Report Links Global Food System’s Worker Exploitation to Colonial Legacies and Climate Pressures

A new report from IPES-Food says exploitation is built into the global food system, leaving many of the 1.4 billion people who produce, process, distribute, and deliver food poorly paid and unprotected. It traces those conditions to colonialism, land dispossession, forced labor, and racialized labor systems, with climate change and affordability crises worsening them. The article highlights New York delivery workers, many Indigenous migrants from Guatemala and Mexico, who face dangerous conditions while responding to climate-related emergencies.

The IPES-Food report, released Monday, argues that poor pay and weak protections are not accidental for the world’s 1.4 billion food producers, processors, distributors, and deliverers. It connects these conditions to colonial land theft, forced labor, and racially stratified work systems, while noting that climate disruption and affordability strains make them worse.

In New York, many app-based delivery workers are Indigenous migrants from Guatemala and Mexico. They face crashes, assaults, robbery, and lack of job security, health coverage, or safe restrooms. During snowstorms, floods, and wildfire smoke, they often keep working to serve residents, even as advocates say they struggle to protect themselves.