This article outlines a four-step model for developing a training program for farm labor supervisors. The model draws on key lessons learned during the development of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Farm Labor Supervisor Training program. The program is designed to educate farm supervisors on farm labor laws…

Cesar Chavez, who co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) with Dolores Huerta in 1962, dedicated his life to grassroots organizing to persuade lawmakers and the public to help improve the working conditions of migrant farm workers. In October 1992, the author had been teaching a unit of study on civics to her sixth grade bilingual students in…

From 1909 to 1910, the public performance of soap-box oratory began to effect dramatic changes in the composition of migrant workers throughout the Pacific Northwest. Municipal authorities in Spokane attempted to curb the formation of a union of hobo orators by outlawing public speech-making within the city fire limits. The ensuing confrontation…

Seasonal migration for work by poor rural families is a phenomenon that is escalating as the agrarian crisis mounts. Millions of families that migrate are compelled to take their children along, leaving school and a normal childhood behind. They spend several months every year at work sites such as brick kilns, salt pans, plantations and stone…

Founded in 1968, Program Funding, Inc. (PFI) is a statewide comprehensive agency delivering programs to farmworkers wherever they work and reside in New York. PFI has encouraged State, Federal, and private agencies to make new commitments to farmworkers and has been able to maintain the support of those agency personnel who set the precedents of…

Describes provisions of Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) allowing for Special Agricultural Workers (SAWs) and Replenishment Agricultural Workers (RAWs), to replace SAWs who leave the workforce. Describes government policy for implementing RAW program, determining need and supply, immigrant reporting requirements, eligibility…

Illegal migrants are a nonentity in the United States, and, to a certain extent, many prefer it that way. They exist in society's netherworld, living under their own code of survival by whatever means they can, since the alternatives are less inviting. Mostly, they struggle. People take advantage of them at every opportunity because they are…

In 1970, the Farm Workers Health Service, which was begun in 1961, included 33 decentralized medical clinics which served 24,000 seasonal farm workers and their families in 17 counties during the peak harvest months. Seventeen clinics offered year-round general medical services, and in 12 counties free medical and dental care was available to farm…

Involving students in community-based participatory research is a useful mechanism for engaging the community and helping it build future capacity. This article describes student involvement in a series of community-based environmental health research projects with migrant and seasonal farmworkers in North Carolina. High school, undergraduate,…

The study's purpose was to compile descriptive information about a small band of Algonquin Indian seasonal agricultural workers from Quebec, Canada who migrate annually into Ontario County, New York to work on the fur and poultry farms. Although these Indians have worked in the State since 1945, no "serious" study had been made which…

During the 1978 agricultural season, migrant farmworkers and their families occupied 2,079 rental units at 26 migrant housing centers provided by the Office of Migrant Services. Supportive services at the centers included day care centers for children two to five years of age, a few infant care facilities, and access to medical serivces,…

During 1974, the Rural Manpower Service provided a comprehensive program of service to all agricultural workers and employers in both rural and urban areas. This program was accomplished through employer relations and applicant registration programs, placement services, promotion of training programs, counseling and testing programs, collection…

Effective February 1976, the Rural Manpower Services Department was integrated totally with the Placement Department, thus removing any rural/urban separation of services. This new concept allowed the provision of equal services to all segments of the work force. Continuing emphasis was placed on providing manpower services to rural residents with…

The report presents data on the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of persons 14 years of age and over who did hired farmwork during 1975, and summarizes the pertinent changes and trends in the size, composition, earnings, and employment patterns of the hired farm working force. Information is given on the Spanish-origin, white,…

In 1981, the Governor's Commission on Migratory and Seasonal Farm Labor began an initiative to develop and enhance communication and coordination linkages among migrant labor service providers. The Commission serves as a forum for farm laborers to share information and concerns, monitors programs, conducts inspections, promotes coordination, and…