Listening to Wisconsin’s Workers, is a comprehensive report that sheds light on pressing health and safety challenges faced by workers across various industries in the state. Conducted by Dr. Lola Loustaunau of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School for Workers, the study was supported by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and gathered firsthand accounts from workers in manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, and other sectors.
The report reveals significant concerns, including understaffing, inadequate training, lack of safety equipment, and long, unpredictable work hours that contribute to workplace injuries and health risks. Workers also cited barriers to reporting safety violations due to fear of retaliation, as well as difficulties in accessing medical care and navigating the workers’ compensation system.
Among the key recommendations, the report calls for stronger enforcement of safety regulations, improved training programs, and policies that center workers’ voices in decision-making. The findings underscore the urgent need for systemic reforms to ensure safer and healthier workplaces for Wisconsin’s workforce.
File: Listening-to-Wisconsins-Workers-final-draft-with-references.pdf
A cross-sectoral analysis of health and safety challenges and experiences
Author: Lola Loustaunau
Listening to Wi
sconsin’s Workers is a comprehensive report that sheds light on pressing health and safety challenges faced by workers across various industries in the state. Conducted by Dr. Lola Loustaunau of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School for Workers, the study was supported by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and gathered firsthand accounts from workers in manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, and other sectors.
The report reveals significant concerns, including understaffing, inadequate training, lack of safety equipment, and long, unpredictable work hours that contribute to workplace injuries and health risks. Workers also cited barriers to reporting safety violations due to fear of retaliation, as well as difficulties in accessing medical care and navigating the workers’ compensation system.
Among the key recommendations, the report calls for stronger enforcement of safety regulations, improved training programs, and policies that center workers’ voices in decision-making. The findings underscore the urgent need for systemic reforms to ensure safer and healthier workplaces for Wisconsin’s workforce.
Read the report
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School for Workers has released the Dairy Workers Study: Legal and Community Needs Assessment, a comprehensive report examining the challenges faced by dairy workers in Wisconsin. Conducted in partnership with Legal Action of Wisconsin’s Farmworker Project, the study highlights the difficult working conditions, legal vulnerabilities, and social isolation experienced by many dairy workers, who are predominantly Latinx immigrants.
Key findings reveal widespread workplace safety violations, lack of awareness about legal rights, and barriers to accessing healthcare, housing, and fair wages. Many workers also cited fears of retaliation and deportation as obstacles to advocating for better conditions. The report calls for strategic outreach, legal education, increased funding for civil legal aid, and improved workplace protections to address these urgent issues.
This study underscores the need for policy changes and community support to ensure the well-being of Wisconsin’s dairy workforce.
File: Dairy-Workers-Study-Legal-and-Community-Needs-Assessment.pdf
Legal and Community Needs Assessment
Authors: Armando Ibarra, Alexia Kulwiec, and Graci Austin-Nichols
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School for Workers has released the Dairy Workers Study: Legal and Community Needs Assessment, a comprehensive report examining the challenges faced by dairy workers in Wisconsin. Conducted in partnership with Legal Action of Wisconsin’s Farmworker Project, the study highlights the difficult working conditions, legal vulnerabilities, and social isolation experienced by many dairy workers, who are predominantly Latinx immigrants.
Key findings reveal widespread workplace safety violations, lack of awareness about legal rights, and barriers to accessing healthcare, housing, and fair wages. Many workers also cited fears of retaliation and deportation as obstacles to advocating for better conditions. The report calls for strategic outreach, legal education, increased funding for civil legal aid, and improved workplace protections to address these urgent issues.
This study underscores the need for policy changes and community support to ensure the well-being of Wisconsin’s dairy workforce.
Read the report
Legal and community assessment
Wisconsin dairy workers face unique hardships caused by this industry’s year-round work demands, danger in its occupations, placement of farms in mostly rural and isolated regions, and its dependence on a racialized, predominantly Latin American immigrant and mostly unauthorized workforce.
School for Workers partnered with Legal Action of Wisconsin Farmworker Project to identify this population’s key priorities, strengths, and needs and to provide recommendations on how the Farmworker Project could better support dairy farmworker communities.
File: Dairy-Workers-Study-Legal-and-Community-Needs-Assessment.pdf
In the United States, COVID-19 has devastated the lives of essential workers, their families and their communities. While many in the U.S. can work from home during the pandemic, those who grow and prepare the country’s food, care for the sick, maintain the state’s infrastructure, and educate the nation’s children must leave home to do their jobs. These workers face risk of infection and illness each day on the job. Workers of color and Latinx workers face greater risks than their non-Latinx, white counterparts and suffer poorer health outcomes as a result. This report, prepared by the University of Wisconsin School for Workers (SFW) in partnership with the University of Wisconsin – Population Health Institute presents the concerns about workplace safety expressed by workers in several industries deemed essential. These workers play a vital role in the well-being of all Wisconsin residents and the economy and deserve to be kept safe and healthy and have their voices be heard.
File: Final-Voices-of-Wisconsin-Workers.pdf
A community engaged study of essential workers during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
Primary authors: Alexia Kulwiec and Armando Ibarra | Secondary authors: Jessica Wang, Kristi Anderson, Jonathan Heller, Shelly Shaw
Voices of Wisconsin Workers is a report that amplifies the experiences of essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School for Workers in partnership with the Population Health Institute, the study highlights significant challenges faced by workers in healthcare, education, food processing, agriculture, and construction.
Key findings reveal that many workers experienced unsafe working conditions, inadequate protective measures, and a lack of enforceable safety regulations. The report also underscores the disproportionate risks faced by Latinx communities. Workers reported barriers to speaking out about safety concerns and limited access to benefits such as paid sick leave, leading many to work while ill.
The report calls for stronger workplace protections, better health education, enforceable safety measures, and expanded benefits to support Wisconsin’s essential workforce. These recommendations aim to create safer, healthier, and more equitable working conditions for all.
Read the report
