A new study, released today at the start of National Dairy Month, Milked: Immigrant Dairy Farmworkers in New York State, finds that a race to the bottom is occurring in the treatment and working conditions of the immigrant laborers who toil in milking parlors and barns. We invite you to read the full report at www.milkedny.org.



The report is based on 88 face-to-face surveys with immigrant dairy farmworkers on 53 different dairy farms across the Central, Western, and Northern regions of New York State. It was co-authored by Carly Fox of the Worker Justice Center of New York, Rebecca Fuentes of the Workers’ Center of Central New York, Fabiola Ortiz Valdez and Gretchen Purser, both of Syracuse University, and Kathleen Sexsmith of Cornell University.



Among the study’s findings:



Ø Eighty-eight percent of workers surveyed believe their employers care more about the cows than about workers’ well-being.



Ø Twenty-eight percent of workers surveyed have knowingly experienced at least one instance of wage theft.



Ø On average, immigrant farmworkers work 12 hours per day. Like all agricultural workers in New York, they are excluded from the right to a day of rest and the right to overtime pay.



Ø Two-thirds of workers surveyed have experienced one or more injuries while on the job. Sixty-eight percent of those injured said the damage was serious enough to require medical attention.



Ø Dairy farmworkers live in farmer-provided housing almost without exception. Their housing conditions are often substandard: 58% report bug or insect infestations in their homes, 48% have no locks on their doors, 32% have holes in their walls or floors, and 32% have insufficient ventilation.



Ø Due to their fear of immigration enforcement, the inability to obtain a NY driver’s license, and/or their long working hours, immigrant dairy farmworkers leave the farm premises, on average, as infrequently as once every eleven days. Some leave only for medical emergencies, resulting in almost total immobility and the widespread feeling of being “locked up” [encerrado].



The report makes several recommendations to improve the regulatory environment for dairy farmworkers and prevent them from being “milked.”



It calls for Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature to protect the rights and improve the working conditions of immigrant farmworkers by:

1. Eliminating the exemption of farmworkers from basic labor rights.



2. Allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers’ licenses.



3. Providing more rigorous oversight of workplace health and safety on dairies.



4. Ensuring that all farmworkers live in safe and dignified housing.



5. Calling for dairy companies to implement and enforce worker-led codes of ethical labor conduct with their fresh milk suppliers, purchasing only from those farms that participate in rigorous labor rights monitoring conducted independently of the dairy purchaser or supplier.



We urge you to share this report via social media (using #MilkedNY and #MilkCowsNotWorkers) and to make a donation to the Workers’ Center of Central New York. Please also take the following steps to support dairy farmworkers in New York State:



1. Support the Green Light New York: Driving Together campaign to ensure equal access to driver’s licenses for all residents of New York State, regardless of immigration status.



2. Write a message to Chobani, a leading yogurt company located in upstate New York and a major purchaser of New York dairy, asking them to read the report and to implement a code of conduct ensuring fair labor practices throughout their supply chain.

