Student Action with Farmworkers Farmworkers are among the lowest paid workers in the country, and the vast majority receive no fringe benefits. Agricultural labor is exempt from overtime provisions of the minimum wage laws and from coverage under the National Labor Relations Act, which protects workers who strike from losing their jobs. Few farmworkers have health insurance, are covered through Medicaid or receive Workers' Compensation.
Agriculture is one of the most accident-prone industries in the United States.
Compared to the occupational fatality rate for all private sector industries, which stands at 4.3 per 100,000 full-time employees, the rate for the category of agriculture, forestry and fishing is much higher at 23.9 per 100,000. 300,000 farmworkers suffer acute pesticide poisoning each year. Occupational Safety and Health regulations require that employers of eleven or more farmworkers provide drinking water, hand washing facilities and toilets for their employees. In 1990, OSHA found field sanitation violations in 69 percent of its field inspections. In some cases, farmworkers utilize water from runoff ponds and irrigation ditches, containing harmful chemicals, for drinking and washing.