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EPISODE 9: Essential Yet Unprotected: Farmworkers in America

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Episode Summary

They keep our farms running and our communities fed. But farmworkers suffer some of the most dangerous work conditions in the country.

Episode Notes

Exploitation, heat exhaustion in a warming climate, and a heightened risk of COVID-19 are among the many challenges farmworkers face—often magnified by undocumented immigration status. Why does the law fail to protect these essential workers, and how can advocates step in where the law falls short? In this episode we speak with a Vermont-based farmworker from Mexico, activists at the organization Migrant Justice, and Vermont Law School Associate Dean Jenny Rushlow to find out.

 

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Resources

Support and get involved with Migrant Justice

Call your legislator to support the Vermont Coronavirus Relief Fund for immigrant families

Donate to Movimiento Cosecha’s Undocumented Worker Fund

Donate to Justice for Migrant Women COVID-19 Relief Fund

Sew #Masks4Farmworkers

Sign up to milk cows in Vermont if farmworkers get sick

Download Housing and Employment Rights for Vermont Dairy Workers, published by Vermont Law School's Center for Agriculture and Food Systems

Read Associate Dean Jenny Rushlow's latest journal article on farmworkers and access to justice

 

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Brought to you by the Environmental Law Center and Vermont Journal of Environmental Law at Vermont Law School.