This summer has been hot.
Across Virginia, people have been staying indoors with the air conditioning blowing, avoiding the extreme heat and humidity that has regularly embraced the east coast.
But on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, where much of the country’s tomatoes, potatoes, and other produce is grown, migrant farmworkers have no choice but to work through this blazing heat.
The workers who harvest and pack these crops travel to the Eastern Shore from across the East Coast as well as many from Mexico, Central and South America, and beyond, brought in by employers via the H2a visa program. Employers provide them with basic housing, usually rooms in concrete barracks, often with four or more people per room.
One thing employers are not required to provide: Air conditioning.
If workers want to cool off in the evening, they must bring their own. Some haul window A/C units on their backs from camp to camp each summer, but many just can’t afford one.
Our team of community organizers and lawyers have worked to organize and advocate with farmworkers on the Eastern Shore for years. Along with the Agricultural Workers Advocacy Coalition (AWAC) we help to support workers in their efforts to improve their conditions. This summer, we helped AWAC solicit donations to fund air conditioning units for workers suffering through the heat and delivered over 40 units to camps on the shore. Special thanks to Richmond area Episcopal churches in for their support, along with AWAC members.
Beyond helping workers stay cool with air conditioning units, our team also regularly conducts trainings for workers on the dangers of heat stress and have been fighting for years to change Virginia laws to protect workers from heat-related dangers.
You can see a little more about one worker housing camp at a tomato farm on the Eastern Shore in our photo essay here.
