Farmworkers-letter To Senators Fall 2009_1

JUSTICE FOR FARMWORKERS Dear Members of the New York State Senate: We, the undersigned farmworker allies, write to express our great dismay and alarm at the failure to date of the Senate to vote on the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act in 2009, which would extend to agricultural workers the basic labor rights enjoyed by all other workers. At times, opponents of the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act have argued for agricultural exceptionalism—that in contrast to other industries, a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to basic labor rights won’t work for them. Any industry in their position—having inherited the privilege to profit from legal exploitation—would argue the same. The truth is that this inheritance (the exclusion of farmworkers from basic labor laws) was born of a Jim Crow-era legislative compromise that for explicitly racist reasons excluded farmworkers, then a primarily African-American workforce. It is unacceptable to pretend to support prompt action on equal rights for farmworkers, while at the same time secretly opposing action. Failure to act to alleviate the unjust conditions farmworkers face would make the state senate a party to the exploitation. It is time to act. National Hispanic Heritage Month, which is a time to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the United States, closed on October 15th. This year’s theme was Embracing the Fierce Urgency of Now, a phrase borrowed from Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. During the coming weeks, we urge you to Embrace the Fierce Urgency of Now by bringing the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act to the floor of the Senate for a vote and ending the shameful legal exclusions that for too long have denied farmworkers equal rights. In hope, Kerry Kennedy, Founder, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Founder and President, Rainbow PUSH Coalition Hazel Dukes, President of the New York Conference of the NAACP Alan Lubin, Executive Vice President, New York State United Teachers Stuart Appelbaum, President, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Richard J. Whalen, International Vice President and Director, UFCW Region 1-Northeastern George Gresham, President, 1199 SEIU Phillip H. Smith, President, United University Professions Barbara Bowen, President, Professional Staff Congress Edgar Romney, Secretary-Treasurer, Workers United Terry Melvin, Director, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Region 1 Sonia Ivany, President, New York City Labor Council for Latin American Advancement Guillermo Perez, President, Capital District Labor Council for Latin American Advancement Zina Myrick, President of the American Federation of Teachers Black Caucus, New York State Chapter Dafny Irizarry, President, Long Island Latino Teachers Association Anthony Harmon, President, New York City A. Phillip Randolph Institute Shelvy Young-Abrams, President, New York City Coalition of Labor Union Women Arthur Cheliotes, President, CWA Local 1180 Bruce W. Both, President, UFCW Local 1500 Frank C. DeRiso, President UFCW Local One Richard Abondolo, President, UFCW Local 342 Bob Mantello, President, Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local #2 Dan Cantor, Executive Director, Working Families Party Peter Fontanes, NYS Director, League of United Latin American Citizens Chung-Wha Hong, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the Fierce Urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand's of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Reverend Richard Witt, Rural & Migrant Ministry Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition

Cc:

Hon. David Paterson, Governor of New York

"We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the Fierce Urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand's of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.