Experiences of the Migrant Farmworkers during the Syndemic Due to COVID-19 in Spain

The present article addresses the COVID-19 syndemic, that is, the interaction of SARS-CoV-2 with other diseases that interact and are determined by patterns of social inequality. The living and working conditions of migrant farmworkers increases the transmission of COVID-19. Descriptions of the experiences of migrant farmworkers provided by the professionals from different organizations that tend to them allowed the authors to discover the syndical nature of COVID-19. This study is based on qualitative descriptive research. Seventeen workers from different organizations participated in the study, through in-depth interviews between January and June 2022. A thematic analysis was performed to analyze the qualitative data. Two main themes emerged: Non-compliance with the collective labor agreement, and non-compliance with workplace health and safety standards. The results suggest that the adverse living and working conditions of the migrant farmworkers increased their risk of COVID-19 infection, due to the lack of compliance with the health measures decreed. The vulnerability experienced by migrant farmworkers increased work conflicts and prompted their mobilization to fight for their rights. © 2023 by the authors.

The Women's Role in the Resilience of Farmers' Households during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Gubugklakah Village, Poncokusumo District, Malang Regency

The cause of rural changes, in terms of demographic, technological developments, climate changes, and the Covid-19 pandemic potential to cause vulnerabilities, especially for women as individuals in household members. These must be responded with livelihood resilience by involving the women's role to contribute in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. This study aims to (1) describe the vulnerabilities of farmers' households and (2) analyze women's role in household resilience through the use of livelihood assets during the Covid-19 pandemic. This research was conducted in Gubugklakah village, Malang regency as a tourist village affected by the closure of TNBTS tourist visits due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This research used the simple random sampling technique, with total sample of 64 women farmers. Data were analyzed using WarpPLS software. The results showed that farmers' households experienced several vulnerabilities by that the households' livelihood assets: natural, physic, human, social and financial capital can be optimized to achieve a degree of resilience. The women's role in resilience efforts is as the core of the household, because all financial cycles involve housewives' role, such as reducing consumption expenditures, selling jewelry assets, taking savings, involving in farm worker, and others.

COVID-19 Education and Resource Development for Punjabi-Speaking Sikh Farmworkers in California.

OBJECTIVE: While the vast majority of farmworkers in California are Latinx, a small proportion of the farmworkers are Asian Indian who primarily speak Punjabi. To date, there are few COVID-19 resources developed that specifically target Punjabi-speaking farmworkers. This study examines the COVID-19 educational needs of Punjabi-speaking farmworkers in California and aims to inform future development of educational materials for Punjabi-speaking farmworkers. METHODS: During early 2021, a two-phase qualitative study was conducted. In Phase 1, five key informant interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide to assess the content, visual, and cultural relevance of current COVID-19 educational resources. Based on informant feedback, new agriculture-specific COVID-19 educational resources were developed in Punjabi. In Phase 2, three focus groups were conducted (in Fresno and Yuba Counties) with five participants in each group to evaluate the newly developed COVID-19 resources. RESULTS: Informant interviews showed that Punjabi-speaking farmworkers preferred printed handouts, videos, and radio messages to receive COVID-19 related information. Participants preferred 8-1/2"x11" sized printed handouts that were colorful and had culturally relevant photographs. Participant video preferences included live action videos that were short (1-3 mins) with characters representing the Punjabi community. A substantial majority of focus group participants approved the newly developed COVID-19 educational and safety resources. CONCLUSION: Current COVID-19 resources are not meeting the educational needs of Punjabi-speaking farmworkers. This community needs COVID-19 educational and safety materials that are culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate to be available in different formats: handouts, videos, and radio messages.

Acts of Citizenship in Time and Space among Agricultural Migrant Workers in Quebec during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Migrant farm workers recruited under Canada's temporary employment programs work in difficult environments, under poor working conditions, and live in unsafe housing in remote rural communities. Fearful of repatriation or replacement, many accept their working and living conditions as part of a necessary sacrifice to improve their living conditions and those of their families in the countries of origin. At the same time, some migrant farm workers assert their agency by escaping from farms, subverting regulations, or challenging various forms of discipline used to control their bodies and activities. Following Isin and Nielsen (2008), we refer to these actions as "acts of citizenship." Drawing on research conducted among migrant farm workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the province of Quebec, Canada, we situate these acts, particularly the tendency to escape from abusive and exploitative working relationships, in a particular space and time shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, we demonstrate the link between these acts and certain conditions and opportunities that arose at that time, such as increased support for migrant farmworkers by a non-governmental organization and the facilitation of movement of migrant farmworkers across the Canada-U.S.-border by the "migration industry."

