HEAL Farm Bill Backgrounder – Labor

In the 1930s, lawmakers agreed to exclude farmworkers from New Deal programs, including the farm bill, as a concession to Southern white legislators who sought to keep Black agricultural workers in poverty. In the first Farm Bill, crop subsidies were reserved for landowners, who were predominantly white. By contrast, the Farm Bill excluded Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers, who subsequently lost their land and livelihoods. 

Other laws ensuring workers’ rights and protections, like the 1935 National Labor Relations Act and the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, expressly excluded farmworkers, denying them rights that many of us take for granted, like overtime pay and the right to collectively organize. This separate classification of farmworkers has spawned an industry rife with abuse. Today, farmworkers — the majority of whom are foreign-born, mostly Latine or Indigenous to Latin America — confront brutal working conditions, substandard housing, and exposure to toxic pesticides and other hazards like heat stress, fires, and storms. Undocumented farmworkers in particular have limited or no legal recourse for addressing these types of labor abuses. One in five farmworkers have incomes below the poverty line, and less than half have health insurance, in spite of agricultural work being one of the most dangerous jobs in the US.

Beyond the farm gate, working people are also exploited in other parts of the food system, from meatpacking and processing to distribution and retail. 

A handful of meat corporations control a huge share of the market, and as a result, they wield enormous power. Meatpacking workers on slaughtering and processing lines (over 70 percent of whom are BIPOC) face long hours and high rates of serious occupational injuries. Many are denied bathroom breaks and sick days by their employers, who force them to work under increasingly unsafe conditions. For years, meatpacking corporations have been pushing for faster line speeds (which refers to how many livestock are processed per minute) in processing facilities. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) regularly grants line speed waivers to corporate meatpackers and has rolled back regulations in order to allow more and more facilities to operate beyond existing limits. Faster line speeds increase the likelihood of injuries to workers, including serious cuts and amputations, and make it harder for federal meat inspectors and quality control workers to catch issues with contamination. In addition, a lack of independent oversight and understaffing in many meatpacking plants also contribute to increased injuries to workers. Even as large corporate meatpackers impose measures that endanger workers’ health, they use a variety of strategies to evade paying fair wages, health care costs, and workers’ compensation claims. 

On top of failing to protect working people, the farm bill actually provides support to farm operators, meatpacking corporations, and vendors who employ harmful labor practices. Ever since the 1996 Farm Bill, subsidies and emergency payments have primarily benefited mega-farms, large food processors and distributors, and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), many of whom are notorious for labor violations. 

Although the food industry is one of the most profitable sectors in the US and the largest private employer in the country, nearly half of restaurant workers earn incomes below the poverty line. In many states, restaurant workers receive a tipped minimum wage, which means that their base pay can be reduced to account for estimated tips. The tipped minimum wage, along with other provisions that allow teenagers and people with disabilities to be paid below the minimum wage, exacerbate income inequality and keep many workers in poverty. Food workers face high levels of food insecurity and rely on food stamps at more than twice the rate of all other workers. Major corporations like McDonald’s and Walmart are among the largest employers of recipients of government assistance, underpaying their workers and relying on taxpayers to bridge the gap.