latinofarmers
U.S. Labor Secretary Assures Black Delta Workers His Office Will Combat
Racist Hiring Practices Used By White Farmers
U.S.
Labor Secretary Assures Black Delta Workers His Office Will Combat Racist
Hiring Practices Used By White Farmers
U.S.Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh
(6th from left) and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (second right) with Black
farmers in the Delta involved in the Pitts Farm lawsuit, during a meeting at
the Mississippi Center for Justice in Indianola, Thursday, June 30, 2022.
Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
By SARA DINATALE - MISSISSIPPI TODAY
Fri,07/01/22-11:34AM, 343 Reads 7,054
Statewide
https://www.enterprise-journal.com/politics-state/us-labor-secretary-assures-black-delta-workers-his-office-will-combat-racist-hiring-62bf21fc7cc37#sthash.GvXc4zLY.ErMfUW3m.dpbs
U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told
Black farm workers that his office would combat the racist wage and hiring
practices by white farm owners during his first visit to the Mississippi
Delta Thursday.
The Department of Labor head’s pledge
to local workers comes after a Mississippi Today investigation uncovered a
pattern of farm owners skirting federal regulations to underpay Black workers
in addition to pushing them out of jobs in favor of foreign workers – mainly,
white men from South Africa.
“I can’t promise you today that things
are going to change overnight,” Walsh told local farm workers. “But l can
promise you that it will not be 10 years from now, it will not be five years
from now… it will not be one year from now. When I get back to my office in
D.C. … we are working on this.”
Walsh met with seven men named in a
lawsuit against Indianola’s Pitts Farms at the Mississippi Center for Justice
office in Indianola. Also in attendance was U.S. Congressman Bennie Thompson.
“What I heard today in this meeting
was discrimination. What I heard today in this meeting was racism,” Walsh
said. “I don’t know where the senators of the state are. I don’t know where
the governor of the state (is), and I certainly don’t know where the
congressional delegation in the state is because you have workers in this state
that are being taken advantage of and discriminated against.”
The Mississippi Center for Justice,
which offers free legal services, has filed two lawsuits that accuse farm
owners of not only paying Black workers less than their white counterparts, but
also pushing them out of their jobs.
One of the attorneys, Sharkey County
native Ty Pinkins, shared new details regarding alleged discrimination on
Delta farms that had not previously been shared publicly. The examples
mirrored the experiences many of the workers lived through during Jim Crow.
Pinkins said workers reported that
while white South Africans were able to use indoor bathrooms, Black local
workers were forced to relieve themselves outdoors. Pinkins shared another
incident in which he said white South African workers were provided cold
water while Black workers were told they needed to buy their own.
Mississippi Today’s investigation –
“Exploited” – found at least five Delta farms that paid their local workers,
who are mostly Black, less money per hour than foreign workers who came to
work in Mississippi on agriculture visas through the H-2A program.
Walsh said his office is examining the
program so it can no longer be misused by farms – especially by farms in
regions, like the Delta, with high rates of unemployment. The H-2A program is
intended to fill gaps in the workforce where enough local workers are not
available.
U.S.Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh,
speaks to Black farmers, community leaders and politicians regarding the
exploitation of Black farmers in the Delta, during a meeting at the
Mississippi Center for Justice in Indianola, Thursday, June 30, 2022. Credit:
Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
“We’re going to make sure this program
is run the way it’s supposed to run and that employers are actually doing
their due diligence to make sure workers that worked (for farms) in previous
seasons are offered their jobs back,” Walsh told Mississippi Today.
The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division is
responsible for investigating labor violations regarding pay and has regional
offices across the country. In 2020 and 2021, Walsh said the division had 60
agricultural investigations that recovered $1 million in missing wages to
workers.
A Mississippi Today analysis of DOL
data found that of the roughly 400 Mississippi farms investigated over 15
years, 81% were found to have violated wage regulations. That is about 10%
higher than the national rate.
“I’m no fool,” Walsh added. “I know
that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Audrey Hall, the director of the DOL’s
Wage and Hour Division in Jackson, said her agents are currently
investigating several Delta farms though she declined to specify a number.
She also said her office hired a new agent based in Greenwood.
“At a state level we don’t have a
Mississippi Department of Labor,” Thompson, the congressman, told the
gathered crowd of Delta leaders. “That means if not for the federal
government, these gentlemen we have here today would not have anyone to
complain to.”
Thompson thanked Walsh for coming to
Mississippi, but also asked for follow through on labor policies to protect
Black farm workers.
Mississippi Today’s investigation
found that while the DOL did audit Pitts Farms and others that underpaid
Black workers, the audits only spanned two-year time frames. That means they
did not cover the full span of time the farms were using H-2A workers.
Pinkins and others have called for
that standard two-year scope to be expanded. In addition, Pinkins and the
Mississippi Center for Justice want broader audits done across the Delta to
fully capture the extent of racist wage and hiring practices.
Among the seven Pitts Farms workers at
Thursday’s event were Andrew Johnson, brothers Richard and Gregory Strong,
and Wesley Reed, all of whom were featured in Mississippi Today’s
investigation. All seven men spoke one-on-one with Walsh Thursday morning.
“It’s June 30, 2022, and this
conversation I had in that room a minute ago could have been the same
conversation that had happened 50 years ago,” Walsh said following their
talk.
Walsh continued his Mississippi visit
by attending a roundtable discussion at Jackson State University. There, he
met with Black women leading the state’s union and organizing efforts.
Hall, the local DOL director, made a
few comments before Walsh joined the panel.
“Sec. Walsh has heard the cry of
workers in Mississippi,” she said.
The room applauded.
Editor’s note: The Mississippi Center
For Justice President and CEO Vangela Wade serves on Mississippi Today’s
board of trustees.
-- Article credit to Sara DiNatale of
Mississippi Today --
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