Retired grape worker, 80, to get handed $11,445 pension check; five other family members also qualify for UFW pensions
Alberto M. Torres, an 80-year old retired Tulare County table grape worker who didn’t realize he qualified for a United Farm Workers pension, will receive a blown up, giant-size check for $11,445 during a 10:30 a.m. ceremony Friday at the Warnors Theater in the Tower District of Fresno. What’s more, five of Torres’ seven children who worked with him at the same vineyard under union contract also learned they are eligible for pension benefits.
One of UFW founder Cesar Chavez’s achievements was creation in the 1970s of America’s first—and only—functioning pension plan for field laborers. Presenting the check to Torres and members of his family will be UFW President Arturo S. Rodriguez and Patrick J. Pine, administrator of the Juan De La Cruz Pension Plan, also headquartered at the National Chavez Center at Keene, Calif.
Torres worked from 1993 to 1998 at the Nash De Camp vineyard in Tulare County. After Torres’ family contacted pension fund staff, they learned that five of his children worked at Nash De Camp too and also qualify for pension benefits that are in the process of being determined.
The UFW and the pension fund hope to spread the word to other retired farm workers who, like the Torres family, aren’t aware they—or their spouses—qualified for pensions when they worked under union contracts.
Since 1989, the pension plan—financed by contributions from growers for every hour worked by a union member under UFW contract—has paid out $103,883,000 and provided cost-of-living increases and other adjustments and bonuses. The pension plan was named for Juan De La Cruz, a 60-year old grape striker shot to death on a Kern County picket line in 1973.
Who: UFW President Arturo Rodriguez, retired table grape worker Alberto Torres, Juan De La Cruz Pension Plan Administrator Patrick Pine and members of the Torres family.
What: Presenting Torres with a giant-size, blown-up check for $11,445 from the union pension plan begun by Cesar Chavez.
When: 10:30 a.m., Friday, Aug. 9, 2013.
Where: Warnors Theater, 1400 Fulton St., Fresno 93271.
Retired farm workers who believe they may qualify for the Juan De La Cruz Pension Plan can inquire electronically at: bdyer@rfkjdlc.com or by calling toll free: 800-321-6607 and ask for the Pension desk. The Plan’s website address is: www.ufw.org/jdlc.
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