Many farmworkers who come to the United States from other countries face appalling living conditions, for example sharing a living space with 10 to 15 people. In addition, their income is not sufficient to provide for a retirement, funeral or medical plan, leaving older people helpless.
Agricultural workers are not valued by the employer and are considered "disposable," said a 71-year-old man who has worked 38 years of his life in the fields to Manuel Ortiz during the program Península 360 Radio, in collaboration with Marcos Gutiérrez of "Hecho en California“.
"We ask that we be valued, we are the ones who leave our 'skin' and blood on the wire, as the saying goes. Here the boss really doesn't value us, when you grow up they don't give you work anymore, here we are disposable.”, said the farm worker who preferred to remain anonymous.
On this subject, The New York Times published an article called “Retirement without a safety net: The plight of America's aging farmworkers”, Of which, Anna Lee Mraz, sociologist and CEO of Peninsula 360 Press, commented that it addresses how migrants who have worked for years on American farms, when they are reaching retirement age, face a difficult life without Medicare or social security.
The article tells stories of different farmers from Florida, California, and other states, where similarities were noted, for example: currently there is a decrease in workers due to the danger they face in reaching the United States, it indicates that the number of people who come to work in the fields has decreased by an average of 150 thousand per year.
This is mainly due to the barriers that have been imposed at the border, to the point that many workers who decided to stay since 2006 are now aging and creating a community of older people.
In California, the average age of agricultural workers is 41 years old, which means that there are workers who are 60, others 62 or older, and they continue working in the fields harvesting vegetables, with salaries that are not sufficient to guarantee a retirement.
The average salary of farm workers in the United States is $14.62, around $20,000 a year, which prevents them from covering other expenses, while their access to health care is limited, so any medical service is at their own expense.
"This article highlights that the few savings that the workers have are being saved for their funeral expenses. There is even a lady who mentions: I will surely die in the countryside and she has her savings there so that they can bury her.”, added Anna Lee Mraz.
In California, Oregon and Washington, undocumented farmworkers are entitled to health care and overtime pay. But most states offer them no benefits.
For decades, retirement was not an issue — farmworkers would cross the U.S.-Mexico border for the harvest and then return home until it was time to start the next season again. But this kind of circular migration became increasingly risky and costly as successive U.S. presidents, starting in the 1990s, implemented barriers, placing technology and agents along the border to stem illegal entries.
In the article of The New York Times, it is stated that In interviews last year in California, Oregon, Georgia and Florida, many workers said they had no retirement plan and needed to work to make ends meet.
In most cases, workers pay income taxes by filing tax returns, but this is not enough to benefit them, as more than 40 percent of the country's farmworkers do not have legal immigration status, according to estimates by the Department of Agriculture.
Farmworkers in 2020 earned an average of $14.62 per hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
There is an H-24 visa program for seasonal agricultural workers in the country, so they can come to work and return to their country each season, however, this type of contract does not apply to a retirement plan either.
In addition to not having access to or the possibility of having sufficient income to plan for retirement and a peaceful future, they face very deplorable housing conditions, where 10 or 15 people live in the same house, sharing a bathroom, kitchen and other common areas; the employers do not support the maintenance of these spaces, much less provide them with amenities.
Manuel Ortiz commented that Península 360 Móvil, a studio on wheels, reaches vulnerable communities such as those of farmers, and as part of its projects it has worked with farmers in the Pacific coast area such as Half Moon Bay, among other places, seeking to reach rural communities, which are the least served, and will be traveling to Northern California, to continue telling their stories.
Manuel Ortiz explained that “the fields in California are the most difficult to access. It seems that the workers live in concentration camps. As soon as you set foot in the field with a camera, the bosses immediately attack you, because they do not want to expose the working and living conditions of the peasants.”.
He added that it is very complicated to document what happens in agricultural fields and very difficult to gain people's trust, but he is working to create a relationship of friendship as happens in community journalism.
The farmers are very afraid to talk, when you approach the farmers, they will say that they are fine, that everything is fine and that they are better than in other places, said Manuel Ortiz. However, he added that as you go deeper and gain confidence, they really tell you how things are.
Manuel Ortiz said that, in a meeting he had with people from Mexico and other countries who are in the United States, someone said that after spending 2 or 3 years in the United States, Mexicans have few economic problems being on “this side.”
"I commented that it depends on which community we are talking about, because the peasants who are the ones who work the most, can be like the man interviewed, who after 38 years of working lives in very deplorable conditions.”, added Manuel Ortiz, while highlighting that very little is known about this topic.
Finally, Anna Lee Mraz He commented that on one of his visits, he had the honor of entering a house to heat tortillas, a place where 15 people live, where the joints between the roof and the walls could be seen tilted, which puts them at risk: "Homeowners should pay more attention to the living conditions of their workers”.
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