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Press Release

LULAC and the United Farm Workers Condemn Negligent Actions of Farm Labor Contracting Company.

Teen Farmworker’s Death Stirs Outcry.

June 7, 2008

For more information contact:
Lizette Jenness Olmos, LULAC, 365-4553 mobile
Vickie Adame , UFW, (661) 837-9828

Washington, DC - The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest and largest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States, along with the United Farm Workers condemned Merced Farm Labor Contracting Service and West Coast Grape Farming, a division of Bronco Wines for their negligent actions which led to the tragic death of 17 year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez. Ms. Jimenez, who was two months pregnant, died from heat exhaustion and lack of water in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley in California.

"We applaud the three state agencies who are investigating this incident. The local district attorney and the state attorney general have offered assistance. We support this investigation and we will press for criminal charges against those found responsible for this unconscionable death. LULAC pledges to work with the UFW to go after companies that are negligent and violate our nation’s labor laws,” said LULAC National President Rosa Rosales.

Maria and her fiancé, Florentino Bautista, were working in a vineyard east of Stockton on May 14 when she collapsed from heat exhaustion. The pair was employed by Merced Farm Labor contracting service out of Atwater. During nine hours of work in 95 degree heat, they were given ten minute breaks but the walk was ten minutes away and the workers were opting to continue working for fear of falling behind and loosing their jobs. The water was not available until 10:30 a.m. Under California law the water is supposed to no more than a 5 minute walk and water was not available until after 10:30 a.m. making it a violation of labor laws.

When Maria collapsed, the company foreman put her in a hot van said that these types of incidents happen all the time and would go away with some rubbing alcohol instead of taking immediate steps to seek medical assistance. She was given rubbing alcohol and when she did not recover they opted to take her to the hospital. The foreman instructed that the hospital not be notified that she had been working because she was underage and would cause problems for the company. Maria did not get medical assistance until almost two hours after she fainted and by then it was too late according to doctors. Her body temperature was over 108 degrees.

“This death was completely preventable. Both the farm labor contractor had been cited for previous violations of this very same thing. And so they knew well what the law was, and they just didn't take any action,” said Arturo Rodriguez, President United Farm Workers.

The state of California is starting the process to revoke Merced Farm Labor's license, alleging previous failures to follow heat illness prevention standards.

Under rules enforced by Cal-OSHA, each worker is supposed to be provided one quart of water per hour. Employers are required to provide shaded areas and allow workers to take a minimum of a paid five-minute break as necessary to cool down. Bosses also have to train their supervisors and employees and have a written program ready for inspection if Cal-OSHA officials request one.

“It is a shame that in this day and time in this country on the 40th anniversary of the ending of the 25 day fast of Cesar Chavez who was joined by Robert Kennedy in 1968 in Delano, California, companies are still trying to ignore the terrible working conditions in the fields. We demand justice and protection for the farm workers who toil in the fields,” said Jaime P. Martinez, National LULAC Labor Advisor.

California occupational safety authorities are investigating the girl's death in Lodi as a health-related fatality.

The United Farm Workers Union is calling her treatment an “egregious” violation of safety regulations put into effect three years ago after three farm workers and a construction worker died of the heat.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization in the United States. LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.

Founded in 1962 by Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers of America is the nation's first successful and largest farm workers union currently active in 10 states. The UFW continues to organize in major agricultural industries across the nation. Recent years have witnessed dozens of key UFW union contract victories, among them the largest strawberry, rose, winery and mushroom firms in California and the nation. 75 percent of California's mushroom industry is now under union contract. In 2007, the United Farm Workers signed its first contract with Salinas, Calif.-based D'Arrigo Bros., California's third-largest vegetable company. The agreement covers 1,800 farm workers in the Salinas and Imperial valleys. The UFW signed a contract, also in 2007, with Three Mile Canyon Farms, America's largest dairy-and the first major union contract protecting farm workers in Oregon. They soon signed up another nearby dairy, Willow Creek. Many recent UFW-sponsored laws and regulations aide farm workers; in California, the first state regulation in the U.S. prevents further heat deaths of farm workers. The UFW is also pushing its historic bipartisan and broadly backed AgJobs immigration reform bill.

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