Background about Gov. Gray Davis’ record on farm workers

2002–Most important farm labor legislation in 27 years

On Sept. 30, 2002, the governor signed SB 1156, by state Senate leader John Burton (D-San Francisco), and AB 2596, by Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (D-Los Angeles). This UFW-sponsored legislation will use mediation to resolve issues blocking agreements on union contracts when growers drag out negotiations–with review by the Agricultural Labor Relations Board and the California Supreme Court or state Court of Appeals.

By approving these historic bills, Gov. Davis is "granting relief to the poorest and most abused working people in our state," the UFW president states. Although some farm workers are protected by UFW contracts, the great majority of California farm workers still endure grinding poverty even though thousands of them voted in state-conducted secret ballot elections to be represented by the Cesar Chavez-founded union.

U.S. government figures show 75% of California farm workers earn less than $10,000 per year. (U.S. Department of Labor, 1998) Ninety percent have no health coverage. (U.S. Department of Labor, 1998) And only 7% are covered by any government-funded health program. ("Suffering in Silence: A Report on the Health of California’s Agricultural Workers" by the California Institute for Rural Studies, November 2000)

As a result of the governor’s signing of SB 1156 and AB 2596, "some of the most impoverished and hardest-working men and women in California will win the life-changing benefits of UFW contracts for themselves and their families," Rodriguez adds.

SB 1156 and AB 2596 the considered the most important farm labor legislation since passage of California’s landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975.

2001–Cracking down on employers who cheat farm workers out of their pay

That year the governor also signed another UFW-sponsored bill, SB 1125, by Sen. Burton, which expanded farm workers’ rights to recover their financial losses when defrauded by labor contractors.

2000–Cesar Chavez holiday law’s unique education and public service provisions

In 2000, Gov. Davis signed the first law in the nation creating an official state holiday on Cesar Chavez’s March 31 birthday, SB 984 by state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles). At the request of the UFW and the Chavez family, that law included unique education and public service components that make it more than a day off with pay for state employees.

SB 984 provides for an hour of instruction on or around Chavez’s birthday about the UFW founder’s lessons on non-violence, self-sacrifice and social justice. It also encourages students to engage in some form of public service appropriate for their age and grade, and helps local school districts plan public service programs.

1999–Finally making farm labor vehicles safer

     
After decades of tragic accidents involving unsafe farm labor vehicles that killed and injured workers, Gov. Davis in 1999 signed AB 1165, by Assemblymember Dean Florez (D-Shafter)–"so another harvest season would not bring needless deaths, injuries and suffering to farm workers and their loved ones," Rodriguez says.

Strongly supported by the UFW, AB 1165 outlaws a common practice where farm workers were stuffed into vans with no seats or with only wooden benches not fastened to the floor. AB 1165 requires that farm labor vehicles be equipped with seats and seat belts installed to manufacturers specifications, and that they meet other state and federal safety requirements.

The governor acted after the deaths of 13 tomato pickers killed in August 1999 during a farm labor van crash in rural Fresno County. AB 1165 also came 27 years after a similar farm labor bus crash near Blythe, Calif. killed 19 lettuce pickers in 1974, prompting Cesar Chavez to describe "a farm labor system that treats workers like agricultural implements and not as human beings." (Los Angeles Times commentary piece, Feb. 11, 1974, reprinted Aug. 27, 1999.)

United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO
October 2002