密歇根新闻广播 我们不是一次性的人

 

"We are not disposable people." Farmworkers speak out on conditions that have led to outbreaks.

He says he arrived in Michigan in March. He came from Mexico with a temporary farmworker visa. He spent his days working with plants in a greenhouse. At night, he lived in worker housing, sharing a room and sleeping in bunk¹ beds.

As spring went on, and the pandemic worsened, he says nothing changed at the farm.

“El due?o no hiciera les precauciones,” the worker says.

The owner didn’t take any precautions.

As time went on and more people got coronavirus, more workers took precautions, the worker says, but the owner didn’t talk to them about it.

The worker didn’t want to give his name or the name of the farm where he worked, because he feared he wouldn’t get work again. He spoke² to Michigan Radio with translations from Olivia Villegas, an attorney at Farmworker Legal Services.

The worker says in early May, he tested positive for coronavirus himself.

Outbreaks on Michigan farms have continued into June. Local health departments in at least three counties – Branch, Lapeer and Oceana – have reported dozens of cases of coronavirus traced to local farms.

Farmers contacted by Michigan Radio for this story either didn’t return calls, or declined to comment.

One person who did speak to us is Craig Anderson, manager of the Agricultural Labor³ and Safety Services program at the Michigan Farm Bureau.

He says the challenges keeping workers safe on farms are pretty much the same as in other workplaces.

“And we’re all facing the same dilemma⁴ in terms of not fully⁵ understanding some of the transmission characteristics of COVID,” Anderson says.

But he said, farmers have been doing their best, learning on the fly, working together to find solutions to keep workers safe.

Others, though, say it’s not enough.

"...not only is the work dangerous, but the individuals who do it are invisible to the general public."

“From the clients that we, MIRC, have heard from, from the workers we’ve heard from, they aren’t doing enough,” says Diana Marin, supervising attorney for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, or MIRC.

She’s been working with multiple clients who’ve gotten the coronavirus. And to her, this pandemic is just the latest example of how farmworkers are mistreated.

“For the agriculture industry, not only is the work dangerous, but the individuals who do it are invisible to the general public,” Marin says.

Marin has been working with one client in Oceana County, who earlier in the year went through orientation⁶ at Todd Greiner Farms.

The client says she was told the farm would provide masks, wash them at the end of the day, and redistribute then. She was worried about the idea that masks would be reused by different workers.

“Yo hice la pregunta.”

I asked the question, she says, through a translator provided by MIRC.

The next day, she says she was told she wouldn’t get work at the farm.

Now, the farm is one of the ones that had an outbreak. According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, 67 workers at Todd Greiner Farms have tested positive for the virus.

MIRC filed a workplace safety complaint with the state on behalf of this worker.

The farm did not return a call asking for comment

Farms are subject to the same coronavirus safety regulations as other businesses. And there’s an executive order in effect to require more precautions in farmworker housing.

Michigan Radio spoke to one other agricultural worker, another client of MIRC who tested positive for coronavirus. She said she wanted to speak up so that more workers would know they have rights.

“Ellos están obligados cuidara a su gente,” this worker says.

They are obligated to take care of their people. It’s because of us they have what they have, she adds.

“No somos personas desechables.”

We are not disposable people, she says.

1 bunk   

n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话

参考例句：

• He left his bunk and went up on deck again.他离开自己的铺位再次走到甲板上。
• Most economists think his theories are sheer bunk.大多数经济学家认为他的理论纯属胡说。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。