'Elections matter': Biden receives endorsement from United Farm Workers, which represents thousands of employees in agriculture

• The United Farm Workers, a labor union that represents thousands of employees in agriculture, is endorsing Joe Biden for president.
• "Elections matter," UFW President Teresa Romero said in a statement on Wednesday. "We need leadership that respects the roles and contributions of all Americans."
• In its endorsement of Biden, the union says the former vice president would protect Dreamers and work to extend overtime pay to farmworkers.

The United Farm Workers labor union is endorsing Joe Biden's run for the White House, arguing that a Biden presidency would protect hundreds of thousands of immigrants currently at risk of deportation.

"Elections matter," UFW President Teresa Romero said in a statement on Wednesday. "We need leadership that respects the roles and contributions of all Americans and values those who feed us instead of the current leadership that seeks to lower farm worker wages and dehumanize them."

UFW, which gained prominence in the 1960s under the leadership of Dolores Huerta and César Chávez, is the nation's largest farm worker union. It endorsed another Democrat, Hillary Clinton, in 2016 and boasts of members in key swing states, such as Arizona, Florida, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

"Many farmworkers are in a position to vote, and they really feel obligated to vote on behalf of those who can't," Elizabeth Strater, UFW's director of alternative organizing, told Business Insider. She said the union could play a key role in mobilizing Latino voters, citing its experience organizing immigrant laborers and appealing to general consumers alike to achieve workplace victories.

"In 2020, real 'Latino outreach' isn't just translating messaging into Spanish," Strater said. "We've grown up together, these voters and our movement."

In its endorsement of Biden, the union says the former vice president would protect Dreamers: undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and currently face the prospect of deportation under President Donald Trump.

Biden would also work with Congress to extend overtime pay to farmworkers and ensure that those who are exposed to the coronavirus receive paid leave and sick pay, the union said.

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