Protect Punjabi Sikh and Hmong Workers in the Central Valley - Joint Letter to the API Legislative Caucus
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Re: Foster Farms COVID-19 Inspection & Impact on Asian Americans in the Central Valley
Dear Senator Pan and Members of Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus (APILC),
On behalf of the Jakara Movement and Hmong Innovating Politics, organizations representing two of the largest Asian American communities in the Central Valley and beyond, we write to bring your attention to actions by the Fresno County Health Department that undermine the trust of the community and put the lives of Asian Americans essential workers at risk.
In a year that has ravaged poultry and meat plant workers, the revelation that Fresno County Health Officials took unprecedented action in informing Foster Farms officials about an impending Cal/OSHA Covid-19 inspection is an insult to the hundreds of essential workers who have lost their lives in an effort to feed our state and provide for their family. These actions to undermine Cal/OSHA’s investigative work threaten the safety of our entire community and potentially mask the hazardous conditions that have led to an overwhelming number of workers who died as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thus we urge the APILC to engage with the Administration to initiate a thorough investigation into the purposeful violation of confidential information by the Fresno County Health Department and the legally suspect coordination between the Fresno County Health officials and Foster farms to limit information, conceal work conditions and undermine the effectiveness of Cal/OSHA’s inspections. We also demand accountability in the instance Fresno County officials or members of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors prescribed these types of practices.
As many of you are already aware, meat processing factories and agricultural workers have been particularly impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Among all industries in the state, meat processing factories and agricultural workers have experienced the highest number of Covid-19 infections and the highest rate of Covid-19 related deaths. In the Central Valley, thousands of workers in this industry belong to South Asian (Punjabi Sikh), Southeast Asian (Hmong, Khmer) or Filipino backgrounds. Following LatinX communities, Punjabi Sikhs and the Hmong community represent the largest number of workers. Overwhelmingly these are monolingual immigrant women. Their safety must be a priority. Covid-19 has been particularly devastating for our communities as cultural and linguistic barriers compound already hazard working conditions. In turn, hundreds of meat processing essential workers from our community have died.
As one worker shared in Punjabi with us, “they call us essential but treat us as if we’re expendable.” As the APILC understands full well, it took decisive intervention and action from the legislature to ensure these workers would receive proper protective equipment, access to testing and other workplace safety accommodations. The revelation in last week’s Fresno Bee underscores how invisibilized our communities are, when our own public health system compromises community safety in favor of corporate interests.
We thank you for your consideration of this critical issue. We hope the APILC will listen to the voices of Asian American community members who have been impacted by these transgressions and look forward to additional dialogue with each of the members of the caucus. Please do not hesitate to contact us with additional questions.
Sincerely,
Nancy Xiong, Hmong Innovating Politics, Executive Director
Deep Singh, Jakara Movement, Executive Director
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Hmong Innovating Politics (HIP) is a statewide grassroots organization whose mission is to strengthen the political power of Hmong and disenfranchised communities through innovative civic engagement and strategic grassroots mobilization. We envision a California of empowered communities that thrive in a socially and economic just democracy. HIP operates out of Sacramento and Fresno, connecting the two largest Hmong American populations in the state of California.
Jakara Movement is a community grassroots organization serving 15 counties across California in building power, immigrant rights, educational justice, and increasing health opportunities for Punjabi Sikhs and other disenfranchised communities across the state.
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FULL STORY: Fresno Bee. Fresno health inspectors tipped off Foster Farms about state COVID inspection, emails show.