Working Conditions on Virginia Farms Slave-Like
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Virginia channels 1859 for the people who travel from farm to farm to pick its crops:
Nearly 1,500 violations were found at Virginia’s migrant labor camps during state health department inspections over the last five years, including facilities with black mold, rat and cockroach infestations, no running water, no heat and no beds.
The Virginia Department of Health enforces the rules for these migrant labor camps, which, under state law, could be buildings, trailers, tents or even just “unconventional enclosures of living space.”
The agency inspects camps before it grants operators yearly permits, for routine checks, to follow up to ensure operators have complied with requirements, responding to complaints and other reasons.
VDH data obtained through a public records request shows more than 1,450 violations were found in the more than 2,300 inspections from August 2019 to August 2024. An 8News review of the violations found camps during that time with no fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, too many beds, unapproved sewage systems, snakeskin and wasp nests in bathrooms.
In April 2023, one routine VDH inspection found “unlivable conditions” at a migrant labor camp in Grayson County, Virginia.
“Severe mold growth over multiple rooms and surfaces. Air quality is extremely poor,” the VDH inspector wrote about the camp. “Rats present with multiple holes throughout the home. Water damage and holes through exterior walls present.”
This is the rare example of really good local journalism from a TV station. Now, what will Virginia do about this? Under Youngkin, nothing, but given that Virginia Dems didn’t even overturn right to work when it had the trifecta, probably nothing in the future either.