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Dairy Workers Study

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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 University of Wisconsin Crest logo

Legal and Community Needs Assessment

Authors: Armando Ibarra, Alexia Kulwiec, and Graci Austin-Nichols

Dairy Workers Study report coverThe 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

Diary Workers Study: Legal and Community Needs Assessment

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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 Cover of Dairy Workers Study