Jenkins Paul L, Stack Suzanne G, May John J, Earle-Richardson Giulia
Bassett Research Institute, Cooperstown, New York, USA.
J Agromedicine. 2009;14(1):58-65. doi: 10.1080/10599240802623387.
The Spanish-speaking proportion of the Northeast dairy industry workforce is believed to be increasing. This study quantifies the extent of this increase over time in New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont, and compares demographics between English- and Spanish-speaking workers. A total of 293 farms were followed for 21 months via telephone. The proportion of the Spanish-speaking dairy workforce was measured. Differences in demographic characteristics were assessed. The proportion of Spanish-speaking workers increased linearly for both large and small farms. The rate of increase was much greater on large farms. Linear models predicted that 53.2% of the large and 18.1% of the small farm workforce would be Spanish speaking within 5 years. Spanish-speaking workers worked significantly longer weeks than their English-speaking counterparts. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) monitoring cutoff for number of employees is currently 10. Consequently, the increase in the proportion of Spanish-speaking workers in dairy, who have been shown to work more hours per week, is likely to result in fewer workers per farm. This could have implications for farms currently under OSHA regulations based on having 10 or more workers, because farms with workers working longer hours per week will employ fewer workers overall. In addition, according to section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, these workers do not currently meet the migrant farmworker definition that would qualify them to receive primary health services from federally funded migrant health centers. New legislation is needed to formally qualify this growing indigent population to receive healthcare via channels that are currently available to migrant and seasonal farmworkers.
据信，东北部乳制品行业劳动力中说西班牙语的比例正在上升。本研究量化了纽约、宾夕法尼亚和佛蒙特州这一比例随时间的增长幅度，并比较了说英语和说西班牙语工人的人口统计学特征。通过电话对293个农场进行了为期21个月的跟踪调查。测量了说西班牙语的乳制品行业劳动力比例，评估了人口统计学特征的差异。说西班牙语的工人比例在大型和小型农场中均呈线性增长，大型农场的增长速度要快得多。线性模型预测，5年内大型农场劳动力中将有53.2%的说西班牙语，小型农场劳动力中有18.1%的说西班牙语。说西班牙语的工人每周工作时间明显长于说英语的同行。职业安全与健康管理局（OSHA）目前规定的员工数量监测临界值为10人。因此，乳制品行业说西班牙语工人比例的增加（已表明他们每周工作时间更长）可能会导致每个农场的工人数量减少。这可能会对目前根据拥有10名或更多工人而受OSHA监管的农场产生影响，因为每周工作时间更长的农场总体上雇佣的工人会更少。此外，根据《公共卫生服务法》第330条，这些工人目前不符合流动农场工人的定义，因此没有资格从联邦资助的流动健康中心获得初级卫生服务。需要新的立法来正式认定这一不断增加贫困人口有资格通过目前流动和季节性农场工人可利用的渠道获得医疗保健。
