With two recent heat-related deaths, legislators in the state of California are working to pass two bills that would allow farm workers to protect themselves from excessive time working in hot conditions with access to timely breaks, a water supply and better working conditions.
Protecting farm workers
With two recent heat-related deaths, legislators in the state of California are working to pass two bills that would allow farm workers to protect themselves from excessive time working in hot conditions.
Last week the temperature in California's Central Valley went above 110 degrees. Can you imagine laboring in weather like that with the searing sun beating down on you for 8-10-12 hours a day? Not something you'd want to do, is it? Then try to imagine doing that hard work without water or shade. Unimaginable, right? Unfortunately, not for many farm workers.
Since California issued its 2005 regulations to keep farm workers from dying of extreme heat, preventable farm worker deaths have continued to occur at a similar pace. Just this summer, state regulators are investigating two possible heat-related farm worker deaths. The fact is that the state just doesn't have the resources to adequately enforce its heat standards. According to an August 22 editorial in the Desert Sun, "Last year only 1,090 heat inspections were conducted on California's 81,500 farms. At that rate, many violations could go unnoticed."
Since the state has failed to adequately enforce its heat standards, the UFW has sponsored two bills that will allow farm workers to protect themselves. One of these bills, AB 2676 (Calderon), Humane Treatment for Farm Workers Act, which says agricultural employers must treat farm workers at least as well as animals or face the same criminal penalties, has already passed the Senate floor and is on its way to the Assembly.
We expect the other bill, AB 2346 the Farm Worker Safety Act (Butler) to be on the full Senate floor next Monday. This bill would empower farm workers to enforce mandatory shade and drinking water requirements without any cost to taxpayers.
The problem of heat-related farm worker deaths must be solved. Farm workers cannot keep having their lives jeopardized