Protect the Health of Farmworkers!

How to comment to the Board of Supervisors here. 

(“What to say” below.)

TODAY – Tuesday 7/21: Email a 250-word Public Comment that may be read aloud, time permitting.

If you are watching the live stream of the Board meeting and would like to make a Public Comment to be read aloud by the Clerk for Agenda Item 8, please submit your comment, limited to 250 words or less, to the Clerk of the Board at clerkoftheboard@ventura.org. Please include in the Subject Line of your e-mail both the Agenda item number (No. 8) and the words “Read at Meeting.” Every effort will be made to read your comment into the record, but some comments may not be read due to time limitations. Comments received after an agenda item will be made part of the record if received prior to the end of the meeting.

Monday, 7/20: Register to call-in a Public Comment Using Zoom by 3:300 pm. 

Register no later than 3:30 p.m. TODAY, MONDAY to the Board meeting. Click here to register. Please provide your name, email address, and the phone number you will be calling in from.

• You will receive an email with the Zoom meeting call-in phone numbers and password by 6:00 p.m. THIS EVENING to the Board meeting. The participation info is unique to you, please do not share as it may cause issues with your ability to join the meeting.
• When the final Board of Supervisors’ Meeting agenda is posted for viewing at www.ventura.org/bosmeetings, registration to make public comment will also be opened up.
• Fill out the registration form and provide the agenda item number(s) you wish to comment on. Just call out “Public Comment”
• Click the “Register” button to submit your request.
• During the meeting, call one of the phone numbers provided in the Zoom email and a clerk will connect you to the Board room when you are prompted to provide public comment. Please review the below instructions for how to connect during the meeting.

All timely registrants will be called on and asked to make their comments. Do not register here if you are only wishing to observe the meeting. Observation of the meeting should be done from the live stream link found on www.ventura.org/bosmeetings

County staff is unable to provide technical assistance if you experience any issues…

Monday, 7/20: Send in a Public Comment that will be “read into the record” by  3:30 pm. 

If you wish to make a written comment on  “Public Comment” by E-Mail, please submit your comment by 3:30 p.m. TODAY (MONDAY) to the Board Meeting. Please submit your comment to the Clerk of the Board at clerkoftheboard@ventura.org. Use “Protect the Health of Farmworkers” on the subject line.

“What to say?” 

To: Board of Supervisors of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties
From: [Your Name]

Comments from the petition here:

Farmworkers are at risk for the coronavirus at work in the fields. They are testing positive at a higher rate than the rest of the community. The recent outbreak in Oxnard where over 80% of farmworkers who lived and worked together tested positive is a wake up call. Join MICOP and CAUSE in asking the Ventura and Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to take the following actions to protect the health and safety of farmworkers!

Petition: We ask the Ventura and Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to protect the health and safety of farmworkers by directing Public Health and the Agricultural Commissioner to:

• Educate farmworkers on the additional sick leave they can receive if they contract the coronavirus and how they can access health care by sending a letter to all farmworkers and by doing direct outreach to farms.
• Develop an inspection program for farms to ensure that there are clean bathrooms and farmworkers have access to water, soap and hand sanitizer.
• Direct the Ventura County Farmworker Resource Program to actively inform farmworkers of their health, labor and safety rights including on COVID-19 and to address complaints on health and safety.
• Develop a plan for emergencies such as wildfires to ensure that employers are providing their outdoor workers with N95 masks to protect them from smoke as required by state law.
• Ensure all written and verbal outreach is conducted to Indigenous and Spanish Speaking farmworker families in a way that is linguistically and culturally appropriate.
• Provide mobile COVID-19 testing sites at agriculture work sites.
• Create materials for outreach that de-stigmatize what a positive diagnosis means for farmworkers, including information on paid sick leave available to them.
• Ensure that workers who test positive for the coronavirus have access to social programs for food, peer support, and mental health services.
• Passing a policy to increase the amount of shade provided to workers with so that workers can socially distance during breaks

Additionally we ask the Ventura and Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to address H2A housing problems exposed by the outbreak including:

• Encouraging H2A housing near services in cities not in county unincorporated, rural, and isolated areas.
• Discouraging H2A housing that does not allow workers to socially distance. Plan to minimize exposure of workers by treating those that share a room as a household that eats meals together, are transported together and work in the same area.
• Discouraging H2A housing that has more than 20 workers concentrated at one site.
• Committing to allowing local agencies/organizations to access and present to H2A workers.
• Directing Public Health to investigate all H2A worker housing to assess if the proper health and safety precautions are being implemented including the proximity in which workers are being housed, how workers are transported together, and if workers have regular access to soap, disinfectant, and masks at their housing.

For the workers that were or are housed at Villa Las Brisas during the outbreak, we call on their employers and labor contractors to:

• Ensure workers are healthy and negative for COVID-free before returning them back to their country of origin. Those workers who do not test positive be quarantined for 14 days, tested after the 14 days, and only returned to their home county if negative for COVID-19.
• Provide adequate space for workers who are quarantining at Las Brisas that goes beyond the 50 square-feet required by federal regulations.
• Pay all workers for a minimum of 10 days. If workers are forced to be quarantined longer than two weeks, they should be compensated for additional sick days.
• Continue to pay for all housing and meals until workers can return safely to their country or origin.
• Pay for all medical costs necessary to treat the workers with COVID-19.
• Make mental health support available to workers.

Reiter Affiliated Companies owns and manages Villa Las Brisas where over 80% of the farmworkers tested positive for the virus. This outbreak shows that they are not able to provide a healthy and safe place for workers to live. We put our trust into companies like Reiter Brothers to treat their workers right.

We call on Reiter Affiliated Companies to demonstrate their commitment to set the standard for the agriculture industry at providing a safe place for workers to live by:

• Developing written health and safety standards for maintaining clean and safe housing for farmworkers including policies on daily cleaning and access to water, soap and hand sanitizer.
• Ensuring workers can properly socially distance at the housing they provide including adapting current housing and in any housing they build or renovate in the future.
• Plan to minimize exposure of workers by treating those that share a room as a household that eats meals together, are transported together and work in the same area.
• Giving 10 million dollars to build permanent farmworker housing in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. Five million dollars will be available for non-profit affordable housing providers in Santa Maria and five million dollars will be available for non-profit affordable housing providers in Oxnard.

We also call on Reiter Affiliated Companies to demonstrate their commitment to set the standard for the Ag industry for providing a safe workplace. We ask Reiter Affiliated Companies to hold their farms to the highest industry health and safety standards by:

• Developing written health and safety standards for farms to maintain a clean and safe workplace for farmworkers including policies on the daily cleaning of bathrooms, and access to water, soap and hand sanitizer.
• Adopting a standard to increase the amount of shade provided to workers with so that workers can socially distance during breaks.
• Having a plan for their farms to provide their outdoor workers with N95 masks to protect them from smoke as required by state law.
• Providing standards to provide screening for COVID-19 at the level of that other essential industries are currently providing for workers.
• Reducing the fear and stigma around COVID-19 among workers by informing workers of the 10 days of sick leave they will receive if they contract COVID-19 and paying workers for 10 days of sick leave if they are asked to quarantine for two weeks due to exposure to the coronavirus or if they are laid off due to coronavirus exposure.