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I SUPPORT THE FARM WORKER BILL OF RIGHTS FOR COLORADO: SB-21-087

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Immediate
Call to Action:

All help needed – If you are reading this, we need your HELP and SUPPORT TODAY before our testimony hearing at 1:30pm MDT.

Many Representing Ag and Industry are working hard to encourage their members write letters to their senators. We need everybody’s help right now to also flood the boxes of senators and let them know that we are here. Ag Workers do not have organized power, money, and lobbyists and we need each and everyone of you to help us show our senators that their constituents care about these issues.

Here is a list of senators and their emails

WE ARE ASKING YOU TO: Write the senators this morning before 1pm MDT. Let them open their boxes to emails that let them know that you support Senate Bill- 087.

SUBJECT LINE:?”YES on 87.? SUPPORT AG WORKER RIGHTS”

Dear (write one to each member below),

I am writing to you in support of SB21-087: Agricultural Workers? Rights. This Bill will be an important step for Colorado agricultural workers, giving them similar basic rights to other workers in the state and repairing decades of harms. In a year when because of COVID we have seen both how essential our agricultural workers are, and how vulnerable, this bill moves us forward into a better post-COVID future.

Each day, our agricultural workers go to work to feed our state?s citizens, and they deserve to know they are granted fair labor rules, decent housing, access to healthcare and legal services, food and clean water at work, minimum wage, freedom from retaliation for bringing up workplace harms, and? historically, agricultural workers have been left out of the most basic of workplace protections such as meal and rest breaks, overtime pay, the right to collective action, and even guaranteed minimum wage pay. Their exclusion is linked to institutional racism and economic inequities that go back hundreds of years. The industry is dominated by immigrants and other populations facing inequities who must work under grueling conditions and long hours, it is vital that the state step in to ensure agricultural workers have the same basic protections as other workers in Colorado.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that farmworkers lack basic rights and protections Agricultural workers have served as essential workers during the pandemic as they kept our agricultural systems running safely and food on our tables. The work they provided during the pandemic only heightened the lack of protections available to them. Agricultural workers have not had access to protective equipment, have suffered from non-enforcement of social distancing protocols and other health guidelines, and have endured unsafe or unsanitary housing conditions.

Please cast your vote with your constituents who value our agricultural workers and want to see them and our state flourish and in favor of SB21-087.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME HERE
YOUR CITY HERE
YOUR CONTACT INFO HERE

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR COMMITTEE MEMBERS BELOW:

Committee Members and Contact Information: Business, Labor, & Technology Committee

Ag Workers: Who They Are

Historically, agricultural workers have been left out of the most basic of workplace protections such as meal and rest breaks, overtime pay, the right to collective action, and even guaranteed minimum wage pay. Their exclusion is directly linked to institutional racism and economic inequities that trace back hundreds of years to the predominantly enslaved labor force in colonial and early America and were codified in the 1930s as a way to get Southern legislators to support New Deal-era labor and employment protections.

The agricultural workforce is dominated by immigrants and other populations facing inequities who must work under grueling conditions, for long hours, exposed to the elements. At least 65% – 73% of people who labor in Colorado?s food system are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (with at least 82% of this group identifying as Latinx). The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that farmworkers are essential, but treated as expendable. It is vital that the state step in to ensure agricultural workers have the same basic protections as other workers in Colorado.

Collective Action

Collective action offers important rights for agricultural workers beyond wage raises — it is about their safety on the job and advancement of the agricultural industry.? The National Labor Relations Act, and the Colorado Labor Peace act, both exempt agricultural employers and employees. As such, agricultural workers cannot form and join labor unions, cannot engage in collective bargaining, and most importantly, cannot engage in protected, concerted activity, which is when two or more workers come together to talk to their employer about a concern.

Wages

Most farmers in Colorado are not obligated to pay wage rates that are afforded to workers in other labor intensive jobs.? While many agricultural employers in Colorado are already paid minimum wage, at least 40% of agricultural workers are not guaranteed minimum wage. Minimum wage is just that — the absolute lowest level of compensation for which workers in Colorado can be asked to trade their labor.? Agricultural workers should never be expected to work for less than the minimum wage in Colorado.

Overtime Pay

The nature of agricultural work often necessitates long working hours in concentrated periods of time, which is true for both farmers and agricultural workers. But, when humans work those long hours, it is extra hard on the body. It also often means extra sacrifices of time away from your family, causing increased costs for child care or to buy food that’s already prepared, and less time to take care of your life to rest and participate in our society. We believe that those sacrifices deserve extra compensation.?

Rest Breaks & Overwork Protections

Agricultural work presents distinctive challenges with considerations of weather, repetitive movements, and bodily needs, and therefore protections for worker safety and health are needed. Currently, agricultural workers in Colorado are entitled to 10 minutes of rest every four hours, but those 10 minutes don?t have to be granted consecutively. A one- or two-minute rest does not provide relief.

Right to Access

A confluence of long work hours, rural living, and workplaces and residencies that are made inaccessible by property owners results in agricultural workers without access to healthcare, legal services and more. Often, farm owners believe that their private property rights are more important than, and superior to, a workers right to visit with a service provider of any type in or on the employers property including in the worker housing.

Enforcement

Agricultural worker protection laws have historically been under-enforced due to lack of funds and the power and influence of employers, often workers fear retaliation and they have no alternative options to seek enforcement.?

Short-handled Hoe

In Colorado, some employers make their workers use an 18-inch short-handled hoe called ?el cortito?. These implements force the workers to stoop low to the ground to perform planting and thinning tasks. Workers are forced to step sideways down long rows of crops while hunched over, resulting in repetitive stress injuries to their backs. Prolonged use of the short-handled hoe results in painful and permanent disabilities.
Please mobilize. Please tell every individual you know who cares?about the issues of structural racism, exploitation and true regenerative agriculture which is an ethics for land and?People.
We thank each of you in pushing for change. We know making change is not easy and we need your support.

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