Squalid. Unsanitary. Dangerous.

Those are some adjectives that too often describe farm worker housing.

Antonio Morales, Jose Jimenez and Enrique Jimenez (above) share a small, run-down trailer in an area appropriately called "Weedpatch." They have no water, no heat, no indoor restroom, no shower. At the end of the day, it's "first come, first served" for the two beds that fit into their cramped space. The last man home sleeps on the floor. They pay $300 per month rent to the labor contractor for whom they work. Earning only minimum wage, they can't afford better.

The front door to Carlos Moreno's trailer doesn't have a lock. It doesn't even have a doorknob. There are no bedrooms in the tiny trailer he shares with a roommate. After working all day picking vegetables, 18 year-old Carlos and his roommate sleep on bunk beds a few steps inside their front door.

Home for grape pickers Leticia Salazar and her husband is a two-room house in Lamont. One corner of the rickety structure sags lower than the others.  Large holes in the walls are covered year-round with Halloween decorations. The couple lives in one room.  To make ends meet, they hope to rent the other room to a tenant.

Thousands of farm workers actually endure much worse living conditions. They labor 10-12 hours per day not knowing where they and their families will spend the night. They sleep in parks, in pickup trucks and cars, under bridges and beside the fields where they work. They lie down on filthy mattresses, on pieces of cardboard, and sometimes on the bare ground. They bathe in freezing rivers and pesticide-polluted irrigation ditches. They hang their clothes and food from trees to keep them dry and safe from animals.

The major reason why farm workers live in sub-human conditions is simple--money. The UFW is working to obtain union contracts and better wages for farm workers so they can afford the decent housing that they and their families deserve.

Won't you please become a partner in our work by making a gift of $25, $36, $50, $100--or any amount you can afford?

Please make your donation today!


   Let's all come together to help farm workers. 
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United Farm Workers,  29700 Woodford-Tehachapi Rd., P.O. Box 62, Keene, CA 93531, http://www.ufw.org