WOFL-TV (Orlando, Florida)

March 16, 2008

APOPKA, Fla. -- They pick your lettuce, oranges and strawberries, yet farm workers say they still have very little voice on big issues that affect them; namely, pesticide regulation, better health coverage and better pay.

The Farmworkers Association of Florida has been fighting for the rights of farm workers for twenty-five years. Saturday they celebrated their successes at an event in Apopka but admit they still have a long way to go.

Despite all the advances made by organizations like the Farmworkers Association, advocates say farm work is still one of the most dangerous and underpaid occupations in the country.

Betty Dubose knows first hand. She started working in the fields when she was just  ten years old.  As an adult, Dubose says she came in contact with a pesticide that forever changed her face.

"Some of the stuff jumped off the plants and onto my face. I stayed in the hospital for four days with that stuff on my face eating my skin up," she says.

Dubose says it isn't about looks. She says growers need to protect the workers who pick their crops.

"They didn't care then and they still don't care. We put food on America's table and this is the thanks we get," says Dubose.

Workers who have come in contact with many pesticides claim toxins made them sick. They are provided little or no medical coverage through their jobs and their illnesses got worse.

"I developed diabetes in 1994. Congestive heart failure in 1999. In 2004 I had congestive heart failure and was in and out of the hospital. I'm on dialysis now. I have a device in my chest for dialysis from lack of health care," says former farm worker turned advocate, Geraldean Matthew.

Pesticides and health care are just two issues the Farmworkers Association is working to improve. Other issues include immigration, low wages and high unemployment.
 
Advocates say the state is putting rules in place to help farm workers but they need more people to enforce them.

According to the United States Department of Labor, agricultural workers hold roughly one million jobs nationwide.

Most adult farm workers are married and have children.  Despite their poverty few use social services.