Farm worker unions sue Washington state for safer work conditions due to coronavirus
Farm workers around Washington state are worried they are being put at risk for the coronavirus.
Thousands of workers are already pruning grapevines and fruit trees and getting ready to cut asparagus, while thousands more will soon be arriving to tend to other crops.
And if they get sick, food production could grind to a halt.
Two unions, the United Farm Workers of America and Familias Unidas Por La Justicia AFL-CIO, believe the state hasn’t done enough to protect farms from becoming the next hot spot for the coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19.
On Thursday, they filed suit in Skagit County Superior Court seeking an injunction and demanding the state set specific safety guidelines.
Union officials said they’ve waited more than a month for the Department of Health and Labor and Industries to come up with definitive rules.
The injunction is currently scheduled to be heard May 1.
Agricultural workers contend they are being left in situations where they can’t practice social distancing.
They are loaded on buses heading out to the fields and sleeping in tight quarters, sometimes with as many as eight other people, Erik Nicholson, the national vice president for the United Farm Workers, told the Tri-City Herald.
They also don’t have access to hand-washing stations when they are in the fields, sometimes having to walk a quarter-mile to clean their hands, said Nicholson, who is based in Richland.
“They’re doing this essential work under the shadow of fear for their health and their families’ health,” he said in a news release.
“Without them, our food supply is at risk. We have an obligation to do everything in our power to protect these workers and protect our food supply.”
Mixed messages
The unions don’t have to look far for an example of what could go wrong if the coronavirus finds its way into a labor camp.
About 80 miles north of the Washington border in Kelowna, British Columbia, 14 migrant workers at Bylands Nursery contracted the COVID-19 respiratory illness and 60 more were placed in quarantine.
The labor unions say in the injunction filing this could be in Washington state’s future, but instead of acting quickly, the state is sending out mixed messages.
Shortly after Gov. Jay Inslee issued his stay-at-home order in March, farm worker unions began asking him to put an emergency order in place to protect ag workers.
Instead of setting specific mandates, state agencies sent out a series of suggestions on fact sheets, but weren’t clear about what was required and what wasn’t, say the unions.
“Grower and farm worker representatives expressed frustration about the fact sheets’ clarity on what was required,” according to the court filing.
In addition, the state Department of Health already had approved the labor camp designs without taking social distancing into consideration, the suit said.
Some new rules
For its part, the state Department of Labor and Industries promised to get requirements in place by Thursday, spelling out what they expect farms to do to make it safe for migrant laborers, said Tim Church, the agency’s communications director.
The Department of Health officials are working closely with the governor’s office, other state agencies, growers, community advocates and other stakeholders to make sure temporary worker housing is safe, said Amy Reynolds, communications director for the department.
The rules that were released after 5 p.m. Thursday said farm workers need to stay 6 feet apart while working and have hand-washing stations at “key locations.” The new state rules also required more cleaning and sanitizing.
The fact sheet gave suggestions on how to accomplish that.
But Nicholson said he’s concerned the state isn’t laying out a set of requirements growers must follow.
“What they put out today was guidance,” he said. “I can tell you, ‘Hey, don’t go faster than 60 mph, but I can’t stop you and issue you a citation. ...”
“We want binding rules so there is clarity of what is expected. We are hearing that there are growers that aren’t doing anything until they know what the state is requiring of them,” he said.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Farm worker unions sue Washington state for safer work conditions due to coronavirus."