Special Populations: Farm Workers

Our Position and Catholic Social Teaching

Farm workers are among the hardest working in the American labor force, and their daily activity is vital to food production in this country. However, their working conditions often include exposure to pesticides and chemicals, low wages, lack of health care or workers compensation, and substandard housing. Many are immigrants seeking better lives for their families, who face hardships stemming from their non citizen status in addition to the harsh working conditions in the fields. The positions of Catholic Charities USA concerning farm workers are rooted in Catholic social teaching, Scripture, and our local agencies’ experiences in providing services.

Catholic Social Teaching calls us to protect human dignity and prioritize the poor: Catholic social teaching emphasizes the inherent dignity of the human person and the responsibility of society to ensure that dignity. This teaching also calls us to meet the needs of the most poor and vulnerable in society, as outlined under the “preferential option for the poor”.

Scripture calls us to welcome the stranger: Both the Old and New Testament call us to embrace and care for the stranger and the outcast. God reminds us that as He “loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing,” we too “shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land” (Dt. 10:18-19). Jesus continues this tradition, teaching us to see him in the face of the stranger and serve him by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, and welcoming the stranger (Mt. 25).

Current Issues and Challenges

Many persons come to the United States to find farm work and provide a better life for their families. Some enter and work legally, under the federal H-2A Guest Worker Program. These workers are issued special work visas that bind them like serfs to a particular employer. All too often, the wages, housing, and working conditions provided by the employer are vastly inferior to what is promised by the program. Many immigrant farm workers live four or five to a room, go without medical care or protection from hazardous conditions, and are threatened or cheated by some unscrupulous employers. Many of their children go without the nutrition, health, and education assistance that would prepare them to make great contributions to our society. Even when working legally as “guest workers,” they typically go without the protection of U.S. laws on wages, worker safety, and living conditions. The vulnerability of undocumented farm workers, who cannot object to abysmal working conditions without fear of arrest, jail, and deportation, suppresses pay levels and fosters abusive conditions for legal immigrants and American citizens employed in similar jobs.

The Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act (AgJOBS) is a positive step toward reversing the discrimination and exploitation of the undocumented farm worker. It is bipartisan legislation that seeks to improve the working conditions and opportunities of farm workers. The legislation grew out of extensive negotiations between agricultural employers, farm workers, and labor union advocates. It enables a set number of undocumented farm workers to adjust to legal status through a two-step process, which includes proof of work history and continued agricultural employment during a 3-to-5-year period of temporary immigrant status. The worker’s spouse and children can also remain legally, and following the farm worker’s adjustment to permanent status may also adjust to permanent status.

Additionally, AgJOBS streamlines and improves the H-2A guest worker program. Guest workers would have the right to appeal to federal court for enforcement of their rights, must be provided housing by their employer, and must receive the highest of three wages: state or federal minimum wage, the local “prevailing wage” for a job, or the adverse effect wage rate (AEWR). At the time the bill was first introduced in 2005, the AEWRs were higher than minimum wage levels, protecting the livelihoods of low-income agricultural workers.

In May 2006, AgJOBS legislation was included in the comprehensive immigration reform bill (S.2611) passed by the Senate. The Senate immigration reform bill was never reconciled with the House bill during the 109th Congress.

Catholic Charities USA’s Position

Catholic social teaching calls us to recognize the inherent dignity and basic needs of all persons and to prioritize the poorest and most vulnerable amongst us. For decades, Catholic Charities agencies have provided services and outreach to farm workers, dedicating themselves to fulfilling the mandate of “welcoming the stranger.” Catholic Charities USA also advocates on policies that affect farm workers. Catholic Charities USA supports:

• Labor law, wage, and hour reforms and better enforcement of current laws protecting agricultural workers.
• Legislative reforms and improved enforcement of guestworker programs, including increased numbers of work visas, job portability, and a path to legalization for undocumented agricultural workers.
• Reforms of laws regarding child agricultural workers.