"The Cows Don't Milk Themselves!": Migrant Farmworkers Fight for Dignity

Into the Mix

Ben & Jerry's and Vox Creative

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.3 • 537 Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Did you know that without migrant farm workers, the price of dairy would be twice as expensive? Dairy farming is one of the most challenging jobs in agriculture, and like a lot of farmwork has notoriously weak legal protections for workers, leading to long hours, poor pay, and unsafe conditions. Host Ashely C. Ford tells the story of how a group of farmworkers came together after a senseless tragedy to demand change – and together built a safety net to protect their most vulnerable workers. Learn more about Migrant Justice and their Milk with Dignity program here. Into The Mix has been nominated in the Signal Awards for Best Public Service & Activism podcast! Vote for us below to help support the show. Voting closes on October 5. https://bit.ly/itmsignal

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Cheryl Pinto, Ben and Jerry's global head of values-led sourcing.
0:05.2	Before we get started with this episode of Into the Mix, you may have seen or heard recent reporting
0:10.8	from the New York Times that exposed an alarming increase in unaccompanied minor migrant workers
0:16.8	coming to the United States who are working long hours in dangerous environments.
0:22.4	This episode was recorded before this reporting, but stay tuned to the end of this episode for
0:27.5	more on that story.
0:32.9	This is Into the Mix, a Ben and Jerry's podcast about joy and justice.
0:38.7	I'm Ashley C. Ford.
0:41.0	Today, we're in Addison, a town in rural Vermont.
0:44.9	We're here to see Lucy Perez.
0:47.2	She's just made tortilla dough and is now pinching small handfuls and flattening them in her tortilla press as she talks to us.
0:55.0	The dinner she's making is for her and her husband Rubenai, whom she calls Ruby.
1:04.2	Lucy and Ruby met nearly a decade ago, at a carnival back in their hometown in the state of Chiapas, Mexico.
1:11.4	Lucy saw Rubinai playing soccer and struck up a conversation.
1:16.0	They've been together for eight years and have a daughter who lives with grandparents
1:19.9	back in Mexico.
1:27.0	Lucy moved to Vermont not too long ago, after four years apart from her Ruby. He came here in
1:33.4	2017 to work on a dairy farm. Lucy says when they were apart for those four long years, they talked a lot
1:41.1	about how Ruby and I was doing and what he was doing to make a better life for their daughter.
1:46.5	He's at work now, just a quarter mile down the road from where we are.
1:54.4	Rubenai's almost off work and it's been a long shift.
2:00.6	Here's Rubenai Aguilar Mantero, speaking to us through Will Lambach, his interpreter.
	...

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