Staff Reports
This past fall, a bunch of farm workers got together and were like, “Hey, we’re not too happy about this new overtime law in Washington state.” Almost 1,000 of them showed up to rallies to complain about how the new law is shrinking their paychecks. And get this, even more workers have been venting their frustrations in video interviews, saying the new law is causing them to lose money and look for extra jobs.
But then these so-called “activists” Andrea Schmidt and Edgar Franks, who claim to be all about helping farm workers, didn’t say a peep about the workers’ problems when they were asked to talk to the state Senate Agriculture Committee. It’s like, um, hello? Aren’t you supposed to help these people?
Op-Ed: Are farmworker advocates ignoring actual farmworkers? https://t.co/aR8Kup5MrY
— The Center Square Washington (@TCSWashington) January 13, 2024
The farm workers are struggling to make ends meet because farms are cutting back their hours to follow the new overtime rules and not go out of business. So, like, where are the solutions from Schmidt and Franks? Have they even listened to the workers’ concerns? And are they willing to admit that maybe the new law they were all excited about isn’t working out so great after all?
It makes you wonder if Schmidt, who’s a fancy lawyer for Columbia Legal Services, or Franks, the political bigwig for some union called Familias Unidas por la Justicia, actually know what’s going on with the farm workers. I mean, there’s a huge gap between what the real workers are saying and what these so-called activists are telling lawmakers. It’s kind of sketchy, right?
And get this, these activists have been caught spreading lies! Like, they said a blueberry farm “murdered” a worker, but it turned out that wasn’t true at all. Plus, they keep making up stuff about worker shortages and saying farmers are rolling in dough, which isn’t cool.
So, should our lawmakers even listen to these people anymore if they’re just pushing their own crazy political ideas instead of actually helping the farm workers? It’s like, come on guys, let’s get real here. If these so-called advocates don’t speak for farm workers anymore and just want to push their own agenda, maybe they shouldn’t be speaking for the farm workers at all. And that’s the tea, folks!
