New Bill Demands Fair Wages and Safety for Farmworkers
Senators Welch, Booker, Wyden, and Warren introduce the Agricultural Worker Justice Act (S. 4995), legislation tying USDA funding to labor compliance and worker pay. The UFCW endorses the bill on July 21.
On July 20, 2026, Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced the Agricultural Worker Justice Act (S. 4995)—legislation that would use USDA contracting power to enforce labor standards across U.S. agriculture. The bill targets the structural problem that has made farmwork a last resort: companies that receive federal dollars face almost no penalty for wage theft, unsafe conditions, or labor violations.
The bill requires farmworkers employed on USDA contracts to earn higher wages, and it tightens labor-compliance rules for any company seeking or holding USDA-related contracts. Employers with documented labor violations would effectively be barred from bidding on new work. The act also expands OSHA inspection capacity, ensures workers have access to restrooms and adequate breaks, mandates safer line speeds, and prohibits stock buybacks by agribusinesses receiving USDA funding—closing a loophole where companies use federal subsidies to enrich shareholders while cutting wages.
The Problem Is Federal Complicity
Farmworkers have watched wage cuts roll out all year. The H-2A program that brought in 200,000+ temporary workers saw pay slashed by up to 32 percent on July 1. The USDA rolled back heat-protection enforcement for farmworkers in April, removing mandatory inspection targets that had driven a 35-fold increase in workplace safety checks. Contract poultry farmers—who raise birds under strict corporate control—lost protections against unfair payment systems when USDA postponed the Poultry Grower Payment Systems rule until December 2027.
Meanwhile, farm debt is headed to a record $624.7 billion in 2026, interest expenses are at a record $33 billion, and consolidation is accelerating. Companies like Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef control 85 percent of beef packing, 67 percent of pork, and 60 percent of chicken processing. In that landscape, farmworkers and contract growers have almost no leverage.
The Welch bill hits at the root: federal dollars should not subsidize the race to the bottom.
What the Bill Would Do
The Agricultural Worker Justice Act operates through economic incentive, not just regulation. Any company bidding on USDA contracts must show clean labor compliance records. Violations stay on record—repeated breaches mean exclusion from federal procurement. The bill also mandates wage increases for farmworkers on USDA-funded work, effectively setting a labor floor that can’t be undercut.
The bill pairs this with enforcement resources: it increases funding for OSHA inspections so violations are actually caught. It mandates rest breaks, water access, and safe bathroom facilities. It makes line speeds subject to worker safety review rather than pure productivity targets. And it closes the buyback loophole that lets companies receiving federal support funnel money to shareholders instead of raising wages or improving conditions.
Who’s Supporting It
On July 21, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) endorsed the bill, calling it a “landmark act supporting agricultural workers.” The UFCW represents tens of thousands of farmworkers and food-processing workers and has long pushed for federal leverage to enforce labor standards in meat and poultry. The endorsement signals that organized labor sees the bill as a credible path to raising standards for one of the most exploited workforces in the country.
The bill’s companions—including Senator Booker’s Farmland for Farmers Act, which restricts corporate and foreign ownership of U.S. farmland—show a coordinated push to shift power back to working farmers and farmworkers. Both bills directly challenge the consolidation and wage suppression that have defined farm policy for decades.
The Ask
The bill is currently in committee. It needs co-sponsors in both the House and Senate to move. The odds are not great in a Republican-controlled Congress, especially one that just moved to cut H-2A wages. But the UFCW endorsement, combined with Booker and Wyden’s co-sponsorship, signals that there is hunger in organized labor and the progressive wing of Congress for a different approach: one that uses federal power to enforce standards rather than subsidize race-to-the-bottom.
For farmworkers seeing wages drop and protections roll back, the bill represents a long-term agenda worth tracking. For now, it’s a marker of what pressure looks like.
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