Retired farm worker to get more than $32,000 in pension checks;
UFW appeals to workers who may not know they qualify
A Roma, TX. farm worker who didn’t realize he qualified for a United Farm Workers pension will receive a check totaling more than $32,000 during a ceremony Monday at his home in Roma.
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. UFW National Vice President Rebecca Flores and JDLC Pension Plan Administrator Douglas Blaylock will present the check to retired farm worker Enrique Barrera at the Monday event.
Barrera, now 78, didn’t know he was eligible for pension benefits from the union’s Juan de la Cruz Farm Workers Pension Fund. In addition to the lump sum retroactive payment of $31,692, before taxes, Barrera will also receive $780 each month for the rest of his life from the joint union-management pension plan. His wife, Elma, will receive a 50% Surviving Spouse Benefit if he should pre-decease her.
The UFW and the pension fund also hope to spread the word to other retired farm workers who, like Barrera, aren’t aware they–or their spouse–qualified for pensions when they worked under union contracts. Barrera labored with a UFW agreement under which Harden Farms contributed to the pension plan between 1976 and 1984.
Since 1989, the pension plan–financed by contributions from growers for every hour worked by a union member under UFW contract–has 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 California picket-line in 1973.
Retired farm workers who believe they may qualify for the Juan De La Cruz Pension Plan can inquire online at: http://www.ufw.org/jdlc.htm or call: (800) 321-6607 or (888) 735-5352.
Mr. Barrera, his wife Elma, and their 5 children, Juan Antonio, Enrique, Mario, Alma and Adriana migrated to California during the years 1974-1986 to work with Hardin Farms in the Salinas vegetable industry, harvesting lettuce, cauliflower and asparagus. The workers had negotiated a union contract with Hardin Farms that included a pension contribution. Mr. and Mrs. Barrera have 5 children, 10 grand children, 9 great grandchildren, and 7 great-great grandchildren.