Labor Issues

A few weeks ago, the Vanguard reported on the sad story of a 17-year-old farm worker who died of heat stroke after working for hours in the heat without adequate water, rest, or shade. (Click here to listen to our interview with Marilyn Calderon of the United Farm Workers).

On Friday, the Sacramento Bee reported on an update to the situation. The Merced Farm Labor had been allowed to reopen and send its laborers back to the fields as of June 26 after demonstrating to CAL-OSHA that it met all the requirements for heat protection for its workers. The company had been shut down because it was not requiring its employees to receive heat training.

In one of the worst human rights abuses I have heard of in recent memory in this area, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed yesterday at the Merced Superior Court for the death of 17 year old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez. The lawsuit is for wrongful death, general negligence and premises liability.

Maria Isabel, a 17-year-old farm worker from Oaxaca collapsed on May 14 while working for a Merced Farm Laborer in a vineyard owned by West Coast Grape Farming outside of Stockton. Maria Isabel, who was two-months pregnant, had worked nine hours in temperatures that reached 100 degrees inside the vineyard. Her body temperature was 108.4 degrees when she was finally taken to a hospital nearly two hours after collapsing. She died on May 16.

Former Republican Assemblyman Keith Richman is at it again. Richman is on the attack and attempting to…

Labor Day dates back to the 1880s and was originally founded as a means to give a…

On Thursday on the steps of the Capitol a coalition of labor unions and community organizations who…