The Labor Department just repealed protections for migrant farmworkers that have existed since 1980. Forty-six years of requiring OSHA and the Wage and Hour Division to actually coordinate on enforcing the rights of the people who pick your food. Gone. The official reason: the rules are “obsolete” and don’t reflect “modern, effective, and flexible coordination models.” Which is a beautiful way to say nobody’s watching anymore.
This takes effect September 30. One week from now, the already threadbare safety net for seasonal farmworkers gets thinner. These are people who work in 100-degree heat for wages most Americans would reject on principle, and the government’s position is that the system designed to protect them is too much paperwork. The flexibility they’re celebrating is the flexibility to look the other way.