“It seems sort of ridiculous that in the state that calls itself the Garden State, workers doing the agricultural work are valued less than other industries.”

This month, we are featuring Meghan Hurley, who works as the Policy and Advocacy Organizer of CATA - The Farmworker Support Committee. Not only is CATA an important member organization in NJAIJ and a fierce champion for workers rights –  they are also one of this year’s Advocacy Academy Hosts! Check out how CATA is fighting against labor discrimination and what they are working on in the months ahead.. 

On the history of CATA:

CATA was founded in 1979 by Puerto Rican farmworkers who were struggling in New Jersey and wanted to fight for their rights. Since then, CATA has spread to many different areas – we have offices in Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In these locations, we work with farm workers and other low-wage immigrant workers on the issues of workers’ rights, health and safety in the workplace, immigrant rights, and food justice. 

From its founding, the mission of CATA has been to empower and build the capacity of the immigrant community to fight for their rights through grassroots movement building. To that end, we do a lot of workshops, training, and education around these issues so that the community is informed, and then we work together with community members to see how they want to move forward and fight for the rights that they deserve.

On the CATA Radio:

In 2013 or 2014, the FTC made low-power stations available for free to nonprofits looking to launch community radio stations, so we were able to apply for one of those frequencies. Since 2015, CATA has had a low-power FM radio station in Bridgeton, NJ – a low-power FM signal means that it doesn’t stretch very far, about a 1-to-2 mile radius. We broadcast 24/7 – primarily Spanish-language programming and music for the community nearby and those streaming online. Once every two weeks, we have a special program focusing on education, workers’ rights, immigrant rights, and food justice. We also do a lot of interviews with people on topics that we don't necessarily cover or know a whole lot about within our own organization to make sure that that information is getting to our community. We have a small, weekly podcast covering local news stories that have been printed in Spanish, and we also share some national news programming. And then it’s DJs, music based shows, requests, shout-outs, things like that.

On the food justice program:

At CATA, we have our food justice program, and a lot of that focuses on the education around food justice with the community, and exploring what it would look like to make our food system and the food chain a more fair and just place to work. We are able to use some of that information and put it into practice in our community gardens. We have two –  one in Bridgeton, New Jersey, and another near our office in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania – they're organic gardens, and we worked with the community to build them and do all the garden work (planting, maintaining, and harvesting all organic produce.) 

A component that we started focusing on more recently, is bringing in a variety of plants and herbs from different cultures, so that there's ingredients that people from the Latino and Hispanic communities could use to make their own cultural dishes, which helps us talk about people's cultural connection to agriculture, farming, and the land. 

Finally, three years ago, we started a youth internship program for high school students to come in for a semester or a summer and learn about food justice and help work in the garden. More recently, our youth interns have helped us set up and run a weekly market during the season to sell produce out of the garden. It is all organic produce at very reasonable prices. We've been doing that for a couple of years, and by now, we’re fully certified to accept SNAP benefits.

On the lawsuit with ACLU-NJ:

We've been in discussion with the ACLU for over a year about what it would look like to stand up for farm workers who were excluded from the $15 minimum wage increases that went into effect five or six years ago. Many years ago, we were involved, and advocated very strongly for farmworkers not to be put into a separate category, but it sort of ended up being a negotiating point for the bill. It was very disappointing to us that, once again, farmworkers were left out solely based on their occupation, especially because most farm workers in New Jersey are people of color, and most are Latinos and Hispanics. So, we talked with the ACLU, and decided to file suit because it's pretty apparent to us that the law is discriminatory, excluding this category of workers, and also, who gets to decide what work is valued less? Doesn't seem fair, and also seems sort of ridiculous, that in the state that calls itself the Garden State, workers doing the agricultural work are valued less than most other industries. So, the legal argument is on discrimination against farm workers specifically.

Part of our education work is talking about how unfair labor laws have historically been to farm workers, because they've been excluded from a lot of different labor laws. Some of that has changed a little bit, but they're still excluded from overtime pay, which the lawsuit is also addressing, and a couple of other things. So, since this messaging is part of what CATA does, we talked to lots of different farm workers here in New Jersey. We got some official statements from our farmworker members, which will be included in the initial filing, and then, depending on what happens further down the line, we'll give them a chance to speak as well. We're currently also still talking to the farmworker community about what results they would like to see from the lawsuit – what does it look like for working and living conditions to be fair and just for farmworkers? What does that mean to them?

The decision itself is whether the minimum wage law is fair or not. Currently, we're in discussions with our members as an organization to determine what we would advocate for if the court decides that the law is discriminatory, what changes the farm worker community really wants to see and what would be fair and just for them. As a bare minimum we think that all workers should be receiving the same minimum wage, regardless of the type of work, or regardless of their race, or where they're from. 

What can our community do to help:

Simple: share. There's been a lot of news articles that have come out, we've given interviews talking about the lawsuit, we’ll be sharing stories from our farmworker members. We’d love if the greater New Jersey immigrant community could share those things and keep an eye out for more information, because once we have a decision, hopefully, we would need to do more advocacy and organizing to push the legislature to do what we want to do.