Employer Efforts to Protect Essential Workers – GSA Response to Salinas Californian

GSA Response to the Salinas Californian article: “Sacrificing Safety for Profit” – July 7, 2022

Regarding the recent article in the Salinas Californian alleging lack of COVID-19 protections for essential workers, agricultural employers in our region were among the first in the nation to launch COVID prevention standards for farm workers in March 2020. These standards included social distancing and the use of employer-provided PPE, among numerous other provisions. Further, the Grower Shipper Association of Central California (GSA) and ag employers worked with local hospitals to provide on-site COVID prevention training for farm and facility employees conducted by health care professionals.

Through an innovative GSA program, farm workers who tested positive or were symptomatic also had access to safe and comfortable quarantined housing in early 2020 with daily food deliveries and medical checks. This housing program became the model for California’s “Housing for the Harvest” initiative.

In February 2021, GSA and ag employers partnered with Clinica de Salud to provide life-saving vaccines to farm workers in Salinas. This nationally recognized program has administered over 60,000 vaccines to essential workers to date. As quoted in a Californian article in July 2021, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said: “That partnership made it possible for farm workers in this county to have a higher rate of vaccination than the general population.”

For the Californian to simply cite a single study in its article without including these significant COVID prevention efforts (which the Californian has covered previously) presents an inaccurate portrayal of ag employers in this region and unfairly dismisses their care and commitment to protect farm workers from this persistent virus.

Christopher Valadez, GSA President

(Visit GSA’s Our Work webpage to learn more about COVID-19 prevention efforts.)