A Lost Opportunity? Collective Demands and Migrant Farmworkers in Costa Rica during the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic induced an overexposure of migrant farmworkers' poor working and living conditions in Costa Rica's northern border area and underscored the country's dependence on migrant labor. This created a unique opportunity to position pro-migrant concerns and demand actions from the state. In this article, we assess if and to what extent the actions of the Costa Rican state were influenced by migrant demands, or whether other priorities guided policy. Based on a novel database on protest and collective action (Protestas-IIS) that is fed with national and local newspaper articles, we analyze the demands made by migrants, the private sector and NIMBY movements, and state responses. Our findings suggest that the latter prioritized market concerns and antiimmigrant interests, thereby underscoring lessons from the literature that migrants are among the politically most disenfranchised in society. Their demands were only partially responded to by the state, and only concerning issues that aligned directly with public concerns, in this case related to health.

Voices in the fields. Migrant farmworkers during COVID-19 in Spain and new forms of activism for dignity

The health crisis has revealed many of the structural and endemic problems that have existed in the agriculture sector in Spain over the last two decades: the high volume of foreigners in an irregular situation, the miserable informal settlements and substandard housing in which they are forced to "reside", and the extreme physical and social vulnerability of the workers, including those employed under official seasonal labor mobility schemes. These structural problems have traditionally been ignored by the administration, whose policies have focused on managing the mobility of migrants while neglecting the needs of migrant workers present in the territory. During the health crisis the emergence of the narrative on their "essential role", which was incorporated in the political discourse, together with the visibility of their poor working and living conditions, have generated, promoted or consolidated several struggles based on what we can call the right to live in dignity. In the Spanish case these struggles have been caused by three types of tensions that have become particularly intense during the Covid-19 pandemic: the tension between essentiality and disposability, between temporality and permanence, and between an active and a passive citizenship.

Critical Environmental Justice and Pandemic Events: Florida Farm Work during COVID-19

Extant research has well established that exposure to infectious disease can be a significant problem for vulnerable populations that have been deemed "essential" during widespread health crises. We contribute to this growing body of literature by delineating the utility of the critical environmental justice (CEJ) framework for investigating infectious disease in the context of at-risk groups such as farmworker communities. Specifically, we highlight how the four pillars of CEJ are applicable to potential or real exposure to pathogens in farmworkers' living and working spaces, and how responses and support for these essential workers can be shaped by intersectional factors, the "expendability" of farmworkers, and broader state and corporate structural influences. We draw from a case study of Florida farmworker outreach professionals to center the perceptions and experiences of individuals working directly with farmworker communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conclude with a discussion of how our research contributes to the broader understanding of CEJ in the context of widespread health threats, as well as an overview of lessons learned for regulatory and health agencies.

"Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same". The Governance of Migrant Labour in Spanish and Italian Agriculture in the First Year of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic placed great stress on food supply chains, following the policies adopted to contain the spread of the virus. The labour shortages in agriculture emerged early in Spain and Italy during the first months of the pandemic revealed the essential role of migrant farmworkers in ensuring food security. The purpose of this article is twofold: firstly, to examine whether the coronavirus pandemic contributed to change the public and political attitudes towards farm work and migration;secondly, to assess which type of epistemological perspective prevailed in these countries when debating on seasonal migration and industrial agriculture. The article uses a mix of research methods based on the Critical Discourse Approach, which includes a systematic review of media sources, the examination of relevant legal and administrative acts, the analysis of secondary statistical data, and, finally, the analysis of auto-representations and proposals put forward by migrant farmworkers and trade unions through their blogs, websites, and Facebook accounts. The major trends found as a result of this analysis indicate that even though the pandemic contributed to shed light in both countries on the pivotal role of migrant farmworkers and the forms of labour exploitation they suffer in the agricultural sector, this increased visibility did not shift into real policy and attitudes changes. At the heart of this problem is the fictitious separation between labour and capital, whereby migrant agricultural labour remains on the sidelines of the major discussions centered around the capital that are undergoing in European advanced economies.

