11:30 a.m. Monday, February 2, in Sanger
State Health & Welfare Secretary Grantland Johnson, Deputy Assistant of the U.S. Department of Labor Theodore Mastroianni, other top state & U.S. officials to hear relief appeals from 400 citrus workers
California Health & Welfare Secretary Grantland Johnson, , Deputy Assistant of the U.S. Department of Labor Theodore Mastroianni, and other senior state and federal officials on a tour to assess freeze damage will meet Monday at 11:30 a.m. in Sanger with more than 400 members from seven citrus worker committees representing laid-off laborers in affected portions of rural Fresno and Tulare Counties. Organized by the United Farm Workers and led by UFW President Arturo Rodriguez and union co-founder Dolores Huerta, the worker committees will detail road blocks to the delivery of aid in freeze-stricken areas.
Presenting appeals for help to the officials will be members of the seven worker committees. They cover (1) Porterville, Terra Bella, Woodville and Poplar; (2) Lindsay, Strathmore and Tonyville; (3) Farmersville and Exeter; (4) Woodlake and Ivanhoe; (5) Cutler, Orossi and Dinuba; (6) Orange Cove, Reedley and Parlier; and (7) Fresno and Madera.
Among the key issues citrus workers will cite are barriers and delays in obtaining unemployment benefits and a range of other badly-needed government relief and services as well as lack of food. At the session will be Washington, D.C.-based leaders from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Federal Emergency Management Agency plus state Health & Welfare Secretary Johnson and heads of the state Employment Development Department and state Office of Emergency Services.
Who: More than 400 citrus workers, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez and co-founder Dolores Huerta, top state and federal officials, including state Health & Welfare Agency Secretary Grantland Johnson and Deputy Assistant of the U.S. Department of Labor Theodore Mastroianni.
What: Listening to citrus workers detail barriers and delays in obtaining unemployment benefits and a range of other badly-needed government relief and services.
When: 11:30 a.m., Monday, Feb. 1, 1999.
Where: Sanger Community Center, 730 Recreation St. (corner of 8th St.) in Sanger.
– end –