It’s now the summer harvest season in California and farm workers are toiling in the state’s fields, orchards and vineyards under temperatures often exceeding 100 degrees. At ranches where there are UFW contracts, workers use their union contracts to enforce state and federal protections such as California’s regulation aimed at preventing death and illness from extreme heat. But workers can’t do that at non-union companies. That’s where the dozen workers labored who died from the heat since 2005, when the heat regulation was issued. Farm workers sacrificed so much for SB 104, the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act, to make it a little easier for them to win union contracts. That’s why Gov. Jerry Brown’s veto of SB 104 last June 28 was so disappointing. We will continue pursuing laws such as SB 104, so fewer workers have to die or become sick from the heat.
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President
United Farm Workers of America