FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PARA PUBLICACION INMEDIATA : February 9, 2023
CONTACT / CONTACTO : Yamiles Nunez, Social Media and Communications Specialist, yamiles.nunez@campesinasunite.org (832) 427-7234
Farmworker Women Demand Change, Call on President Biden to Make Good on His Promises
Tonight, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (Alianza), will host its yearly conversatorio (webinar) in response to the Presidential State of the Union address. Centering the voices of farmworker women, while also inviting allies to this event, we discuss how the President’s vision of the country coincides with how we want to forward critical changes in terms of reducing pesticide exposure, ending gender-based violence against women and girls, protecting worker rights, and building a just and humane immigration system.
As we listened to the President give his State of the Union, we were encouraged to hear interest in a long overdue pathway to citizenship for farmworkers, as well as the need to deal with environmental problems such as climate change.
We were especially pleased to hear President Biden discuss the need for more worker benefits and protections, specifically, to have the right to organize and form unions, receive affordable childcare, earn living wages, and enjoy paid family and medical leave. President Biden also reiterated the importance of protecting reproductive rights and stressed concerns with our healthcare system, including the high costs of medications, the need to prevent and treat terminal disease, and medicare funding.
Still, we remain concerned that despite President Biden’s accomplishments and commitments to the issues listed above, farmworkers - especially farmworker women - continue to receive low wages and encounter wage theft, as they suffer an outdated, unjust immigration system. Farmworkers, in the workplace, are also too often subject to hazardous work conditions which include heat stress and pesticide exposure. Farmworker women also experience discrimination and violence at a disproportionate rate. Although they are essential to the operation of our food system and supply chains, farmworkers do not directly benefit from and are overlooked in infrastructure and economic policy.
We will raise these concerns as well in this year’s conversatorio , with our executive director, Mily Trevino-Sauceda, elaborating on the nature of central problems that farmworker women continue to suffer. Testimonies from farmworker women reiterate these challenges, while also highlighting the resilient, strong nature of our membership.
“Our goal is to continue to uplift the voices of farmworker women as we continue to combat systemic and structural barriers preventing us from having safer and just working conditions. The time to change the status quo for farmworker women is past due. We hope our policy and regulatory needs are met with thoughtful responses and immediate action.” said Amy Tamayo, Alianza’s National Policy & Advocacy Coordinator.
A link to the conversatorio can be found here.
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