"Our project uncovered that the working conditions for farmworkers are not just precarious but often exploitative.
As public health researchers, we define exploitative labor practices as those that take harmful advantage of a worker’s vulnerabilities—whether psychological, physical, sexual, social, economic or legal—to achieve financial gain. Workers often endure labor exploitation because of their economic needs and exclusion from policies that would ensure protection and safety as it is conferred to other occupations.
We find that labor exploitation of Michigan farmworkers includes excessive and unpredictable work schedules, penalties and wage theft. Wage theft can take the form of denial of payments through the piece-rate system, physical and psychological abuse, coercion and threats.
The fundamental dehumanization of workers and dangerous violations to basic human rights like access to drinking water and safe working conditions were noted by workers in the first study of the Michigan Farmworker Project, conducted from 2019 to 2021."
~ Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos, Alexis J. Handal
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