11/9/04: 11:00 AM in Sunnyside, WA Retired farm worker to get more than $11,000 in pension checks;
UFW appeals to workers who may not know they qualify
A Sunnyside, WA. farm worker who didn’t realize he qualified for a United Farm Workers pension will receive a check totaling more than $11,000 during a ceremony Friday at the Sunnyside Washington headquarters.
One of UFW founder Cesar Chavez’s achievements was creation in the 1970s of America’s first–and only–functioning pension plan for field laborers. UFW Regional Director Erik Nicholson and JDLC Pension Plan Administrator Douglas Blaylock will present the check to retired farm worker Francisco Walle at Tuesday’s event.
Walle, now 70, didn’t know he was eligible for pension benefits from the union’s Juan de la Cruz Farm Workers Pension Fund. In addition to the lump sum retroactive payment of $11,375.76, before taxes, Walle will also receive $181.92 each month for the rest of his life from the joint union-management pension plan.
The UFW and the pension fund also hope to spread the word to other retired farm workers who, like Walle, aren’t aware they–or their spouse–qualified for pensions when they worked under union contracts. Walle labored with a UFW agreement under which Stimson Lane, now called Chateau St. Michelle, contributed to the pension plan between 1996 and 2004.
Since 1989, the pension plan–financed by contributions from growers for every hour worked by a union member under UFW contract–has provided cost-of-living increases and other adjustments and bonuses. The pension plan was named for Juan de la Cruz, a 60-year old grape striker shot to death on a Kern County California picket-line in 1973.
Who: UFW Regional Director Erik Nicholson; JDLC Pension Plan Administrator Douglas Blaylock and retired union member Francisco Walle.
What: Presenting retired farm worker a check totaling more than $11,000 from the union pension plan begun by Cesar Chavez.
When: 11:00 AM – Tuesday November 9, 2004
Where: UFW office, 821 Yakima Valley Hwy, Sunnyside, WA, 98944
Retired farm workers who believe they may qualify for the Juan De La Cruz Pension Plan can inquire online at: http://www.ufw.org/jdlc.htm or call: (800) 321-6607 or (888) 735-5352.