Outreach to farmworkers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Outreach is an important element of social care. It is an informal but planned form of on-site service delivery to vulnerable populations. Outreach affects some target populations, such as migrant farmworkers, immensely. Outreach staff demonstrate a unique capacity to navigate remote and hard to -to-reach areas, making contact with farmworkers who would otherwise not receive essential services. This ethnographic study describes how organizations make first contact with farmworkers in normal times, and the changes to outreach observed during the COVID-19 pandemic.Outreach workers connect, interact, and provide services to farmworkers in unique settings and situations. The general components of farmworker outreach are planning, engaging, improvising, and initiating services. During the pandemic, the changes observed were a sense of urgency to serve farmworkers, and adaptations in the modality of outreach to include a focus on health, collaboration with health clinicians, and the use of social media to contact farmworkers.Outreach matters to farmworkers and other groups that are secluded, isolated, and vulnerable to abuse. In crisis times, such as the pandemic, outreach is even more vital. Hence, outreach, including the skills required t o conduct outreach, should form part of social work curriculum. Different models and outreach components should be evaluated to assess whether organizations providing outreach services to target populations deliver results beyond immediate benefits and contribute to structural change and advocacy on behalf of them. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Social Work is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

COVID‐19 and the power of indigenous, Mexican‐origin farmworker families in the US Pacific Northwest

Over the last several years—in the context of US political upheaval, ongoing crises related to climate change, the COVID‐19 pandemic and an economic downturn—indigenous, Mexican‐origin farmworker families in Washington State have engaged more intensely in class struggle through acts of solidarity and forms of collective action, in part through independent labour unions, worker cooperatives and mutual aid. This article chronicles the labour struggles that led to a notion of class rooted in family units of production and that strengthened transnational solidarity in resistance to racist forms of exploitation in the agricultural sector. Class organization rooted in family and solidarity has allowed indigenous agricultural workers in Washington State to face COVID‐19 and incidents driven by climate change, which syndemically compounded existing community health crises, from a place of power. Focusing on the experience of farmworker families in Washington State, I outline agricultural employers' exploitation of workers during this period of increased vulnerability and the strength of farmworkers' resolve to take their health and well‐being into their own hands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Agrarian Change is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Pathways for advancing good work in food systems: Reflecting on the international Good Work for Good Food Forum

The crucial roles that workers, especially seasonal and migrant workers, play in our food systems have come under renewed attention in recent years. The coronavirus pandemic resulted in food workers being recognized as critical or essential workers in many countries. In 2021, this coincided with the UN International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV), highlighting the importance of horticultural crops to healthy lives globally. Yet, workers' quality of life in this most labor-intensive form of food production is often disregarded, or in the case of the UN IYFV, misconstrued. The agriculture-migration nexus-on which food systems depend-remains recognized as a challenge, yet there is limited debate about how it could be ameliorated and a lack of articulation of desirable alternatives. While alternative food and peasant movements propose food system transformation and alternative labor futures based on agroecology, labor lawyers and other advocates propose regulation and formalization of workplace regimes to ensure fair working conditions. Most recently, a third possibility has emerged from agri-tech innovators: a techno-centric future with far fewer agricultural workers. These three archetypes of agricultural labor futures (agroecological, formally regulated, and techno-centric) have the potential to leave food scholars and activists without a unified, coherent vision to advance. Addressing this gap, this paper reports and builds on insights harvested from the international Good Work for Good Food Forum, organized by the authors with the aim of shaping consensus on positive visions for work in food systems. About 40 scholar-activists across three continents discussed the current challenges facing food workers and crafted a collective vision for good food work. This vision is documented in the form of nine principles supported by a framework of seven enabling pathways. We conclude by emphasizing the need for a people-centered incorporation of technology and a re-valuation of food workers' contributions to global food systems. We offer the vision as a collective platform for action to advocate for and organize with workers in food systems.

COVID in the islands: A comparative perspective on the Caribbean and the Pacific

Bratt reviews COVID in the islands: A comparative perspective on the Caribbean and the Pacific edited by Yonique Campbell and John Connell.

