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Happy Labor Day from the UFW!

editor@labortoday.international
Sep 5
3 min read

Monday is Labor Day. As many celebrate with picnics and barbecues and enjoy fresh vegetables farm workers have labored to pick, now is a good moment to update you about all we are doing to support the people who harvest our food. They deserve the same rights as all workers and we're there fighting to make this happen.

Yesterday (Friday), the Fairness for Farm Workers Act was reintroduced by Rep. Adelita Grijalva in Congress. It was also reintroduced by Senator Alex Padilla earlier this summer. Farm workers have been excluded from basic federal wage laws, such as the right to overtime pay, since 1938. Today, with farm worker wages under attack, it is time to finally end this racist Jim Crow exclusion once and for all and give farm workers overtime like all other workers.

We’re out in the fields organizing. We’ve just won an election in the strawberries in Oxnard, CA for close to 300 workers. In addition, we had a contract implemented at Olive Hill Nursery in CA's San Diego County. In NY, we’ve had our second farm worker contract take effect in the apples at Wafler Farms. 

In the midst of the wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, our members have been out in the fields distributing N95 masks to non-union farm workers affected by the fires and smoke. And we are doing all we can to make sure farm workers everywhere are aware of the dangers of heat. In California, Washington and Oregon where there are laws we fought for, we are ensuring farm workers are aware of their rights. We also continue to fight for nationwide heat regulations and resist Republicans' attempts to ban life-saving protections permanently.

In the middle of these steps forward, we’re facing challenges. The Trump administration has been doing all they can to cut farm workers’ salaries and protections. We’ve been fighting back in the courts and in Congress and just had a huge victory last week. A U.S. Federal District Court ruled that the Trump Administration’s rule to cut farm worker wages under the H-2A program is illegal, as it undercuts the wages of U.S. workers. Trump’s DOL was ordered to issue a new, legal wage rule that protects the pay and jobs of local farm workers -- and possible backpay is on the table for workers from September 2, 2026 until a revised lawful wage rate has been set. 

This is a major step forward, but we know that attacks on farm workers will continue.

Republicans have already been moving a workaround bill to cut farm worker wages in Congress. In July, Rep. GT Thompson (R-PA) introduced The Securing Agriculture's Workforce Act (SAWA) that would expand the exploitative H-2A guest worker program to year-round positions and slash U.S. farm workers' jobs and wages. Shockingly, 7 Democrats have joined Republicans in co-sponsoring this vile legislation. More than 3,500 of our list serve members have taken action and sent an e-mail to their Congressmember. If you haven’t taken action, you can do so here. We urge you take action now as Members of Congress are making real decisions if they will support this harmful piece of legislation.

On Labor Day we pledge to keep fighting until every farm worker has fair wages, safe working conditions and is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.

Thank you for your support,

Teresa RomeroUFW President 

 
 
 

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Our demand is non-negotiable: we must establish a new public, non-state, pay-as-you-go, and solidarity-based pension system. This structure must be managed and administered directly by those it serves: active and retired workers. We refuse any attempt at privatization or the further erosion of our dignity by a government that views the elderly as liabilities rather than the builders of our nation’s heritage. The struggle of the retirees is the struggle of every union member today.

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NATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF RETIREES' AND PENSIONERS' ORGANIZATIONS OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

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