Aug. 9, 1999
Tragedies will continue until growers
held accountable for farm labor system
Highway tragedies such this morning’s crash of an overloaded van southwest of Fresno that killed 13 tomato workers will continue "until growers are held responsible for a corrupt farm labor system that encourages abuses and violations of state and federal laws," a top United Farm Workers leader said today.
Most processing tomato workers on the westside of the San Joaquin Valley are hired through farm labor contractors and not directly by growers, notes UFW Vice President Tanis Ybarra, who is also regional manager of the union’s Fresno County operations. "Abuses and exploitation of farm workers by labor contractors are the rule and not the exception," he says.
In many cases, farm workers are forced to pay fees to labor contractors for rides in transportation supplied by the contractors. "If they don’t ride in the contractors’ buses or vans, the workers don’t have a job," Ybarra observes.
The van in which the 13 workers died did not have proper seats or seat belts, according to a California Highway Patrol officer. Workers were sitting on benches inside the van, which is illegal. Such illegally-equipped vehicles are commonplace in California, especially in the Central Valley, Ybarra notes.
"California has the toughest laws in the nation protecting farm workers, whether they cover field sanitation, minimum wages and hours, pesticide protection, agricultural labor relations or traffic safety," Ybarra adds. "But they are rarely enforced."
"Growers use labor contractors to avoid their legal and moral duties as employers," the UFW leader says. "Half of the contractors are not even licensed by the state. Until heat is placed on the growers to avoid these tragedies, nothing will change."
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