Hundreds of Kern County farm workers, supporters
joining finale of 200-mile march to Sacramento
BAKERSFIELD, CA–Hundreds of farm workers and their supporters from Kern County will travel on dozens of chartered buses to Sacramento on Sunday for the final day of a 13-day, 200-mile pilgrimage up the Central Valley demanding better salaries, enhanced working conditions and the right to overtime pay for field laborers. United Farm Workers leaders and other organizers will unveil their plans at 11 a.m. today (Monday, Aug. 28, 2011) during a news conference at the Radio Campesina studios, 6313 Schirra Court in Bakersfield.
The UFW-organized Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Now march kicked off on Aug. 23 in Madera. Marchers reach Stockton tonight and continue on Tuesday to Lodi. They will walk the last leg of their trek, reaching the state Capitol at 12 noon on Sunday, Sept. 4, during Labor Day weekend. There, they will be joined by thousands of farm laborers and supporters.
Reports are coming in on plans by farm workers to charter buses to take them to Sacramento on the final day of the march. The UFW’s Central Valley operation already has commitments from farm workers to fill 27 buses, on its way to 40. The Central Coast is shooting for 30, the Napa-Sonoma area 18, and Oxnard-Ventura County is working on 10. That’s a total of 98 buses carrying roughly 5,000 farm workers.
The marchers want Gov. Jerry Brown to sign the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act, which would make it easier for farm workers to join unions, the next time it reaches his desk. On June 28, the governor vetoed the measure. A modified Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act bill is being reintroduced in the Legislature. A companion bill will also soon be before lawmakers, ending the exclusion of farm workers from overtime pay after eight hours a day or 40 hours a week, which all other California workers receive.
Revealing further details about their plans to participate in the march at the 11a.m. announcement today in Bakersfield will be UFW National Vice President Armando Elenes; Pastor Victor Perez from Believers in Jesus and farm workers who will be the bus captains.
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