Who should step in?
A Senate Labor & Commerce Committee hearing on Feb. 9 illustrated the need for interpreters: Several agricultural workers signed up to testify remotely on a bill that would modify overtime provisions for agriculture workers. Many of them opted to testify in Spanish, but just one testified with a certified interpreter. Others depended on family members, co-workers or community organizers.
Elizabeth Strater, director of strategic campaigns for United Farm Workers, recited translated testimony from other farm workers who couldn’t attend the hearing. And at one point in the hearing, a group of workers provided remote testimony — via Zoom — in Spanish without any interpreter handy.
That
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