Examining the roles of acculturative stressors and cultural factors in major health and safety issues among Hispanic/Latino farmworkers

Statement of the problem: Hispanic/Latino farmworkers are at increased risk of adverse health and safety outcomes. Heightened levels of acculturative stress and the unique cultural characteristics and beliefs reported by this group increase workers' vulnerability for adverse outcomes. Method: The first project consisted of a systematic review examining threats to the health and safety of Hispanic/Latino agricultural workers attributable to climate change, focusing specifically on their risk for heat-related illnesses (HRI) and cultural factors and beliefs increasing workers' vulnerability for HRI. The second project was a secondary data analysis focused on identifying potential relationships between acculturative stressors, cultural factors, and workers' recent utilization of healthcare services in the United States. The final project was an exploratory study identifying COVID-19 associated stress experienced by a largely foreign-born group of Hispanic/Latino farmworkers in North Carolina. Like the preceding projects, this study focused on acculturative stressors and cultural beliefs potentially impacting workers' experiences with COVID-19. Results: The first project determined that Hispanic/Latino farmworkers were indeed at increased risk for HRI. Workers occupational safety behaviors were informed by common cultural beliefs and misconceptions, increasing workers' risk for HRI. The second project found that there were statistically significant associations between the outcome, workers' recent utilization of healthcare services in the United States, and the predictors foreign-born status, migrant worker status, work authorization (legal work authorization versus undocumented status), reading English language proficiency, and gender. The third project found that Hispanic/Latino farmworkers surveyed struggled with some level of COVID-19 stress with roughly half of participants reporting concerns about their ability to provide for and see family members as a result of COVID-19.Conclusion: This dissertation identified a number of cultural factors and acculturative stressors impacting Hispanic/Latino farmworkers' health. Overall, the findings of this dissertation support the need for further research on the relationships between acculturative stressors, cultural factors, and health behaviors among Hispanic/Latino farmworkers. These relationships should be important considerations in research concerning Hispanic/Latino farmworkers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

An exploratory qualitative enquiry into workers' experiences of leptospirosis and post-leptospirosis in Aotearoa New Zealand

Leptospirosis is a globally important, zoonotic bacterial disease with an estimated 1.03 million cases and 58,900 deaths annually, with tropical regions incurring the highest burdens.1 Humans are infected from contact with animal urine or from contaminated water;contact with rodents and floodwater are recognised risk factors globally2 Patients with acute leptospirosis episodes (ALEs) have diverse symptoms, ranging from undifferentiated fever to fatal disease.3 The clinical presentation is nonspecific, so diagnosis relies on attending clinicians being aware that leptospirosis could be a differential diagnosis followed by laboratory confirmation. The mechanisms underlying PLS may include persistent infection with Leptospira* post-infective fatigue syndrome9 or autoimmune conditions.10 Current reports on long COVID bring the importance of documenting the long-term sequelae of infectious diseases in greater focus.11 Choutka et al., in their 2022 review, coined the phrase post-acute infection syndromes (PAISs) to encompass viral, bacterial and protozoal infections where there is an unexplained failure to recover from the acute infection.12 These authors recognise the overlap of the clinical features of PAISs with myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome, suggesting a common etiopathogenesis. In Aotearoa, PLS is currently poorly, or not at all, recognised by ACC, thus documentation of patient experience with PLS will raise awareness of the condition and may also identify opportunities to improve systems and quality of care.21 The aim of this pilot study was to perform an exploratory qualitative study with participants who were suffering from PLS to document their experiences. [...]it has not been reviewed by one of the University's Human Ethics Committees.

