That’s right, the United Farm Workers (UFW) have commenced what they are calling the “Take Our Jobs” campaign, an unprecedented effort to call attention to the importance of immigrant workers to our food supply — and the difficulties agricultural employers have in maintaining a stable, legal workforce. As UFW highlights on their campaign website:
“We are a nation in denial about our food supply.”
Watch a farm worker slideshow from their site:
According to Marisa Treviño at Latina Lista:
The idea behind it all is to highlight the need for a legal workforce which can only be achieved through immigration reforms — without which the domestic agricultural industry could be crippled, leading to more jobs moving off shore.
In a letter to U.S. lawmakers, UFW offers farm workers who are “ready to train citizens and legal residents who wish to replace immigrants in the fields,” and encourages Members of Congress to refer their constituents to vacant farm worker positions.
It’s clear that undocumented farm workers are the backbone of United States agriculture. They make up the majority of workers in this crucial industry, yet many of these workers have no way to normalize their status – they often live in fear of exploitation and deportation. These workers and their advocates have been asking Congress for years to fix what most everyone agrees is an outdated, ineffective, and inhumane immigration system.
