Tell CA legislators it has to end. A 6th farm worker just died from probable heat related causes

E-mail California legislators today!

Maria de Jesus Alvarez, 63, mother of nine died on August 2. Maria had been picking table grapes for Anthony Vineyards and was employed through farm labor contractor Manuel Torres during the afternoon of July 15. She began feeling ill and went home. According to witnesses, she was working in a crew of 150 workers and they had no shade nor had they received training in heat stroke prevention and precautions as mandated by state law. According to weather.com, the high that day was 111 degrees.

After Maria's condition deteriorated, she was taken to a hospital on July 29. The doctor determined she was severely dehydrated and had suffered heat stroke. After being treated and admitted by two different hospitals, Maria died on Aug. 2.

Maria's death makes six farm workers deaths that are being or have been investigated because of heat-related causes since May. This brings to 15 the number of farm workers whose death have been investigated as heat-related since CA Governor Schwarzenegger took office.

These recent deaths make it clear the state does not have the capacity to protect farm workers. As California's summer sizzles we must do everything we can to ensure that no more farm workers fall victim to the heat because the laws written to protect them are not enforced. Speaker Emeritus Fabian Nunez has introduced secret ballot legislation which has moved out of the assembly and which is now in the state senate. The bill, "Secret Ballot Elections for Farm Workers", protects farm workers' right to a secret ballot election and will make it easier for farm workers to organize and enforce the laws that the state cannot enforce.

Please take action immediately and click to send an e-mail to California legislators and tell them something needs to be done NOW. It's time to put a law in place that will allow farm workers to protect themselves!

Subject:

Dear [ Decision Maker ],

(Edit Letter Below)

I am appalled to learn that another farm worker just died. Maria's death makes six farm workers deaths that are being or have been investigated because of heat-related causes since May. This brings to 15 the number of farm workers whose death have been investigated as heat-related since CA Governor Schwarzenegger took office.  How can we accept this?

In 2006 the governor enacted California's first permanent heat regulations. Unfortunately the laws on the books are not the laws in the fields and farm workers keep on dying. Six farm workers who died of heat exposure since May and the 15th farm worker heat death since CA Governor Schwarzenegger took office. Here are their stories:

Maria de Jesus Alvarez, 63, mother of nine died on August 2.  Maria had been picking table grapes for Anthony Vineyards and was employed through farm labor contractor Manuel Torres during the afternoon of July 15. She began feeling ill and went home. According to witnesses, she was working in a crew of 150 workers and they had no shade nor had they received training in heat stroke prevention and precautions as mandated by state law. After her condition deteriorated, Alvarez was taken to a hospital on July 29. The doctor determined she was severely dehydrated and had suffered heat stroke. After being treated and admitted by two different hospitals, Maria died on Aug. 2.

Jorge Herrera, 37, died working for a labor contractor at Vignolo Vineyards loading table grapes on August 31. He passed out July 10 and was taken to the hospital. His core body temperature was 108 degrees, the same as the high temperature reported that day by the National Weather Service.

Ramiro Carrillo Rodriguez, 48, father of two, died in Selma, CA on July 10th after working all day for Sun Valley Packing in Reedley thru a farm labor contractor.

Farm worker Abdon Felix Garcia, 42, father of three, died after spending the morning and early afternoon of July 9th working for Sunview Vineyards in Arvin. The coroner says Felix's core body temperature was measured at 108 degrees just 13 minutes before his death.

Jose Macarena Hernandez, 64, died during a record-breaking heat wave on June 20 while harvesting butternut squash in Santa Maria on land owned by Sunrise Growers. He was buried on Friday.

And then there was the heat death of 17 year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez who died while laboring in the Stockton area grape vines.

When the governor came to Maria Isabel's funeral he promised to do everything possible to prevent this from happening again. But it is clear with these recent farm workers deaths that the state does not have the capacity to protect farm workers.

Unless and until we empower farm workers in the workplace farm workers will continue to die unnecessarily.

Speaker Emeritus Fabian Nunez has introduced secret ballot legislation which has moved out of the assembly and which is now in the state senate. The bill, "Secret Ballot Elections for Farm Workers", protects farm workers' right to a secret ballot election and will make it easier for farm workers to organize and enforce the laws that the state cannot enforce.

As California's summer sizzles we must do everything we can to insure that no more farm workers fall victim to the heat because the laws written to protect them are not enforced. Please support this bill and protect the people who labor so hard in the fields.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

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Assembly Member, District 46 Fabian Nunez
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