Labor Rights Are Human Rights

By: Gerardo Granillo, SAF Board Member

Labor rights must be recognized as fundamental human rights

Labor rights must be recognized as fundamental human rights because they protect every person's ability to work with dignity and equality. Work shapes self-worth, sustains survival, and impacts well-being. When labor rights are elevated, human rights, protections against exploitation, forced labor, unsafe conditions, and mistreatment become non-negotiable and universal. My experiences at SAF and in the camps I visited reinforced the idea that ensuring labor rights as human rights remains an unmet yet essential principle, even after decades of advocacy.

Governments and employers must ensure fair wages, reasonable hours, safe workplaces, and freedom from discrimination for labor rights to be considered human rights. These regulations help ensure workers are not just seen as a means to profit. Everyone should be protected at work. Farmworkers, for example, often face workplace exploitation dangerous conditions, including heat and exhaustion, usually without proper safety checks, equipment, or clothing.

Farmworkers deserve dignity, safety, and fair treatment

Farmworkers demonstrate what dignity, safety, and equity at work really mean through their daily challenges. They show that every job, no matter how difficult or low-paid, deserves respect. People who grow and harvest our food do essential work and should be treated with dignity, not overlooked or undervalued. Sadly, equal treatment for workers is still not guaranteed, even with advocacy.

Agricultural work involves long hours, extreme heat, exposure to chemicals, and dangerous equipment. Safe working conditions, protective gear, and reasonable hours are necessary to protect workers. Many farmworkers face low wages and limited legal protections, highlighting the need for fair pay, breaks, healthcare, and protection from exploitation or discrimination. We still have a long way to go before true equality and protections are achieved.

Farmworkers should be valued in society

Labor conditions often show whose lives and well-being matter most in society. The quality of jobs, pay, and protections reflects what society values and who is seen as more “important”. This usually comes with better pay and security. At the same time, essential jobs like farm work, cleaning, or food service often lack benefits, suggesting that the people doing these jobs are valued less by society.

When workers have safe equipment, reasonable hours, and health protections, it shows that their well-being matters. Poor safety standards, such as failing to provide gloves for chemical use or failing to enforce heat breaks, signal that farmworkers’ health is not a priority. Many tough and dangerous jobs, like picking crops, are performed by immigrants, low-income workers, and marginalized groups. Their working conditions reveal inequalities and show which communities receive fewer protections or opportunities. Today, the wealthiest are viewed as having more value in our society than those who bring food to our table.

A call for urgent reform

Protecting farmworkers’ rights today requires urgent changes in laws, workplace practices, and social attitudes. Farmworkers play a key role in producing food, yet many still face unsafe and unfair conditions. For example, during my internship in 2005, I saw camps where twenty people slept in one room, sharing only one toilet for every fifteen people. There was no air conditioning, despite summer temperatures reaching 110 degrees. These living standards have not changed much since then.

Immediate reforms are needed to improve housing, ensure fair pay, and implement basic workplace safeguards, such as air conditioning, adequate bathroom facilities, and limits on the number of people sharing a room.

Labor rights are human rights because everyone deserves the chance to earn a living with dignity and should never be made to feel less than others, especially when their work puts food on our tables. Let’s raise our voices and actively support policies and organizations that protect safety, dignity, and equity for all workers, especially the most vulnerable.