From FightBackNews.org, B.J. Murphy, 6 May 2012. Winston-Salem, NC – On a hot morning, May 3, over 200 people gathered in front of the R.J. Reynolds (R.J.R) Headquarters in opposition to the very severe working conditions forced on North Carolina tobacco farmworkers. In response, the police surrounded the front of the headquarters, along with every … Continue reading
From OregonLive.com, Dana Tims, The Oregonian , 27 Feb 2012. FOREST GROVE — A continued downturn in the region’s housing market is producing an unexpected upside in the form of 24 new apartments dedicated for farmworkers. Officials at Bienestar, a nonprofit organization based in Hillsboro, held a groundbreaking ceremony today for Juniper Gardens, a $5 million project … Continue reading
From LibWeb.UOregon.edu, John Bauguess, 11 Jan 2012. View the photo gallery. Farmworkers who travel hundreds of miles to Oregon to find work in the Willamette Valley often endure the hardships of labor camps. During summer 1988, I joined members of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN, or Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworker’s United) on visits … Continue reading
From MultiHousingNews.com, Jeffrey Steele, Contributing Writer, 18 Jan 2012. Delta, Colo.—Several years ago, southwestern Colorado growers decided to act on the pressing need to give farm workers affordable housing close to where they grow and harvest grapes, peaches, apples and corn. That spurred the development of a new farm worker housing community called Alta Vista … Continue reading
From NapaValleyRegister.com, Peter Jensen, 9 Jan 2012. Napa County’s housing director is asking the Board of Supervisors to spend about $110,000 to study the housing needs of farmworkers in the Napa Valley. The board is slated to vote on the proposal at its meeting Tuesday, and the money would come from the county’s affordable housing … Continue reading
From CivilEats.com, Gail Wadsworth, 1 Dec 2011. There is a sense of pride in this trailer park and the public spaces surrounding the trailers are, for the most part, pleasant and clean. But it’s clear that the trailers are old and in some cases unsafe. In fact, there are a couple of trailers that have … Continue reading
From DJCOregon.com, Angela Webber, 28 Nov 2011. In Washington County, people in approximately 750 farmworker families are employed by agricultural businesses, nurseries and wineries. But these workers are paid low wages, and their housing options are limited. The Hillsboro-based Bienestar organization, which owns and manages housing for farmworker families in Washington County, is seeking to expand … Continue reading
From HawaiiReporter.com, Malia Zimmerman, 16 Nov 2011. Bouala Phommachanh, 55, agreed to leave his wife and five children behind in the fall of 2005 to take a farming job in Hawaii after a recruiter visited his home in the Loas capitol of Vientiane. The Laotian recruiter promised that if Bouala answered the questions correctly at … Continue reading
From HECouncil.org, Hawaii Employers Council, Nov 2011. An employer hiring migrant farm workers through the H-2A visa program cannot credit the cost of housing that federal law requires the employer to provide the workers in the wages paid to the workers, the Eleventh Circuit decides. However, the Court agrees that the employer is entitled to … Continue reading
From MiamiHerald.com, Christina Veiga, 10 Nov 2011. The federal government says the Homestead Housing authority heaped benefits on employees while making a shambles of the units they managed. Having the Homestead Housing Authority as a landlord can be a nasty proposition: Its federally subsidized dwellings for farmworkers feature rusted bathtubs, broken cabinets, peeling paint and … Continue reading
