For the first time in California history, an employer is being criminally charged with causing the death of a farm worker, Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, 17, who died in 2008 from heat stroke while laboring in a San Joaquin County grape vineyard after her temperature reached 108 degrees. The owner and two supervisors of the farm labor contracting firm failed to provide Maria Isabel with water and shade, and there was a lengthy delay in getting her emergency medical care, all violations of the state’s heat regulation the UFW convinced Gov. Schwarzenegger to issue in 2005. The county prosecutor is pursuing two felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter. Join us in following this case and bringing justice to Maria Isabel’s family.
Arturo S. Rodriguez, President
United Farm Workers of America