As temperatures in the Willamette Valley rose into the upper 90s for the second time this summer, local labor advocates continue their work to protect and educate farmworkers on the dangers of extreme heat on the job.
For PCUN, Oregon’s Woodburn-based farmworker union and Hispanic advocacy group, this push for workers’ rights has been at the forefront of its work for decades. However, with increasing temperatures and wildfires in recent years, the stakes have been raised.
A catalyst for Oregon farmworker rights
PCUN and other farmworker advocacy groups’ urgency intensified after the 2021 death of Sebastián Francisco Perez, a Guatemalan farmworker who collapsed while laying irrigation pipes alone in triple-digit heat at a nursery in St. Paul.
“ I think that was a pretty big turning point for our advocacy efforts because the conversation started with employers saying that we don’t need these rules and it’s very costly for employers to provide these protections,” PCUN Policy Advocacy Director Ira Cuello-Martinez said. “But, after the death had happened, the conversation significantly shifted; they were no longer pushing for not having a rule.”…