Tens of thousands of seasonal laborers work the fields of northwestern Mexico, harvesting crops destined for American markets.
Many travel from their home states and to and from fields in crowded buses and vans. The labor camps where some live are also often cramped, creating situations where disease can spread easily. That’s according to a new reportfrom El Colegio de la Frontera Norte.
“Paradoxically, because they’re such important strategic populations for sustaining conditions of isolation and quarantine for other populations, they can’t stop (working),” said Laura Velasco, one of the report’s authors. “Not just because of their strategic role in food provision, but they also can’t because of their socioeconomic condition.”
It’s incumbent on government agencies and export growers to improve working and living conditions to prevent COVID-19 cases among these vulnerable workers, Velasco said. Some growers already are providing masks, sanitizer and requiring adequate distance between workers.
She said end consumers in the United States also have “great power” to pressure companies to ensure worker safety.