The management of Covid19 pandemic and its impact on migrant farmworkers in Italy: anthropological insights

Purpose: Two important measures concerning the management of the workforce were introduced in Italy during the COVID-19–related health emergency: the regularization of irregular migrants working in the domestic and agro-industrial sector, and the introduction of the health-pass requirement to access all workplaces. This article analyses the impacts of such measures on a specific category of workers: migrant farmworkers, notably racially subaltern, marginalized and exploited. Implicit ideological and normative assumptions underlying Italian policies to address the health emergency and related labor shortages raise important questions about the meaning of "life” and whose lives matter in emergency contexts, which this article aims to address. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on the case study of the informal settlements for seasonal migrant workers in the agro-industrial district of Capitanata (Apulia). Findings: Based on the aforementioned case study, this article shows that Italian measurs concerning the management of the workforce during the COVID-19–related health emergency resulted in various forms of blackmail to which migrant farmworkers were especially subjected, and increased their exploitability and "expulsability” from the labor market. In particular, it argues that the aforementioned measures resulted in significant shifts in the relationship between migrant farmworkers and the state, on the one hand, and between migrant farmworkers and employers, on the other. Originality/value: Rather than promoting migrant farmworkers' social, economic and health rights, this double shift turned into increased oppression, exploitability and dependency on the employer. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Vulnerabilities and Collective Care: Indigenous Guatemalan and Mexican Farmworkers in Diaspora Confronting COVID-19 in the Western United States

This article contributes to scholarly and policy conversations about diasporic Indigenous peoples from Mexico and Guatemala and forms of discrimination, through lack of attention to language and culture, that result in differential health and economic outcomes for Indigenous workers. In tandem, it emphasizes the ways that Indigenous farmworkers attempt to compensate for this discrimination by establishing forms of community care: emotional support, mutual aid of many kinds, and the integration of care work into daily life. I conceptualize Indigenous farmworkers as integral parts of families and communities built on relational connections and circuits of care linked across many borders. This article is based primarily on quantitative and qualitative findings from the Oregon COVID-19 Farmworkers Study (COFS), which included surveys with three hundred farmworkers, qualitative interviews with forty-eight of them, and identified twenty-nine Mesoamerican languages in Oregon. © 2023 by The Regents of the University of California.

Introduction

The security of Canada's local food supply rests on migrant farmworkers. Given this reliance, Chapter 1 explores how, during the global health pandemic, alongside introducing sweeping public health and safety restrictions, Canada managed threats of national food shortages by boosting agricultural production and processing capacity to address an emerging backlog of produce and ensuring growers' continued access to migrant farmworkers. In the face of such interventions, the analysis shows that while farms and greenhouses were declared essential worksites, justifying exemptions from border restrictions applicable to migrant farmworkers, they proved prone to COVID-19 outbreaks. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Mitigating Transnational Employment Strain Among Migrant Farmworkers: Principles and Practical Strategies

Attending to the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic deepened structural vulnerabilities previously and routinely experienced by migrant farm workers, this chapter emphasizes how working and living conditions described in Chapter 4 flowed from those established prior to the pandemic. In revealing the excessive levels of employment strain among this essential transnational workforce, this chapter argues that revelations of the pandemic open space for mounting immigration reforms that automatically grant permanent residency status to migrant farmworkers who desire it combined with other structural changes that would improve working conditions for agricultural workers. As such changes in policy require long-term advocacy, consultations, and planning, in the interim this chapter reports on other recommendations articulated by the migrant farmworkers participating in our study. Emanating from the voices of workers themselves, such proposals include: protecting workers from arbitrary dismissal, permanent residency status for injured workers, the implementation of regular unannounced labour inspections on farms with mechanisms to secure worker voice without fear of reprisal, the creation of national housing standards, improvements in wages and thoroughgoing access to income support in periods of unemployment, and opportunities for full access to a wide range of jobs and public services facilitating transitions. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Transnational Employment Strain in Pandemic Times: Magnified Strains and Insufficient Resources

In this chapter, we draw on the transnational employment strain approach, advanced in Chapter 2, to illustrate that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing, and contributed to new, employment strains among migrant farmworkers in Canada. Employment demands increased for migrant farmworkers during the health crisis as the working and living environments, transformed by the pandemic, posed greater risk to their physical and mental health. Furthermore, employment became even more insecure for these workers than prior to the pandemic, while employment resources, such as community support, remained limited. Unfortunately, policy interventions implemented at the federal, provincial, and regional levels to contain the virus and protect migrant workers and broader communities often amplified pre-existing or introduced new employment demands because they failed to consider the unique policy frameworks that shape these migrant farmworkers' employment and living conditions in Canada. They also neglected to account for the contributions these workers make to socioeconomic reproduction of their households while being separated from them across transnational space. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.