Using semistructured interviews and participant observation, this two-year pilot study of male Mexican migrants in Freehold, New Jersey, explored how day laborers perceive their struggles to support families despite escalating anti-immigrant legislation at virtually all levels of government. In particular, the author looks at efforts by Mexican…

In 1983, personal interviews with 38 adult, Mexican American, migrant farmworker, male heads of households working tomato crops in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan revealed living and working conditions and views and involvement regarding labor rights and the farmworker movement among the estimated 65,000 Midwestern migrant farmworkers. Interview data…

The estimated three million United States migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families suffer from a variety of occupational hazards and ailments exacerbated by limited, or nonexistent, health care services. Although existing migrant and seasonal farmworker health data is incomplete, general statements can be made about the health risks…

A survey of the attitudes of migrant farm workers in two upstate New York farm camps revealed that while about two-thirds of them enjoyed farm work, about one-half of them felt that the farm worker had no chance in life and about 60% aspired to earn less than $1000 for the summer's work. In structured, systematic interviews, workers professed few…

Intended to provide a framework for a research agenda on migrant and seasonal farmworker health and to serve as a resource for all those concerned with farmworker health, this report examines farmworker health data gathered within the past 10-15 years. The document contains the following material: (1) an overview of the major occupational health…

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) monitors and encourages human rights compliance by signatories of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975. Language pertaining to migrant workers is found in all major CSCE documents, and the examination of migrant farmworker issues represents part of the Commission's ongoing review of U.S.…

This document highlights farmworkers' testimonies concerning farmworker health taken during three hearings. Six consistent themes emerged from farmworker accounts: (1) health and health care; (2) work conditions; (3) pesticide exposure; (4) housing; (5) women; and (6) children and youth. Farmworkers frequently mentioned injuries, eye problems, and…

The article discusses potential remedies for three major issues that prevent seasonal agricultural workers from maintaining the kind of working and living conditions which lead to cohesive cumulative social experience: undocumented workers; worsening living and working environments; and societal attitudes regarding agricultural labor and its…

This paper documents migrant farm workers as being among the most persistently underprivileged groups in American society. Migrant farm workers typically receive low wages from irregular employment and live in poverty with access to only substandard housing and inadequate health care. The lack of economic improvement stems from a number of…

Based on facts gathered in 1982-83 and prepared to inform the United States Commission on Civil Rights of the status of migrants in the State of Maryland, this report summarizes findings about housing, health and safety, access/communication/transportation, employment issues, and education. The summary of housing conditions notes that more than…