Union wins at New York farms raise hopes for once-powerful UFW

Speaking with The Guardian, our president Kerry Kennedy celebrates a milestone moment for the United Farm Workers. In the UFW’s biggest organizing success in years, it recently unionized 500 workers at five New York farms.

Recalling RFK Human Rights’ early involvement with the United Farm Workers, Kerry notes the historically bleak conditions for farmworkers.

“They could be fired for attempting to form a union, and they were systematically threatened with deportation if they complained to their employer about working conditions. They had no right to a day off each week. No overtime pay. No unemployment insurance. We worked for about a decade to pass the farm worker Fair Labor Practices Act, and that remedied nearly all those issues.”