12 noon Tuesday, May 30, at Montebello office
Farm worker sit-in protests
Assemblymember Calderon’s ‘betrayal’
over key bill to end ‘worst abuses’
United Farm Workers supporters are organizing a sit-in Tuesday at the district office of Assemblymember Thomas M. Calderon (D-Montebello) to protest the Latino lawmaker’s "betrayal" of farm workers by opposing legislation targeting the worst abuses legendary UFW founder Cesar Chavez spent his life fighting against. The demonstration comes one day before a key vote on AB 2468 is scheduled on the Assembly floor.
The bill, by Assemblymember Gloria Romero (D-Monterey Park), would remedy what Chavez long termed California’s "corrupt" farm labor system by making growers "jointly" liable for the illegal acts of their farm labor contractors.
Calderon has privately vowed not to support the measure in deference to the wishes of rural Democratic legislators who fear retribution from powerful agribusiness groups that oppose AB 2468. "Opposing relief from the worst exploitation suffered by farm workers amounts to a cynical betrayal of farm workers and all Latinos," declares UFW Legislative & Political Director Rosalinda Guillen.
The underlying cause of many farm worker abuses and tragedies is a labor contractor system that allows the true employer–the grower–to hide behind the legal fiction that the labor contractor, and not the grower, is the employer and the one responsible for complying with the laws. For example, the 13 farm workers who died in an Aug. 13, 1999 farm labor van crash in Fresno County were employed by a labor contractor. In increasing numbers (at least 30%, according to U.S. Labor Department figures), farm workers are hired by labor contractors and not by growers.
Under AB 2468, growers who employ farm workers through labor contractors would have "joint" liability for ensuring that wage and hour, child labor and other basic legal protections are observed.
Who: Area supporters of the United Farm Workers.
What: Sit-in at Assemblymember Tom Calderon’s office over his opposition to a bill protecting farm workers from abuse.
When: 12 noon on Tuesday, May 30, 2000.
Where: 280 No. Montebello Blvd., #102, Montebello.
– end –