STOCKTON (California) RECORD

June 5, 2008

Farm workers hope bill, unity will harvest change

By Jennie Rodriguez

Record Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO - Farm labor advocates Wednesday called on state legislators to amend a bill that would make it easier for farm workers to unionize, using a prayer vigil for Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez as a vehicle for change.

The vigil culminated a four-day march from Lodi. It preceded a rally on the Capitol steps that, in part, was a remembrance of the pregnant 17-year-old farm worker who died May 16 of a heat-related illness she endured while working in a Farmington vineyard.

Even though labor laws exist to prevent such deaths, workers need union representation to help them speak up about unsafe and unfair work conditions, said Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers.

Merced Labor Contractor, the company that hired Jimenez, is under state investigation for allegedly failing to provide heat-prevention measures and emergency medical attention.

Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet started the process of revoking the company's license last week after investigators learned more about Jimenez's death and the company's failure to correct previous violations.

On Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a written statement, "Employers or labor contractors who do not comply with the heat illness prevention standards will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We will double our efforts on enforcement and education to help ensure there is never another tragedy of this type."

Representatives of Merced Farm Labor, also in a written statement, responded to the allegations. Elias Armenta, the company's safety coordinator, said Jimenez's boyfriend, Florentino Bautista, refused to call for medical help and insisted on driving Jimenez to a nearby store. That's where Bautista attempted to revive her.

Armenta said the couple also lied by claiming Jimenez was 20 years old.

"We are deeply concerned about the loss of Ms. Jimenez," Armenta said. "The well-being of our employees is our primary concern."

The contractor's attorney, Jim Gumberg, said once the truth surfaces, "it will become clear that Merced Farm Labor will be completely exonerated."

The focus of Wednesday's rally was a bill introduced in April by Fabian Nuñez, Assembly speaker emeritus. Nuñez is pushing for additional amendments requested by the United Farm Workers in the wake of Jimenez's death.

New provisions will allow farm workers to vote on unionizing from their homes or polling stations. Currently, farm laborers must unionize at the work site, and that intimidates workers from organizing, Rodriguez said.

"We already have laws in place, but those laws aren't being applied in the fields," Nuñez told the audience in Spanish.

About 600 farm workers and their supporters gathered at the Capitol for the prayer vigil and rally. Those marching in honor of Jimenez also asked for more enforcement of the state's farm labor laws.

Among the 18 people who walked the entire way from Lodi was Jimenez's uncle Doroteo Jimenez, her brother Jose Luis Jimenez and Bautista.

"The death of my niece caused us great pain," Doroteo Jimenez said. "I don't want this to stay in the dark." Family members said they joined the effort to make legislative changes because they don't want the teenager's death to be in vain.

Several Assembly members came to the vigil.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, said, "I want to offer our condolences to the family. But I also want to express our anger, because all of us know that all these deaths are unnecessary."

Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, the next Senate president pro tem, vowed to advocate for the amendments.

United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, who grew up in Stockton, also was in support of Nuñez's bill.

"My message is to Gov. Schwarzenegger. It's kind of serendipitous that Maria lost her life during this time," she said, referring to today's 40th anniversary of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy's death. Kennedy, the uncle of Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, marched alongside farm workers during Cesar Chavez's farm unionizing movement in 1968. Chavez was a co-founder of the United Farm Workers.

"Call upon the courage of Robert Kennedy and sign this bill to make sure every farm worker ... will be protected by their own union representative," Huerta said.