Si Se Puede! Settlement of UFW lawsuit is big victory against heat deaths
¡Si Se Puede! Thank you for being there for farm workers. Thousands of concerned men and women across America joined our campaigns to protect farm workers from dying or becoming ill from extreme heat. Yesterday in Fresno, we joined families of workers who have perished from the heat to announce settlement of lawsuits filed in 2009 and 2012 that will improve protection for farm workers through new joint and mutual efforts by the state of California and the UFW.
We are so very proud of our role in ensuring farm worker safety from California’s often brutal sun. Many of us with the UFW have too often had to comfort farm worker families mourning the needless deaths of their loved ones from exposure to high temperatures in the fields. It is now our hope that we will not have to repeat those experiences.
The announcement in Fresno comes as harvest seasons have begun in many parts of California and as we are experiencing the first really hot weather of the year. Farm workers must do hard physical labor in temperatures that approach or exceed 95 degrees. Farm workers shouldn’t have to risk death or illness from extreme heat when reasonable measures can easily prevent such tragedies. Protections for workers will improve as a result of this settlement.
We want to share some of the news stories about the settlement that went all over the nation plus videos from the announcement and background information so have put together a page at http://www.ufw.org/heatregs.
Thank you for caring,
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President
United Farm Workers of America