Labor

Breaking: Judge orders Trump administration to reinstate farmworker wage survey

Likely preventing pay cuts to the thousands of U.S. farmworkers toiling through the pandemic, a federal judge on Oct. 28 squashed the Trump administration’s bid to halt a longstanding survey that determines the minimum wage... more »

Cornell seeks ways to minimize COVID-19 cases in food plants

The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened the nation’s food supply, in part due to food industry workers falling ill, which reduces the workforce and can lead to temporary facility shut-downs. A Cornell-led project will use computer... more »

Status of H-2A adverse effect wage rate muddied by labor group suit

A lawsuit filed Oct. 14 in Fresno federal court by the United Farm Workers (UFW) and United Farm Workers Foundation alleges that a one-page notice recently issued by President Donald Trump’s secretary of agriculture, Sonny... more »

COVID-19 housing protections for ag workers extended by Oregon governor

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Oct. 23 extended COVID-19 protections for agricultural workers in employer-provided housing through the off season. Executive Order 20-58 addresses requirements related to physical distancing, sanitation, and isolation in order to... more »

Additional farmworker COVID-19 testing efforts set by Florida ag department

Commissioner Nikki Fried and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) are announcing additional COVID-19 testing sites St. Lucie and Miami Dade County for farmworkers as the fall harvest season begins. The product of a partnership with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and... more »

Workers restricted to farms under one grower’s virus lockdown

Each spring, a thousand or more Mexican tomato pickers descend on Virginia’s Eastern Shore to toil in the fields of Lipman Family Farms, enduring long hours stooped over to pluck the plump fruit and then... more »

Strawberry harvest workers in Oregon detected with COVID-19

Nearly 60 incoming seasonal contract strawberry harvest workers for Planasa Oregon Operations LLC on Short Road in Klamath Falls tested positive for COVID-19 before they started work about two weeks ago, according to company officials.... more »

Karla Cook to lead Equitable Food Initiative’s certification efforts

On its continued path of growth, Equitable Food Initiative, the workforce development and certification organization that partners with growers, farmworkers, retailers and consumer advocacy groups, has hired Karla Cook as certification manager. Cook brings extensive... more »