Washington D.C., Nov. 14, 2022: The United Farm Workers (UFW), the UFW Foundation, Pineros Campesinos Union del Norte (PCUN), and La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE) announce that more than 60 of their farm worker members will travel to Washington D.C. the week before Thanksgiving to push Congress to pass the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act, compromise legislation which will honor farm workers’ labor and help secure America’s food supply.
Farm workers from major agricultural states will be a part of the delegation including workers from Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Colorado, Texas, and Virginia. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in March of 2021 with 247 votes and with 30 GOP votes.
“Providing America’s agricultural workforce with the legal status and stability they have earned is a crucial factor in ensuring America’s food security,” said UFW President Teresa Romero. ”On Thanksgiving, when Americans gather with family to give thanks for the food on their table, we ask Congress to show its thanks to essential farm workers and their families by passing this common sense bipartisan legislation.”
“This Thanksgiving, families all over the country will enjoy the food brought to their tables by farm workers,” said UFW Foundation Chief Executive Officer Diana Tellefson Torres. ”Farm workers demonstrated during the pandemic that they are at the very core of our food security. These hardworking men and women have earned the opportunity to apply for legal status. Let’s give thanks to those who nourish this nation by passing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act through Congress.”
“PCUN is joining farm workers around the nation in supporting the Farm Workforce Modernization Act,” said PCUN Executive Director Reyna Lopez. “We believe now is the time. We can’t leave our most vulnerable workers without protections while they continue to show up for our country.”
“Our nation is facing unprecedentedly challenging times for American families. The unspoken heroes keeping our nation’s food supply secure are the farm workers and their families,” said LUPE Executive Director Juanita Valdez-Cox. ”Farm workers are at the forefront of keeping food on our tables in every zip code in the U.S., and they deserve protections. As Thanksgiving approaches, we can thank farm workers by passing this legislation to honor their humanity, hard work, and critical contributions.”
“Despite all the backbreaking work, the blisters and pain we face, farm workers put so much effort into ensuring that we all have our fruits and vegetables on our tables,” said Arizona farm worker Maria Yolanda Bay, whose farm worker husband contracted COVID and died while working in agriculture in 2020. ”I am going to Washington D.C. because farm workers deserve legal status. We work so hard for this country.”