Vidal Mendoza has been a is getting ready for the bell pepper, corn and green bean season, in between harvesting those crops he does landscaping work. He says working in the fields is tough work but doing it during a pandemic is scary, “Lots of people worked sick, until they were just really sick and […]
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Joseph Howard Marrotte, a senior at Desert Mirage High School, never thought aviation would be in his reach. “Policemen, lawyers, things that you grow up thinking, that’s the only thing that is out there,” said Marrotte. Coming from a low income family, Joseph said it was difficult to see himself as a future pilot. His […]
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I spent some time with filmmaker Aaron Maurer to discuss his new documentary about the lesser-seen side of the Coachella Valley – the migrant workers, farmworkers, “snowbirds.” And in a way, we’re all migrants in this world we call home. The movie is called “Invisible Valley” and it’s the opening night film at the Santa […]
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The White House announced a sweeping immigration bill, it would shorten the path to citizenship from 13 to 8 years for immigrants who arrived by January 1st, 2021. It would also lift hurdles for workers to legally immigrate to America, expand the Diversity-visa Program and change the word “alien” in law with “non-citizen”. The bill’s […]
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The city of Coachella has passed a ‘Hero pay’ ordinance for essential workers mandating a 4-dollar-an-hour raise for employees of large businesses. The so-called hero pay is aimed to provide additional pay for restaurant, pharmacy and grocery store workers for at least 120 days. However the city of Coachella extended these hazard benefits to farmworkers. […]
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As Coachella Valley continues to combat the rise in Covid-19 cases, local organizations are providing relief to farmworkers who have been facing economic hardship. NBC Palm Springs spoke to a farmworker receiving the aid, and to one of the local organizations who helped make this happen. In the eastern part of the Coachella Valley, 50 […]
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Recent photos and videos on social media showing the tough conditions farmworkers are facing as fires continue to burn in northern California are receiving a lot of attention. NBC Palm Springs spoke to local leaders on this front to see what conditions farmworkers are up against not only during extreme fire conditions but all days […]
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With anguish Maria Irma Escobedo described witnessing a coworker die from covid 19 after contracting the virus at a primex farms packing plant, where they both worked in Kern County. Escobedo also said, “The unsafe working conditions could have easily been prevented if the company would have offered proper protective equipment.” While this incident happened […]
