A migrant worker is person that travels from one place to another in the search of work and better opportunities. Most migrant farmworkers in Minnesota are U.S. legal permanent residents or citizens that have a "home base" in south Texas or are Mexican citizens with permission to work in this country. Migrant farmworkers are actively recruited by Minnesota companies and their crew leaders to work in farm fields and food processing factories. In South-central Minnesota, the majority of migrant farmworkers work in seasonal canning jobs in vegetable processing companies. Farmworkers also are relied upon for work in tree nursery production and in the apple industry. Many workers and families return to Minnesota year after year and work with the same companies and farms. Farmworkers provide work that is critical to the success of Minnesota's agricultural industry, yet often face low wages, dangerous working conditions and substandard or non-existent housing. Despite these barriers, a 2000 Department of Labor study found that only 10 - 15% of migrant farmworkers rely on social services or government programs for food or income.
Migrant workers have been coming to Minnesota since the early 1900s. The majority of migrant workers started coming to work on the sugar beet industry in the Upper Red River Valley. Migrant workers are one of the most unprotected sectors of the working population. Many migrant workers start coming to Minnesota in early April to work on rock picking, weeding, and detasseling with local farmers. Then they move to the canning companies to work during the peas and corn season. By the end of October many migrant workers head back home to Texas after a long and exhausting season of work.
Why do they come to Minnesota?
Migrant workers come to Minnesota due to several reasons.
- Southern Texas lacks the employment options and offers low paying jobs.
- Workers feel attracted to work offered by companies because they offer work for the entire family and this could represent a good deal for migrant workers that look forward to make enough money to survive.
- Migrant work has become a custom and is rooted in migrants' way of living, many of them are second or third generation of migrant workers that have followed the steps of their parents and grandparents.
- Many migrant workers have assimilated injustice and mistreatment and have the idea that they have to work hard and leave complaints behind in order to keep their jobs.
Additional resources
For more information on Migrant workers and Centro Campesino follow the following links:
CURA Report on Migrant Farmworkers in South-Central Minnesota
http://www.cura.umn.edu/report...
HACER Housing survey - Migrant Worker Housing: Survey Results from South-Central Minnesota (English version begins on page 39)
http://www.hacer-mn.org/PDFs/m...
National Center for Farmworker Health
http://www.ncfh.org/aaf_01.php
Children in the Fields: The Inequitable Treatment of Child Farmworkers
http://www.afop.org/child_labo...
Migrant Workers' Children
http://users.owt.com/rpeto/mig...
Human Rights of Migrant Workers
http://www.pdhre.org/rights/mi...
United States Farmworker Fact Sheets
http://www.ciw-online.org/fwfa...
Pesticides and Farmworkers
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ohb/AgIn...
Ten Commitments to Protect Farmworkers from Toxic Pesticides
http://www.panna.org/resources...
Migrant Worker Fact Sheets
http://www.lawhelpmn.org/MN/St...
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