Farmworkers have always been essential workers
Read our Executive Director’s Op-Ed in USA Today and our COVID-19 Statement of Needs & Demands in Response to this Pandemic
Alianza member organization Líderes campesinas collaborate with Farmworker Justice on COVID19 safety PSA’s in Mixteco and Spanish.
Leaders from Alianza member organization Líderes Campesinas share their experience with a COVID19 test and the meaning of a result, as well as other practical tips for practicing safety in the fields. The video is in Mixteco subtitled in Spanish. It is a collaboration with Farmworker Justice under the PODER en SALUD project.
Alianza Member Farmworker Association of Florida has been organizing vaccination events for the campesina community across the state since March of 2021.
Claudia González of FWAF shares information about her organization’s efforts to get their members vaccinated across the state of Florida (video is in Spanish)
Our member organization Líderes Campesinas and partner organizations have been organizing COVID response efforts throughout California
For months Líderes Campesinas has organized food, water, and PPE distribution events in coordination with clinicians offering free rapid COVID-19 testing. Events have taken place all over the state of California. Now Líderes is partnering with coalitions throughout the state to bring COVID-19 vaccines directly to the campesinx so as to circumvent some of the challenges and fears campesinxs have when it comes to seeking out the vaccine, related to their immigration status and/or lack of health insurance.
In May 2021, Líderes Campesinas partnered with the United Farmworkers to bring the vaccine directly to campesinxs in the Central Coast area of California. Through this effort, 500 farmworkers received the vaccine.
You can check their facebook page for continuous updates about their next vaccination event.
Click the image above to watch a short video featuring some of the organizing efforts of Líderes Campesinas and partner organizations like Campesinxs a Campesinxs (a member of Rural Coalition) to bring vaccines to farmworkers.
Our member organization Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM) is working with the CDC to prevent & control infectious disease among migrant workers in meat packing industries
“Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM), a binational migrant rights organization based in the U.S. and Mexico, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have signed a five-year cooperative agreement to prevent and control infectious disease among migrant workers in protein (meat/poultry/seafood) processing industries. In its first year, the demonstration phase of the project aims to reach up to 19,000 workers in the Delmarva region (encompassing areas of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia) with guidance and best practices on disease prevention. The project will also support workers’ understanding of their rights and responsibilities relating to workplace health and safety. The initial effort is funded by a $1.7 million grant and will also provide data to the CDC to inform new guidelines and best practices, including vaccination strategies.”
To read the FULL press release click HERE
Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, was also featured in USA Today in February 2021, in an Op-Ed by Maribel Hernández and Reyna Álvarez: Migrant Workers: When We Caught COVID on the Job, We Went from Essential to Expendable. Both Álvarez and Hernández worked on H2-B visas in a crawfish plant in Louisiana last year when they got sick with COVID, along with100 other employees because they were “living in cramped quarters and working shoulder to shoulder.” When they decided to leave their job site and seek medical attention, they were fired on the spot and reported to immigration. With the support of CDM, they submitted a formal whistleblower report in June of 2020. However in December of the same year, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) dismissed their complaint. On May 19, 2021 Álvarez testified at a public hearing with the U.S. Department of Labor on the OSHA Whistleblower Program. She gave powerful recommendations to OSHA about how to improve the agency's services to whistleblowers like herself, including trauma-informed services.
COVID-19 Vaccine Resources for Residents of California
If you are a resident of California and are looking for locations near you that provide the vaccine, please click HERE for resources provided by the California Wellness Foundation.
Grupo A.M.O.R. LEADS VACCINATION EFFORTS IN CAMPESINA COMMUNITIES IN HOMESTEAD, FL
Grupo A.M.O.R. is a member organization of Rural Coalition and Alianza Nacional de Campesinas. They have been leading efforts to vaccinate the campesina community in Homestead, FL, as well as working to dispel fears within the campesina community related to the vaccine. In the video below, Irma Durand of Grupo A.M.O.R. shares more about their efforts. (Video in Spanish)
Irma Durand de Grupo A.M.O.R. (una organización miembro de la Coalición Rural y de Alianza) habla de sus esfuerzos de vacunar a la comunidad campesina en Homestead, FL. También habla de sus esfuerzos de combatir la desinformación sobre las vacunas.
Advocating For Farmworker Communities During COVID-19
Our Alianza Nacional de Campesinas is committed to raising the visibility of our essential farmworking women, men and communities working in the agricultural sector. In addition to the harsh conditions already faced by this essential workforce, the COVID-19 pandemic has left farmworkers exposed and in great need. Read about these needs and public policy demands necessary to protect those who feed our nation.
As Infections Spike, Alianza Launches a $500,000 COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. With Labor-Intensive Harvests on the Horizon, Advocates Sound Alarm
June 9th, 2020
(Oxnard, CA.) – COVID-19 contagion among farmworker communities from Arizona to Florida is increasing at an alarming rate, according to recent news reports, raising concern among advocates and organizers regarding additional challenges that upcoming harvests and hurricane season will have on this especially vulnerable group of essential workers.
“With more testing in place, our worst fears are being realized,” said Mily Trevino-Sauceda, Executive Director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas. “COVID-19 is spreading and immediate action is needed. As a result, we are announcing a COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund, with the goal of raising $500,000 to support the health and safety of farmworkers and their families.”
The Fund will support efforts for farmworkers and their families to stay safe, help slow the spread of the virus and cope with economic hardships created by this health crisis. It will provide resources for each of Alianza’s 15 member organizations, which are already working at the grassroots level to provide food, assistance with rent, utilities, internet access, hygiene products and protective equipment, among other basic needs.
Organizers with Alianza report another disturbing trend: misleading or inaccurate information is circulating among workers, causing them to not always follow recommended safety practices. According to Treviño-Sauceda, the Emergency Fund will also be used to support an intensified public education campaign to be carried out digitally and in all states where their member organizations operate.
“Not only must we assist in providing needed medical services, health and hygiene products, and financial assistance to families, most of whom are ineligible for unemployment insurance or social services, but it is equally imperative that we share basic information about the virus and best prevention strategies to communities where Spanish and indigenous languages are spoken,” she added. For more information on the Fund, please contact us.
ALIANZA IN CONVERSATION WITH DR. ANTHONY S. FAUCI, M.D., NIH ON THE IMPACT OF COVID IN FARMWORKER COMMUNITIES
On March 30, 2021 our Executive Director ,Mily Treviño Sauceda, participated in a discussion with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Dr. Anthony Fauci about the need to protect the Campesinx community in times of Covid-19.
