3 p.m. Wednesday protest in Fresno
Why did Gerawan immediately send peach workers back to work after pesticide incident?
Fresno, Calif.—While the Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner investigates the Feb. 22 pesticide poisoning of Gerawan Farming Inc. peach workers near Kerman by a neighboring farmer, Gerawan workers will gather at the company’s Fresno office at 3 p.m. on Wednesday to ask why their employer didn’t take immediate steps to protect them instead of immediately returning them to work after the spraying incident. Some workers reported suffering, nausea, dizziness and watery eyes.
Some of the peach workers were eating lunch in mid-morning when they were sprayed by a neighboring farm’s applicator laboring in an adjacent field. Yet as soon as the break period was over, a Gerawan foreman ordered the crew back to work. Instead, the Gerawan employees will tell the grower on Wednesday, the company should have quickly removed the sprayed workers from area, had them immediately examined and tested, and permitted them time to change their clothing before ordering that they resume their duties. It wasn’t until later that day that the affected crew of workers was sent to Gerawan’s office for a cursory examination and then sent back to work again to finish the day’s work.
Gerawan workers and supporters delivered a petition with more than 15,000 signatures to the agricultural commissioner’s office on March 14, demanding the county agency investigate the pesticide drift incident.
Who: Gerawan farm workers and supporters.
What: Asking the giant tree fruit grower to explain why it didn’t properly protect a crew of peach workers immediately after it knew the employees were sprayed with pesticides on Feb. 22, by a neighboring farm.
When: 3 p.m., Wednesday, March 23, 2016.
Where: Gerawan Farming Inc. corporate office, 7108 No. Fresno St., Fresno 93720.
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