PHOTO/MEGAN FARMER , © 2016 UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON. USED WITH
PERMISSION BY UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON AND KUOW PUBLIC RADIO.
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Editor’s note: this story is compiled from information from ispanicnewsnetwork.blogspot.com
On Sunday, August 6, Honesto Silva Ibarra, an H2A guest worker, passed away—the result of horrible working conditions on his job picking blueberries at Sarbanand Farms near Sumas, WA.
Coworkers reported Honesto was told to go back to work after complaining of being ill from working in the 90° heat with little or no water and breathing the thick smoky air caused by fires in nearby British Columbia.
After Honesto was rushed to the hospital, many of the workers went on a one-day strike in protest of the conditions that included 12 hour or more long working days, dirty water, no shady areas to take breaks in, untreated infections and not enough food.
The company fired those workers for insubordination and gave them one hour to vacate themselves from their living quarters. The company also held onto their checks as well as their new visas in that their old visas had expired. With no food, no water, no transportation and no way to return home, they walked approximately four miles before receiving help from locals.
The whole thing would have probably been swept under the rug except that they continued marching and protesting and telling their story on Facebook and in the news. After the bad press, the company put out a statement denying bad working conditions or any part in Honesto’s death.
Some of the workers say they will stay and fight because if they don’t it will happen again. When people are not valued as human beings and seen only as sources of profit, we must ask ourselves how far have we come from slavery? If today it is the immigrant worker, then tomorrow it could be any one of us.
