Just like this summer, extreme heat hit hard in North Carolina in 2023, when a group of farmworkers decided enough was enough.
On Sept. 5 of that year, farmworker José Arturo Gonzáles Mendoza, 30, died while harvesting sweet potatoes at Barnes Farming & Farm Pak in Nash County.
His absence left behind more than sadness and grief — it sparked outrage and a call for solutions.
“That’s when we understood that we had to organize, that we couldn’t keep losing lives simply for working in the fields,” recalled María Mejía Pérez of El Futuro Es Nuestro and member of the Health Committee, in an interview with Enlace Latino NC.
Choosing Life Over Work
María said the group of workers made their choice clear from the very beginning: “choosing life over work.”
“So they asked the North Carolina Growers Association for a minimum protocol during heat waves. Among other things, that it allow workers to leave the fields without fear of losing their jobs, and that the right to see a doctor be guaranteed.
“Many times, if you say you need to see a doctor, the next day you no longer have a job. That can’t be,” María said.
Knowing the Symptoms
With no response to the request for a protocol, and with the constant threat of retaliation for going to the doctor and losing their jobs, a small group started the Health Committee of El Futuro Es Nuestro.
“The idea is to have a worker in each field or farm trained in first aid and knowing what to do in case of an emergency,” María explained.
“Doctors had told us: when the body stops sweating, it’s collapsing. But in the fields, that knowledge was almost nonexistent,” she said.
María explained that when someone fainted, co-workers would take them out of the field, place them in the shade, and then, when they returned, “they could already be dead.”
“That’s why the Health Committee insists on discussing these difficult issues: recognizing warning signs, applying first aid to keep a worker alive until help arrives, and, above all, not being afraid to call 911 even if the grower isn’t present,” she said.
María also noted that many workers have already learned they can file complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and that they are not alone.
A Growing Committee
The Health Committee has about 60 members spread across roughly 50 farms.
“Some have only received their first training; others already know how to apply first aid and are spreading the message that extreme heat is a deadly natural disaster,” said María Mejía.
María added that the dream is for every field to have at least one worker trained to act in emergencies — so that no one dies again from lack of information or out of fear.
“This year was terrible. Weekdays above 100 degrees, and one doesn’t even want to imagine what the temperature is like inside the field,” she concluded.
PODCAST
Después de la tormenta
Hace un año, el huracán Helene golpeó al oeste de Carolina del Norte. La comunidad latina respondió con algo más fuerte que la tormenta: solidaridad.
🎧 En este episodio, conoce cómo las organizaciones latinas transformaron la crisis en resiliencia.
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