poor living conditions and being restricted to leave where they are hosted by the farms that contract them. Yet, many stories remain untold, as workers fear losing their opportunity to return to the U.S. for future work.
Idaho’s Attorney General, Raul Labrador, has blocked new federal rules designed to protect H-2A guest farmworkers from retaliation when seeking help for workplace exploitation. As farmworker advocates, we frequently hear about the injustices faced in the fields. This rule would have empowered workers in Idaho to seek justice without the constant fear of losing their jobs.The new rule aimed to hold agricultural employers accountable for labor violations, a critical step in a state like Idaho, which has one of the highest rates of labor violations in the country. Unsurprisingly, this would affect the profits of employers who regularly violate farm workers’ human rights. Raul Labrador has openly stated concerns that such protections could lead to unionization, resulting in higher wages—things that threaten those who are used to exploiting labor without consequence.
Labrador’s stance reflects a larger issue in our food system. Perhaps it’s time for changes that eliminate the need to rely on the exploitation of people or the importation of labor to avoid paying livable wages. The guest worker program is not a sustainable solution, especially as we face the realities of climate change. We need a transformative food system. To address the deep-seated injustices in our food system, we must first acknowledge the inequities and disconnects that allow exploitation to thrive in places like Idaho. Here, money is valued over people, and profit takes precedence over the environment and public health.
Our food systems are built on a legacy of colonization and slavery, and the effects are still evident today. Those who have been denied land—despite ancestral connections—are often the ones working it, facing enormous wealth gaps. This contributes to food insecurity, health inequities, and community-wide disparities. We want to see living wages for farmworkers so they can support their families, and justice for small and BIPOC farmers. We must move away from factory farms, which harm the environment and our communities. While organizing against these systemic issues isn’t easy, collective action builds power.
For now, you can submit your comments to let legislators and the Governor of Idaho to demand protection for farmworkers from harmful pesticides, as the agricultural industry continues to seek exemption from accountability for poisoning both workers and communities. Submit a comment to OSHA to protect farmworkers from heat and to be provided shade as we do not have any protections in Idaho in place. Engage with the upcoming Farm Bill that allows for billions to be invested into agriculture and how our food is grown.