“我不得不工作”:西部的農(nóng)業(yè)工人冒著濃煙收割莊稼

“我不得不工作”:西部的農(nóng)業(yè)工人冒著濃煙收割莊稼

Rows of pinot noir grapevines sit under a blanket of dense smoke from wildfires last week in Oregon's Arlyn Vineyard.

在俄勒岡州的阿林葡萄園，成排的黑皮諾葡萄藤被上周野火的濃煙籠罩著。

Wildfires are ravaging large swaths of the West in the middle of the wine grape harvest, sending hazardous smoke through picturesque vineyards.

野火正肆虐著西部葡萄產(chǎn)區(qū)的大片地區(qū)，將有害的煙霧彌漫在風景如畫的葡萄園中。

It's forcing many agricultural workers to make a stark choice: Should they prioritize their health or earn badly needed money?

它迫使許多農(nóng)業(yè)工人做出一個嚴峻的選擇:他們應(yīng)該優(yōu)先考慮自己的健康還是賺急需的錢?

"The truth is that I have to work," said Maricela, 48, a team leader at a vineyard near Medford in southern Oregon. There are multiple fires blazing close to the town.

“事實是，我必須工作，”48歲的瑪麗塞拉說，她是南俄勒岡州梅德福附近一個葡萄園的隊長。該鎮(zhèn)附近發(fā)生了多起火災(zāi)。

"It's not easy to work now," she said. "The smoke is so dense. ... I feel dizzy, my throat hurts and my head feels like it's going to explode."

“現(xiàn)在工作不容易，”她說。“煙太濃了……我覺得頭暈，喉嚨疼，頭好像要爆炸了。”

Air quality is ranked as "very unhealthy" in this part of southern Oregon, according to the U.S. government air quality monitoring website Airnow.gov. Many of the agricultural areas in the West have seen plummeting air quality in recent weeks.

根據(jù)美國政府空氣質(zhì)量監(jiān)測網(wǎng)站Airnow.gov，南俄勒岡州這一地區(qū)的空氣質(zhì)量被列為“非常不健康”。最近幾周，西部許多農(nóng)業(yè)區(qū)的空氣質(zhì)量直線下降。

Maricela, who has already been forced to evacuate twice as a result of the fires, said her employer gave her the option to stay home without risking her job. But she said she has no choice. She hasn't been able to pay her electricity bill in three months, partly because she lost work hours due to the pandemic. She asked NPR not to use her last name, because like many agricultural workers, she doesn't have work documents.

瑪麗塞拉已經(jīng)兩次因火災(zāi)被迫疏散，她說她的雇主給了她選擇，即呆在家里而不會危及她的工作。但是她說她別無選擇。她已經(jīng)三個月沒能付電費了，部分原因是她因疫情而失去了工作時間。她要求NPR不要透露她的姓氏，因為像許多農(nóng)業(yè)工人一樣，她沒有工作證。

Her employer told her it will pay her an extra dollar per hour because of the fires.

她的雇主告訴她，由于火災(zāi)，每小時將多付給她一美元。

She said she can't think about the long-term health effects of the smoke. "I pray I stay healthy." Maricela said she doesn't have any preexisting health conditions; she doesn't have health insurance, either. "All I have are my hands to work," she said.

她說她不能想象濃煙對健康的長期影響。“我祈禱我能保持健康。” 瑪麗塞拉說她之前沒有任何健康問題;她也沒有醫(yī)療保險。“我只有雙手可以工作，”她說。

Agricultural workers vulnerable, lack information

農(nóng)業(yè)工人易受傷害，缺乏信息

More than 40 large wildfires are ravaging Oregon, Washington state and California, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, and have burned almost 4 million acres.

據(jù)美國國家消防中心稱，超過40場野火正在俄勒岡州、華盛頓州和加利福尼亞州肆虐，燒毀了近400萬英畝的土地。

Agricultural workers are among the most vulnerable as the disaster unfolds, said Reyna Lopez Osuna, 33. She works to improve labor conditions for farmworkers in Oregon.

33歲的雷納·洛佩斯·奧蘇納說，隨著災(zāi)難的展開，農(nóng)業(yè)工人是最脆弱的群體之一。她的工作是改善俄勒岡州農(nóng)場工人的勞動條件。

As the fires ramped up last week, "there were rumors and a lot of confusion of what was happening next," Lopez Osuna said. She said her phone was ringing constantly as workers frantically tried to figure out if they were required to come into work, even as evacuation zones shifted quickly.

當上周火勢加劇時，洛佩斯·奧蘇納說:“關(guān)于接下來會發(fā)生什么，有很多謠言和混亂。”她說，她的電話不斷響個不停，工人們瘋狂地試圖弄清楚是否需要他們來上班，盡管疏散區(qū)正在迅速轉(zhuǎn)移。

One factor adding to the confusion is the lack of information in Spanish and Indigenous languages from Mexico and Central America, Lopez Osuna said.

洛佩斯·奧蘇納說，增加混亂的一個因素是缺乏來自墨西哥和中美洲的西班牙語和土著語言的信息。

Counties were putting out emergency information on social media, she said, "but a lot of the farmworkers don't have Facebook or access to the best Wi-Fi."

各縣在社交媒體上發(fā)布了緊急信息，她說，“但很多農(nóng)場工人沒有Facebook或最好的Wi-Fi。”

More broadly, Lopez Osuna is alarmed about the impact of climate change on wildfires. It's causing them to burn more frequently and intensely. After this fire season settles, she said, "The industry needs to work on guidelines and protections for agricultural workers."

更廣泛地說，洛佩斯·奧蘇納對氣候變化對野火的影響感到擔憂。氣候使野火更頻繁、更強烈地燃燒。在這個火災(zāi)季節(jié)結(jié)束后，她說，“行業(yè)需要為農(nóng)業(yè)工人制定指導(dǎo)方針和保護措施。”

Lopez Osuna, the daughter of farmworkers who migrated from Mexico in the 1980s, understands that the wildfires also force employers to make difficult choices.

洛佩茲·奧蘇納是20世紀80年代從墨西哥移民過來的農(nóng)場工人的女兒，她明白野火也迫使雇主做出艱難的選擇。

"There is a short timeline to pick these fruits and vegetables," she said. "It means that people and employers are having to make really tough choices."

“采摘這些水果和蔬菜的時間很短，”她說。“這意味著員工和雇主不得不做出非常艱難的選擇。”