Even for a community that is no stranger to adversity, the past two weeks have dealt blow after blow to Western Washington farmworker families.
The catastrophic flooding that left historic damage to homes, farmland and communities throughout the region also affected farmworkers, some of whom say they had to choose between braving floodwaters and going without a paycheck.
Last week, just about 500 feet from the swollen Skagit river in the Mount Vernon offices of independent farmworker union Familias Unidas por la Justicia, or Families United for Justice, I spoke with political director Edgar Franks about the ongoing challenges facing the farmworker community in Skagit County and beyond.
Some of the union’s members suffered from flooded homes or have had to take in family and friends who were evacuated, Franks said, and the union received reports that some were working in dangerous conditions.
A representative from the state Department of Labor and Industries said last week they were looking into those reports.
“Already, people are on the margins,” Franks said, “so you take work where you can,” despite the danger.
In addition to the fields, workers have lost work due to business closures that are devastating to already fragile finances.
Franks said the winter months are especially tough, as farm work declines and workers pick up packing plant or other jobs in the offseason. If those businesses shut down, as many did during the flooding, there is no income.
Jose, a Burlington farmworker who serves as union president, said in Spanish through an interpreter he worried a lot about his safety and the safety of his family as the waters started to rise. He feared he would not get to his kids in time. Jose asked to use only his first name out of concern for employer retaliation.
He is currently working at a potato processing plant, but during the warmer months he works picking blueberries and strawberries and pruning blackberries.
“People are scared of being fired or laid off,” he said, “they're told to show up to work, even like right now, if they don't show up to work, they could be retaliated against. So even under dangerous conditions a lot … still left their families to go to work.”
Jose said it’s important for workers to remember they have rights and that they shouldn’t be afraid they will be fired for asking to not work during emergencies.
Alicia Garcia, 26, is a farmworker and a Mount Vernon mom of three, and the impact of the flood emergency has hit her family hard.
She said winter is always a time of struggle, and this offseason she worked in a seafood packing plant that was right next to the river and shut down during the flooding. She said the lost wages have made her wonder how she will pay her rent or groceries.
“When you're living paycheck to paycheck, and then a flood comes unexpectedly … you fall down all the way, you just can't find a way to get up,” she said.
She said the community also fears ICE, a concern that was heightened with the state’s deployment of the National Guard, which has been used during immigration actions in other states. Those concerns led Gov. Bob Ferguson to release a statement saying the deployment had nothing to do with immigration control.
When you're an immigrant living in fear of getting deported and separated from your family, it's even harder, she said. And so I feel like it's just a very frightening situation in people's lives right now.”
Rosalinda Guillen, the founder of Community to Community, which advocates for farmworkers and climate justice, said this latest disaster is yet another example of the disastrous impact of climate change.
Guillen said the latest flooding is the most recent of several major crises — previous flooding, the wildfire smoke, the heat dome and the COVID pandemic. Guillen wants policymakers to look at long-term policy and structural changes to improve safety and economic security for workers — which will in turn benefit all who rely on our food system.
“How long is it going to take for people to consider farmworkers in the community as equitable, dignified, respected human beings that deserve the same rights as everybody else?” Guillen asked.
State Sen. Liz Lovelett, D-Anacortes, who represents part of Skagit County, said this disaster has brought up a number of different vulnerabilities. “This is just lending itself to a broader conversation, because the 100-year-flood is now the every-five-to-10-year-flood. This isn't going to be a rarity. This is going to be an ongoing crisis that we're going to need to mitigate on a fairly regular basis,” she said.
Familias Unidas por la Justicia would like to see some kind of hazard pay to protect workers from feeling pressured to work during an emergency as well as protections against retaliation.
Ultimately, farmworkers want to be considered and not abandoned.
“Sometimes we feel that we're (treated as if we are) not worth much,” Jose said through an interpreter. “And it's not just here in this area, but everywhere we go.”
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