Agricultural Worker Justice Act

What it does

If Congress passes it, this bill would leverage the federal government’s purchasing power by requiring companies that wish to contract with USDA (for example as a supplier for public school lunches) to improve wages and working conditions for their workers. Specifically, the bill would:

• Prevent USDA from purchasing any meat, poultry, or processed food produced by workers in the United States who are compensated at a rate lower than the prevailing rate for wages and benefits for such workers in their locality;
• Give the government tools to better regulate and enforce safe working conditions in slaughterhouses and make violators ineligible for USDA contracts.

Who supports this bill?

The Agricultural Worker Justice Act is a bicameral bill, which means it has some support in both the Senate and the House. Representative Gregorio Casar and Senator Peter Welch introduced the bill. In the House, this bill is referred to as H.R. 4978 and these Representatives are already supporting the bill. In the Senate, this bill is referred to as S. 2601, and these Senators are already supporting the bill.

This bill is endorsed by the National Education Association, Rural Advancement Foundation International – USA, United Farm Workers, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and many other groups.

Want to support this bill?

You can call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to be connected with your elected officials. An operator will ask for your address and then forward your call to friendly staff who work for the people elected to represent you. As a constituent in their district, your voice matters!

If your Senators and House Representative aren’t already on the list of cosponsors who support the bill:

• Ask your two Senators to “cosponsor the Agricultural Worker Justice Act, S. 2601.”
• Ask your House Representative to “cosponsor the Agricultral Worker Justice Act, H.R. 4978.”

If your elected officials are already supporting the Agricultural Worker Justice Act, you can always contact them to thank them and help spread the word among your networks.

Resources

If you’d like to learn more about the Agricultural Worker Justice Act, you can:

• Find detailed instructions for calling or writing your Senators and Representative (tip: enter your address)
• Track the bill’s progress on Congress.gov or GovTrack
• Learn why lawmakers support this bill (Representative Greg Casar’s press release)
• Read the full bill text

See more bills worthy of your support in the 2023 Farm Bill.