(HAMILTON, NEW YORK) - Colgate University’s Center for Women’s Studies hosted the Workers’ Center of Central New York (WCCNY) for their weekly Brown Bag series earlier this month as WCCNY Executive Director Jessica Maxwell explained the purpose of the community-based membership organization, which works to improve economic and working conditions for Low Wage Sectors in Central New York, empowering members through leadership development, organizer training and Labor Rights education. 

Maxwell organized her presentation in the context of Undocumented Immigrants in the U.S.: “In particular, in Central New York and north of Upstate, Immigrant Workers are typically more vulnerable to isolation due to language barriers, immigration and enormous economic pressures.  You risk all you sacrificed to get here daily.  You gamble, and sometimes you lose in the short term.  Success in the long term is a hard thing to hold out for.” 

Aided by statistics from the non-profit National Immigration Forum and the New York Times, Maxwell emphasized the necessity of these Agricultural Workers: 70% of Farmers are undocumented - 90% in the dairy industry alone - contributing to more than $9 billion dollars in profit - annually. 

“Over the (Coronavirus) Pandemic, lots of our Workers got letters granting them to be an Essential Worker, but not to be in this country,” Maxwell said. “The irony is not lost on the Workers who got those letters.”

To Read This Labor News Report In Its Entirety, Go To: Workers’ Center of Central New York Discusses Intersectional Labor Rights at Brown Bag – The Colgate Maroon-News