skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

In Ohio, Push to Expand Rights for Migrant Workers

play audio
Play

Friday, December 9, 2022   

A labor union representing agricultural workers in Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia says it isn't waiting around for federal immigration reform to continue pushing for undocumented workers' rights.

Nearly 200 delegates recently voted to re-elect union President Baldemar Velasquez to a 14th term. Velasquez said the Farm Labor Organizing Committee plans to focus on defending workers employed on some of the state's largest farms who often face wage and working-conditions exploitation.

"Laying the groundwork for talks we want to have with some of those big farms," he said, "and with the greenhouse industry in that Norwalk area."

According to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, thousands of migrant and seasonal workers enter the state each year to work on farms, in processing plants and at other agriculture-based businesses. An estimated 5,600 migrant workers currently are employed across the state.

Velasquez added that FLOC also plans to collaborate with other unions in fields where undocumented workers are overrepresented.

"The United Food and Commercial workers, a landscaping/greenhouse type of effort further east in Ohio," he said, "so we want to make sure we partner with other unions who have an interest in this, because it's going to help raise the boat for everybody."

Looking forward to the next four years of his term, Velasquez said one of the union's biggest priorities will be family farms. He pointed out that the narrative that pits farm workers against farmers must be changed, and noted that small farmers and migrant workers have shared economic interests.

"One of the resolutions we passed was to form an alliance between small family farmers and farm workers and negotiate 'up' in the supply chain," he said, "creating pressure so we can create a sustainable pricing system to maintain those small family farms, so that we can preserve our jobs."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says wages for crop and livestock workers have risen 1.1% annually over the past three decades. Within the last few years, farm wages grew by nearly 3%, largely due to producers' difficulty finding farm labor.

Disclosure: Farm Labor Organizing Committee contributes to our fund for reporting on Livable Wages/Working Families, Rural/Farming, Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021