After spending two winter seasons working California and Arizona fruit harvests, Rigoberto Escobedo Muñoz expects the loneliness of being away from his wife and four children in Tamaulipas, Mexico. But this winter it’s more heart-wrenching. When he headed north this time, his 9-year-old son was in the hospital undergoing cancer...
Wasco Farmworkers Strike. They Want Masks, Gloves.
After learning from the media that dozens of coworkers tested positive for the coronavirus, about 50 workers at a Wasco pistachio farm went on strike Thursday. The strikers are demanding free face coverings and gloves from Primex Farms so they can protect themselves from COVID-19, said Armando Elenes, vice president...
He Voted for Farm Worker Overtime. Farm Interests Try to Make Him Pay.
Agricultural interests have poured $420,000 in recent days into a push to unseat Bakersfield Democrat Rudy Salas Jr., who voted for a landmark bill in 2016 granting farm workers overtime. Justin Mendes, a Hanford city councilman, is the Republican challenger in one of the few Assembly seats in California where Republicans...