Promoting occupational safety among Indigenous workers

 Over the past decade, increasing numbers of new migrants have been arriving in the United States from indigenous communities in Mexico and Guatemala.  Mixteco-, Zapotec- and Trique-speaking workers from the state of Oaxaca, Mexico are becoming a prominent component of the western migratory stream. Mixtecs are the largest single group, representing approximately 5 to 10 percent of the total agricultural workforce.

 In addition to speaking different languages, indigenous workers have distinct cultural traditions not shared by other Mexicans.  They also have suffered discrimination both at home and in the United States.  Few agencies have acquired the language skills or cultural competence necessary to assist these workers.  As a consequence, indigenous farmworkers have only a limited awareness of the workplace hazards they face or health services available in nearby communities.  Major challenges to developing outreach and educational approaches for this population are the inability to translate the spoken indigenous languages into a written format, the variety of languages/dialects spoken, the lack of persons in the health care and occupational health and safety community who speak these languages, and the distinct cultural traditions of these groups of workers. 

 Marginalized indigenous workers face additional economic and cultural barriers to health care.  Most health care professionals are not aware of or do not recognize ethno-specific illnesses intrinsic to indigenous cultures.  Such illnesses include susto (fright), aire (coldness), and mal de ojo (evil eye), whose causes are linked to social, cultural, and spiritual events.  Furthermore, many health care providers do not recognize the importance of the treatment options used by indigenous people, including sweat baths, ritual healing, and medicinal plants. Finally, very few clinics or hospitals in the United States have staff who are able to communicate effectively in an indigenous language. Such cultural and language barriers result in distrust of clinics and hospitals by indigenous migrants.

Promoting Occupational Health of Indigenous Workers

 Farmworker Justice is a partner in the NIOSH and NIEHS funded project “Promoting Occupational Health of Indigenous Workers.” The project, which began in August 2004, aims to develop community-based strategies to improve health and safety conditions and access to services for indigenous farmworkers in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.  The other partners in this project are the Oregon Law Center, the farmworker union PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noreste), Salud Medical Center and Portland State University.

 In the next three years of this project, we will be developing and implementing a peer education program to raise farmworkers’ level of awareness of workplace hazards and the practical things they can do to protect themselves and enforce their rights.