PLEASE FORWARD!!!
--- On Wed, 7/27/11, United Farm Workers <[email protected]> wrote:
Boy picking bell peppers collapses from
heat
I want to share a story--a travesty
that illustrates why CA farm workers so desperately need a law that would allow
them to protect themselves. Please read the story of 16-year old farm worker
Nicholas Chavez and send your message to CA Governor Jerry Brown.
Nicolas, his mother Carmen and father Emiliano, were working night shifts in
the bell pepper fields in Bakersfield, CA. Even in the evening, the weather was
hot with temperatures reaching 106 degrees. Nicholas told us, "There is not
enough water and what they had was warm, the bathrooms were 1/2 mile away. The
foreman treated us with a lot of pressure, threatening those who stayed behind,
saying that if you do not rush do not come tomorrow."
On July 7th, Nicholas and his family
began to work at 6pm. The temperature was 106°F. After an hour Nicholas started
to feel sick with severe stomach pain and eventually began to vomit. Around
9pm, his coworker asked if he was OK, and, on hearing the symptoms, told him to
go drink water and rest for a while. He let the assistant foreman know why he
was taking a break. The labor contractor and foreman came over to him and asked
why he wasn't working. He explained and they told him, 'do not come tomorrow;
wait until your parents are out of work.' Around 12:30am the foreman came back
and asked Nicholas if he was ready to go back to work and upon hearing that
Nicholas still felt ill he left him by the side of the car waiting for his
parents who finally got off of work at 4:30am.
Nicholas tells us, "They never offered to take me to the hospital or give me
fresh water, they just laughed at me. I was very afraid of falling asleep and
not waking up. I didn't want to worry my mother, because if she stops working,
she would lose her job."
Nicholas' mother, Carmen, worried about the same thing. She told us that, "On
my way to the bathroom I saw my son on the side of the car vomiting. I started
crying, feeling powerless." Carmen was afraid if she stopped to go help her
son, she would be fired and then she would be unable to provide for her family.
What a choice for a mother to make!
And they were right to be afraid. When Carmen returned to work the next day,
she and Nicholas' father were fired and the foreman even refused to pay them
for the previous days they worked.
Nicholas and his family went to the UFW
office for help. We immediately filed charges on the family's behalf. Once
aware of the situation, the state has gotten the family some of the wages they
are due.
There are more than 80,000 farms in
California and less than 200 inspectors. Nicholas' case is one of a multitude
of abuses that occur every day. What about all the others? It would take the
state over 70 years to inspect every farm just once if the state inspected
farms for heat illness violations at the current rate of annual inspections.
Farm workers need a tool to protect themselves.
Governor Brown needs to give farm
workers the tools to protect themselves and enforce the laws that state cannot.
Tell him to sign the "Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act" when it reaches his
desk again later this year.
http://action.ufw.org/peppers
After you take action please share this
campaign with your friends and family. You can send them an e-mail and/or post
this campaign on your Facebook and/or Twitter page by clicking here or going to
http://action.ufw.org/page/share/peppers
Check out our website at: www.ufw.org and keep up with the latest news.
Check out the UFW's Social Networking pages. Click to visit our Facebook Fan
Page, Facebook Cause, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace,and Care2 pages. Please link to
us and become our "Friend" and follow us on Twitter too! If you received this
message from a friend, you can sign up for the UFW List Serve. If you want to
change your mailing address and/or phone number click here If you want to
receive our alerts at a different e-mail address, send an e-mail to
[email protected] Please add us to your safelist: Please add [email protected]
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Policy
This email was sent to [email protected] Farm Workers, P.O. Box
62, Keene, CA 93531, http://www.ufw.org
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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