Labor Day Reflection

Amanda Mainello
Sep 8, 2020
5 min read

Updated: Sep 13, 2020

“This text may have had a [reason to exist] ten years ago, but today, although written by the pen of a charming young lady, it seems dated. Are we still telling stories about the wretched?” – My Brilliant Friend translation (1)

In My Brilliant Friend (my latest binge series) "the wretched" are the poor villagers living outside Naples, Italy. Finishing this series around Labor Day this year inspired me to write on some of the exploitative labor practices upholding our food systems and how they've been exacerbated in the time of Covid-19.

Labor Day was originally a day to celebrate the laborers of the United States. The U.S. Department of Labor states, “it constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country” (2). After years of labor protests and local observations, Labor Day was officially declared a national holiday in 1894 (2). In the late 1880s the average U.S. worker (read: children, immigrants, those who are poor) worked 12-hour days seven days a week to earn their living. These hours coupled with the tragically unsafe working conditions spurred labor strikes and protests by workers who wanted to renegotiate their hours and pay with their employers (3). Some protests, like the Haymarket Riot of 1886 and the American Railway Union strike in 1894, turned violent (3, 4). Luckily, Grover Cleveland declared Labor Day as a national holiday on June 28, 1894 just days before sending federal troops in to handle the Pullman Company railroad strike (3, 5). Now, the first Monday in September is a holiday many Americans associate with barbecues and the end of summer.

And do U.S. agricultural workers have quite the summer to celebrate.

Earlier this summer as the coronavirus began rearing its head, United States cluster cases arose primarily in three domains: healthcare facilities, prisons, and meatpacking plants. Based on cluster data reported as of 6/9/2020 by The New York Times (6), healthcare facilities accounted for 51.2%, prisons accounted for 33.9%, and meatpacking plants accounted for 11.8% of the total of cluster cases.

As Americans stock their refrigerators with hotdogs and hamburgers, meatpacking facilities were among the most problematic hotspots in the United States coronavirus pandemic. Facilities owned by companies such as JBS USA, Smithfield Foods, and Tyson Foods, resulted in nearly 15,600 reported coronavirus cases out of the 132,166 total cluster cases reported as of 6/9/2020 by The New York Times (6). How were these workers compensated?

On the farm, the situation was not much better. Before explaining, it’s important to take a step back and consider the farmworker labor structure in the U.S.

Two surveys can be useful for understanding farmworker demographics (8). First, there is the American Community Survey (ACS) from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census (8, 9). This survey is often sent alongside a census and asks about topics not covered in the census (9). Second, is the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) which is conducted by government officials via face-to-face interviews with hired workers on a farm in an attempt to understand the legal status of hired farmworkers (8). The NAWS does not include H-2A or livestock workers (8).

In 2018, 90% of farmworkers (laborers, graders, sorters, managers, inspectors, supervisors, etc.) were U.S. citizens according the ACS, the first survey (8). However, since the late 90s, about 50% farmworkers are not legally authorized to work in the U.S. according to the NAWS, the second survey (8). In addition to the troubling discrepancies in these numbers, neither of these surveys account for authorized temporary workers.

Foreign born workers must obtain an H-2A visa to legally work temporarily in the U.S. crop production. H-2A farmworkers make up 10% of the agricultural workforce. The number of H-2A positions has increased five-fold in recent years. In 2005, there just over 48,000 certified H-2A positions compared to 258,000 in 2019 (8). H-2A workers have transportation and housing covered through their employer (8). Through the Affordable Care Act, are able to receive subsidized health insurance (10), although in 2016 only about 47% of farmworkers report having health insurance via the NAWS (12).

In short, the success of the U.S. food system hinges on labor from other countries. How are these workers compensated?

Farmers were put in a tough place earlier this year when, in an effort to restrict movement of the coronavirus into the U.S., immigration restrictions were enacted and no new H-2A visas would be approved. Workers with previously approved H-2A visas were still allowed to work in the U.S. after renewing their visas (11). These immigration restrictions further strained the tight supply of farmworkers. In some regions, while food insecurity concerns grew, crops were left to rot in fields because no one was there for harvest (14).

Farmworkers that are available to work are exposed to dangerous aerosols and chemicals on a regular basis when they apply pesticides. Although there are personal protective equipment (PPE) standards, many of these PPE resources have be constrained due to Covid-19 (7).

H-2A workers may live in crowded houses with 20 or so other workers (11). Perhaps in the fields there is room for social distancing, but there is none at home. In a house this crowed, consistent hand washing and bathing can be financial strains due to the cost of water (11).

If any farmworkers do become infected with the coronavirus (or get sick in general), they often don’t have access to paid leave, overtime pay or Covid-19 testing. The Center for American Progress reports, “though Congress made free COVID-19 testing available to uninsured people through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, this measure excluded many categories of immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, H-2A workers, and Temporary Protected Status holders” (13). Farmworkers are also not federally allowed to unionize and therefore unable to collectively bargain for better working conditions (13).

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act was passed in the House last fall. This act may be useful for eligible undocumented workers to gain citizenship and therefore additional worker protections (13), but in the wake of the current pandemic, there are no safeguard in place for the population that upholds U.S. food systems.

So how are these workers compensated? They’re not.

Works Cited

(1) My Brilliant Friend, Season 2 Episode 8 The Blue Fairy. On HBO at: https://play.hbonow.com/episode/urn:hbo:episode:GXnuDvw8PmRtjhQEAAAL4?icid=hbo_signin_now

(2) U.S. Department of Labor, “History of Labor Day”. Online at: https://www.dol.gov/general/laborday/history

(3) History.com, “Labor Day 2020”. Online at: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/labor-day-1#:~:text=Labor%20Day%20pays%20tribute%20to,a%20federal%20holiday%20in%201894.

(4) History.com, “Haymarket Riot”. Online at: https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/haymarket-riot

(5) History.com, “How a Deadly Railroad Strike Led to the Labor Day Holiday”. Online at: https://www.history.com/news/labor-day-pullman-railway-strike-origins

(6) The New York Times, “Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count”. Online at: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

(7) Bloomberg Law, “Farms Could See Shortage of Protective Gear Amid Covid-19 Needs”. Online at: https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/farms-could-see-shortage-of-protective-gear-amid-covid-19-needs

(8) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, “Farm Labor”. Online at: https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-labor/

(9) United States Census Bureau, “The Importance of the American Community Survey and the 2020 Census”. Online at: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/about/acs-and-census.html

(10) Migrant Clinicians Network, “The Migrant / Seasonal Farmworker”. Online at: https://www.migrantclinician.org/issues/migrant-info/migrant.html

(11) NPR, ‘Planet Money’, “Food and Farmworkers”. Online at: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/821593542. On Spotify at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3iWr574IOUO2uFJGtuQ50S?si=OZHnZkQYQEGx94r-OIQ36Q

(12) JBS International, Inc., “Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2015-2016”. Online at: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/naws/pdfs/NAWS_Research_Report_13.pdf

(13) Center for American Progress, “Protecting Farmworkers From Coronavirus and Securing the Food Supply”. Online at: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2020/04/23/483488/protecting-farmworkers-coronavirus-securing-food-supply/

(14) Politico, “USDA let millions of pounds of food rot while food-bank demand soared”. Online at: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/26/food-banks-coronavirus-agriculture-usda-207215

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