Indigenous farmworkers in Central California have little safety net when it’s too hot

When the weather heats up, so do concerns from Indigenous farmworkers who suffer from the high heat and sometimes lose work when shifts are canceled because of triple-digit temperatures in the fields.

Some point out that their age often keeps them from getting work. The reduced paychecks from these factors sometimes leaves them unable to cover the expense of basic needs.

In recent weeks, the Central Valley has been baked by temperatures over 110 degrees.

Alejandra Ordaz, a 70-year-old Madera resident of Mixtec origin, said she’s not being called to work because contractors or farmers sometimes feel she can’t withstand the heat.

“I have been working in the fields for a while. I am old now and for the same reason that it is very hot, they don’t give me work,” she said in Mixtec, through a translator. “And right now I am struggling with food, paying rent, and I don’t have money to cover my expenses.”

Bryan Little, director for employment policy with the California Farm Bureau Federation, said at this time of the year agriculture industry employers “will frequently begin work as early as it’s feasible” during the day, when there is enough light but it’s not too hot. “They will have people work until it becomes hot enough that it isn’t safe.”

Little said employees might dislike (reduced hours due to heat), but an employer is still responsible for ensuring worker safety, and that might mean reducing hours. “You are kind of in this interesting rock and a hard place,” he said.

Farmers or labor contractors are required to provide shade, water, and periodic rest breaks to prevent heat-related illness.

“As a representative of the Farm Bureau, I would not ever advise an employer to have these people working in conditions that are unsafe,” he said.

Juliana Ramírez Pérez, a 55-year-old farmworker, also has been affected by the high heat, she said.

Ramírez Pérez said that when temperatures rise, she works less than a regular, 8-hour workday. She also can’t stand the heat.

When she spoke with Vida en el Valle in mid-July, it had been two weeks since she had worked in the fields because she was told there wasn’t any work for her.

Ramírez Pérez, who has been working in the fields since 1998, said that when she does work, she usually leaves her house in Madera around 4 a.m. to get to the Visalia area by 5:30 a.m.

She recalled a recent incident when a coworker fell ill while picking grapes in high temperatures. It was only around 8 a.m. during their lunch time, but they had to call the foreman, and she was taken home.

“There was plenty of water and clean bathrooms,” Ramírez Pérez said.

Oralia Maceda Méndez, with Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities, said the government does little to help: There are no unemployment benefits when farm laborers are sent home early because of the heat.

She said for the last two years that her nonprofit has lobbied the state to implement a “Safety Net for All” program. Legislation AB 2847 (Unemployment: Excluded Workers Pilot Program). It would have extended unemployment benefits if an immigrant farmworker loses hours due to the heat. Gov. Newsom’s vetoed the bill in 2022.

Newson said the bill needed further work to address operational issues and fiscal concerns, including finding a funding source for the benefit.

Similar legislation, SB 227, (Unemployment: Excluded Workers Program) was reintroduced in the 2023-2024 regular legislative session. Maceda Méndez said her nonprofit, along with a coalition of over 160 immigrant and worker rights organizations, will continue to push for the bill.

The California Taxpayers Association opposes the measure, saying that the unemployment system does not have the financial ability to sustain any added benefits.

Little said the California Farm Bureau Federation doesn’t have a position on the legislation that could provide income assistance to workers ineligible for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.

Maceda Méndez said farmworkers like Ordaz contribute to the state’s economy.

“And now at this stage of her life, there are no benefits for the workers (in the field),” she said at a July press conference that focused on how hot weather affects farm laborers, financially and physically.

Maceda Méndez said many farmworkers leave their lives in the fields with no benefits or programs that they could be eligible for because many Indigenous farmworkers lack legal status to receive benefits, such as unemployment.

Laura Paz, who is originally from Oaxaca and lives in Fresno, said she works during the tomato season, but because of the high temperatures her hours are from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. or 8:30 a.m.

“We have very little money left,” said Paz, who would like to have unemployment benefits when her hours are cut.

With fewer hours during hot days, Paz said she still must pay for childcare as well as transportation to the work site that usually takes an hour from her Fresno home.

“It is a call to the authorities that represent us at the different levels of government,” said Maceda Méndez, “to ensure the well-being of farm workers for the contribution they are making in harvesting crops, and above all, the economy of this state and this country.”