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farmworkers - especially farmworker women - continue to receive low wages and encounter wage theft, as they suffer an outdated, unjust immigration system.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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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PARA PUBLICACION INMEDIATA : December 9, 2022

CONTACT / CONTACTO : Yamiles Nunez, Social Media and Communications Specialist, yamiles.nunez@campesinasunite.org (832) 427-7234

Alianza Nacional de Campesinas Kicks Off $48.2 Million USDA Farm and Food Worker Relief Program

Alianza Nacional de Campesinas kicks off the $48.2 Million USDA Worker Relief Program this Monday, January 9th, in El Paso, TX. Over the course of three days, lead staff from Alianza, along with representatives from five of its member organizations - Campesinos Sin Fronteras, Líderes Campesinas, Campesinas Unidos de California, Rural Coalition and the Workers' Center of Central New York - and a close ally, the Migrant Clinicians Network, will train a team of regional organizers on program specifics.

Alianza received the $48.2 million grant from the USDA in October, 2022. The award is meant to provide relief funds to more than 64,000 farm and meatpacking workers who incurred pandemic-related health and safety costs. Alianza and its partners will coordinate a workforce of 113 community health workers and 65 administrative staff in 14 states and 30 municipalities in Puerto Rico so that eligible workers may apply for the one-time relief payment of $600.

"We applaud the USDA for providing this kind of relief fund for essential workers,” said Mily Trevino Sauceda, the Executive Director of Alianza. “Most farmworkers did not receive any PPE or any kind of support as they got ill with COVID19 working in the fields to feed our country."

Alianza and its partners will work on locating potential beneficiaries and distributing payments over the course of the next two years.

The relief funds are intended to defray costs for reasonable and necessary personal, family, or living expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Such costs include the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as expenses related to dependent care, and out of pocket costs for COVID-19 testing.

During the worst of the pandemic, Alianza and its member organizations launched food drives to keep families fed and raised money to assist workers who struggled to make ends meet. Alianza sees the USDA’s program as a continuation of such efforts, recognizing the importance that this program will have for the many families who have not fully recovered from the pandemic. We see this award, hopefully, as a beginning whereby our communities can come together, not only to receive resources, but heal and process the many traumas that the pandemic has caused in our communities.

Emma Torres, the Executive Director of Campesinos Sin Fronteras emphasized, "our essential farmworker workforce never stopped working during the COVID-19 pandemic as they knew how important it was to keep food on our tables. USDA has stepped up acknowledging that farmworkers need some kind of restitution for expenses incurred during the pandemic."

Alianza was one of 15 organizations awarded a grant through this funding opportunity. Click here for a full list of award recipients.

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Alianza Nacional de Campesinas Anuncia el Inicio del Programa del USDA de $48.2 millones Alivio para Trabajadorxs Agrícolas y de Alimentos

Alianza Nacional de Campesinas anuncia el inicio del Programa de Alivio para Trabajadores Agrícolas y de Alimentos del departamento de agricultura de EEUU (USDA, según sus siglas en inglés) de $48,2 millones este lunes 9 de enero en El Paso, TX. En el lapso de tres días, el personal principal de Alianza, junto con representantes de cinco de sus organizaciones miembras - Campesinos Sin Fronteras, Líderes Campesinas, Campesinas Unidos de California, Rural Coalition y el Centro de Trabajadores del Centro de Nueva York - y un aliado cercano, la Red de Médicos Migrantes, capacitará a un equipo de organizadoras regionales sobre los detalles del programa.

Alianza recibió la subvención de $48,2 millones del USDA en octubre de 2022. La subvención está destinada a proporcionar fondos de alivio a más de 64,000 trabajadores agrícolas y empacadores de carne que incurrieron en costos de salud y seguridad relacionados con la pandemia. Alianza y sus socios coordinarán una fuerza laboral de 113 trabajadorxs comunitarixs de salud y 65 personal administrativo en 14 estados y 30 municipios de Puerto Rico para que los trabajadorxs elegibles puedan solicitar el pago único de alivio de $600.

"Aplaudimos al USDA por proporcionar este tipo de fondo de alivio para lxs trabajadorxs esenciales", dijo Mily Treviño Sauceda, directora ejecutiva de Alianza. "La mayoría de lxs trabajadorxs agrícolas no recibieron ningún PPE, ningún tipo de apoyo cuando se enfermaron con COVID-19 mientras trabajaban en el campo para alimentar a nuestro país".

Alianza y sus socios trabajarán en identificar a los posibles beneficiarios y distribuir sus pagos en el transcurso de los próximos dos años.

Los fondos de alivio están destinados a sufragar los gastos personales, familiares o de subsistencia razonables y necesarios relacionados con la pandemia de COVID-19. Dichos costos incluyen la compra de equipo de protección personal (PPE), así como los gastos relacionados con el cuidado de dependientes y el costo de pruebas de COVID-19.

Durante lo peor de la pandemia, Alianza y sus organizaciones miembras lanzaron distribuciones de comida para alimentar a las familias y recaudaron fondos para ayudar a lxs trabajadorxs que luchaban para sobrevivir. Alianza ve el programa del USDA como una continuación de tales esfuerzos, reconociendo la importancia que tendrá este programa para las muchas familias que no se han recuperado completamente por efectos de la pandemia. Vemos este premio, con suerte, como un comienzo por el cual nuestras comunidades pueden unirse, no solo para recibir recursos, sino también para sanar y procesar los muchos traumas que la pandemia ha causado en nuestras comunidades.

Emma Torres, directora ejecutiva de Campesinos Sin Fronteras, enfatizó que "lxs trabajadorxs agrícolas nunca dejaron de trabajar durante la pandemia de COVID-19, ya que sabían lo importante que es poner la comida en nuestras mesas. USDA ha intensificado el reconocimiento de que lxs trabajadorxs agrícolas necesitan algún tipo de restitución por los gastos incurridos durante la pandemia".

Alianza fue una de las 15 organizaciones a las que se les otorgó una subvención a través de esta oportunidad de fondos. Haga clic aquí para obtener una lista completa de organizaciones aprobadas a distribuir este alivio.

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