TAKE ACTION
CATA’s is creating lasting change in farm and migrant workers' living and working conditions. Will you join us?
We are improving workers and immigrant rights and promoting food Justice in Maryland, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. We work with volunteers, and donors, providing a platform for you to make a more significant, more profound difference. Join us today. Change doesn’t happen without you.
Visit https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials for contact information for your federal, state and local elected officials. You can also be directly connected to US representatives by calling 202-225-3121 and US senators by calling 202-224-3121.
New Jersey Legislation
Expand Emergency Paid Sick Days, S2453/A4209
Provides essential workers with 15 emergency paid sick days available immediately during a state of emergency and increases the base number of earned sick days from 5 to 7, includes per diem health care workers, and removes other burdensome barriers to accessing paid sick leave.
Email your elected officials here.
Income Support for Undocumented Immigrants
We are calling for a fund that provides $600 weekly payments to workers left behind from aid and $2,000 stimulus like payments to immigrants left behind from relief.
Email your elected officials here.
Take action to create a #NewJerseyForAll by emailing your legislators now
The Fair and Welcoming Platform will:
-
Ban new ICE detention contracts including renewals or expansions.
-
Make schools, hospitals, and courthouses safer and make data more secure by updating confidentiality policies and restricting what can be shared with immigration authorities.
-
Closes law enforcement loopholes that entrap immigrant communities by strengthening the Immigrant Trust Directive and making it permanent.
-
Remove harmful terms like "alien" from state language so that laws affirm our right to belonging and inclusion
To write to your New Jersey representatives click here.
Pennsylvania Legislation
Driving Pennsylvania Forward!
This bill would amend state law to grant a driver’s license without a Social Security number, enabling undocumented immigrants to receive a learner’s permit or a driver’s license, by using just their taxpayer identification number and some additional documents. Take action now!
The bill - HB 279 - already has 37 co-sponsors! If you live in Pennsylvania, you can check here to see if your representative is supporting!
Now, the coalition is working to move LOTS of calls to our state representatives and handwritten letters! Do you want to support this effort? Please get in touch with Nancy Lopez Sosa at nlopezsosa@cata-farmworkers.org.
We have also launched a fundraising effort for the coalition! If you want to help us towards our goal of raising $25,000 - check out our collective fundraiser!
Federal Legislation
Covid Emergency Standard
With the increasing numbers of vaccinated individuals and the roll back of mask mandates, it is easy to believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is over. However, we still have people being diagnosed every day with COVID-19 even though those numbers have, thankfully, decreased.
In June, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a long-awaited COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) - but only for health care settings, leaving out tens of millions of U.S. workers.
Because of worker organizing, finally health care workers who saved our lives are getting the protections they deserve. But that's not enough, ALL workers deserve protections.
Join us as we demand that the Biden administration provide essential strong safety protections for all workers and give OSHA the resources needed to hold employers accountable.
Contact the Biden Administration now https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact, and tell them: #ProtectAllWorkers #IStandWithEssentialWorkers
H.R.6 - American Dream and Promise Act of 2021
The bill would provide Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders and individuals with Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) with protection from deportation and an opportunity to obtain permanent legal status in the United States if they meet certain requirements.
Tell Your Senators: Pass the Dream and Promise Act here.
Sign the Petition here.
Passed in the House of Representatives on March 18, 2021
Still advocating to remove criminal provisions
S.348 - U.S. Citizenship Act
The bill would provide a path to citizenship for the undocumented population, a border management approach that includes a focus on addressing root causes of forced migration, a legal immigration reform platform, a series of humanitarian provisions, and additional rights for immigrant workers.
H.R.1603 - Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2021
The bill would provide some undocumented farmworkers and their family members with a path to legal immigration status and citizenship, revise the H-2A agricultural guestworker program, and impose mandatory employment verification (“E-verify”) in agriculture.
Passed in the House of Representatives on March 18, 2021CATA is opposed to this bill. We agree that the H-2A program needs to be revised with stronger worker protections and that providing a path to a legal immigration status for farmworkers is a step in the right direction, but not at the expense of other farmworkers and the immigrant community.
Food Chain Workers Alliance Statement
Action alert to oppose: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/oppose-the-farm-workforce-modernization-act-of-2021
Legalization for Essential Workers through Budget Reconciliation
A proposal for a pathway to citizenship that would include Dreamers, TPS holders, farmworkers, and other undocumented essential workers could be done through budget reconciliation process
Budget Reconciliation allows legislation with a tangible fiscal impact to be enacted under special rules providing for limited debate and requiring only a majority vote.
Opportunities for CATA's Members
CATA's Activism Group
If you are a member of CATA or part of the immigrant community in South Jersey and want to help immigrants and farmworkers have better living and working conditions, fair wages, and be treated with respect and dignity, this group is for you! We meet once a month virtually, and you can join us using your computer or phone.
You can join from your computer or phone! We meet once a month on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. In winter, 2021 we will resume our meetings.
In this meeting, there will be room to share ideas, coordinate communications with legislators, learn how to motivate other people to be part of our cause, and formulate action plans. People interested in this group must commit to attending once a month and actively participate during the meeting.
PHOTOGRAPH BY KATIE ORLINSKY
Join our Food Justice Commitee
This Committee is open to CATA members and the immigrant community interested in changing our current food system.
Our Food Justice program is focused on growing food with sustainable methods that do not rely on pesticides, genetically modified seeds, or machinery that harms our Mother Earth. We meet once a month at our Community Garden in Bridgeton, NJ.
Participants can join the community gardens, learn how to be part of a larger movement to change our broken food system, learn about agroecological practices and/or share wisdom about growing food and herbal medicine. For more information, call 609-271-8578. or email kramirez@cata-farmworkers.org