Skip to main content

Farm Labor and the Struggle for Justice in the Eastern United States

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Latino Farmworkers in the Eastern United States

Abstract

Farm work has historically been performed by people of color who suffer widespread labor abuses and lack the power to make systemic change in the agricultural system. This continues today. Farmworkers are consistently treated as different from other employees, and are governed by different labor standards. There has been little to no effort to include farmworkers in the major labor laws, partly because of the difficulties organizing a primarily migrant, undocumented and disenfranchised farmworker population and partly due to the strong opposition by agricultural employers. This chapter focuses on the general strategies, which farmworker groups in the eastern US use to advocate for justice for farmworkers including organizing, advocacy, and service. It highlights national and state organizations that are involved with advocacy, paying particular attention to the role of research in working for farmworker justice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adams K (1998) Oral history of Vanessa. In: Manly L, Okie A, Wiggins M (eds) Fields Without Borders/Campos sin Fronteras: An Anthology of Documentary Writing and Photography by Student Action with Farmworkers’ Interns. Student Action with Farmworkers, Durham

    Google Scholar 

  • Arcury TA, Austin CK, Quandt SA (1999) Enhancing community participation in a public health project: farmworkers and agricultural chemicals in North Carolina. Health Educ Behav 26(4):563–578

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Arcury TA, Quandt SA, Dearry A (2001) Farmworker pesticide exposure and community-based participatory research: rationale and practical applications. Environ Health Perspect 109(Suppl 3):429–434

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Buss F (ed) (1993) Forged Under the Sun/Forjada bajo el sol. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor

    Google Scholar 

  • Castelloe P, Watson T, White C (2002) Participatory change: an integrative approach to community practice. J Community Pract 10(4):7–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fair Labor Standards Act. Code of Federal Regulations Pertaining to ESA Title 29 Labor Chapter V Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor. http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/flsa/

  • Ferguson C (1998) Oral history of Clarence Ferguson by Lian E. In: Living the American Dream: Economic Justice for Farmworkers. A compilation of documentary works by 1998 Student Action with Farmworkers interns. Student Action with Farmworkers, Durham

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferriss S, Sandoval R (1997) The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement. Harcourt Brace & Company, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Frias J (2007) Unpublished interview. Deposited in Duke University Libraries, Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library

    Google Scholar 

  • Galván L (2008) Interview with Leonardo by Kleist P and Resor A. In: Nuestras Historias, Nuestros Sueños: Immigrantes Latinos en las Carolinas/Our Stories, Our Dreams: Latino Immigrants in the Carolinas. Edited by Blair A. Published by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University in association with Student Action with Farmworkers, Durham, p. 47

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray M, Kreyche E (2007) The Hudson Valley farmworker report: understanding the needs and aspirations of a voiceless population. Bard College Migrant Labor Project: Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. http://mlp.bard.edu/index.edu. Cited 17 Jul 2008

  • Griffith D (2004) Challenges to farmworker organizing in the south: from the Southern Tenant Farmers Union to the Farm Labor Organizing Committee’s Mt. Olive campaign. Cult Agric 26:25–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hahamovitch C (2002) Standing idly by: “Organized” farmworkers in South Florida during the Depression and World Work II. In: Thomas C, Wiggins M (ed) The Human Cost of Food: Farmworkers’ Lives, Labor & Advocacy. University of Texas Press, Austin

    Google Scholar 

  • Mariscal J (2004) Negotiating César: César Chávez in the Chicano movement. Aztlán 29(1):21–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattern E (1998) Speech from FLOC rally at Mt. Olive park transcribed by Hicks J. In: Living the American Dream: Economic Justice for Farmworkers. A compilation of documentary works by 1998 Student Action with Farmworkers interns. Student Action with Farmworkers, Durham

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrissey M (1999) Serving farm workers, serving farmers: migrant social services in Northwest Ohio. Aztlán 24(2):95–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortiz P (2002) From slavery to Cesar Chavez and beyond: farmworker organizing in the United States. In: Thomas C, Wiggins M (eds) The Human Cost of Food: Farmworkers’ Lives, Labor & Advocacy. University of Texas Press, Austin

    Google Scholar 

  • Oxfam America (2004) Like machines in the fields: workers without rights in American agriculture. An Oxfam America Report. http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/publications/research_reports/art7011.html/OA-Like_Machines_in_the_Fields.pdf. Cited 8 Aug 2008

  • Payne S (1998) Oral history of Sheila Payne by Steele M. In: Living the American Dream: Economic Justice for Farmworkers. A compilation of documentary works by 1998 Student Action with Farmworkers interns. Student Action with Farmworkers, Durham

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez L (2006) Unpublished interview. Deposited in Duke University Libraries, Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library

    Google Scholar 

  • Schell G (2002) Farmworker exceptionalism under the law: how the legal system contributes to farmworker poverty and powerlessness. In: Thomas C, Wiggins M (eds) The Human Cost of Food: Farmworkers’ Lives, Labor & Advocacy. University of Texas Press, Austin

    Google Scholar 

  • Stall S, Stoecker R (1997) Community organizing or organizing community? Gender and the crafts of empowerment. COMM-ORG Working Paper, Volume 2. http://comm-org.wisc.edu/papers96/gender2.html. Cited 17 Jul 2008

  • Triplett W (2004) Migrant farmworkers. Congressional Quarterly Inc 1435:831–849

    Google Scholar 

  • US Department of Labor Employment & Training Administration. http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/h-2a_region2007.cfm

  • US General Accounting Office (1992) Hired farmworkers: health and well-being at risk. Report no. GAO/HRD-92–46. US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Vásquez VB, Minkler M, Shepard P (2006) Promoting environmental health policy through community based participatory research: a case study from Harlem, New York. J Urban Health 83:101–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Velasquez B (1998) Speech from FLOC rally at Mt. Olive Park transcribed by Hicks J. In: Living the American Dream: Economic Justice for Farmworkers. A compilation of documentary works by 1998 Student Action with Farmworkers interns. Student Action with Farmworkers, Durham

    Google Scholar 

  • VeneKlasen L, Patel D (2006) Citizen action, knowledge and global economic power: intersections of popular education, organizing, and advocacy. Just Associates. COMM-ORG Papers Volume 12. http://comm-org.wisc.edu/papers2006/darshana.htm

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Arcury, T.A., Marín, A.J. (2009). Farm Labor and the Struggle for Justice in the Eastern United States. In: Quandt, ., Arcury, T. (eds) Latino Farmworkers in the Eastern United States. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-88347-2_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-88347-2_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-88346-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-88347-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics