Word: ufw
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...lawsuit is now underway to ensure just that. Last week, the ACLU and the blue-chip law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson sued California's occupational-health and safety agency on behalf of the United Farm Workers (UFW) and five farm workers who had become sick or are relatives of workers who have died from heatstroke. According to the lawsuit "large numbers of agricultural employers fail utterly to provide basic access to water and shade for their employees" and, as a result, hundreds suffer heat-related illnesses and hospitalizations - or worse - each year . (Read a story about how a pro-football...
...OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer said the state is doing a better job educating growers and that currently 16% of employers visited by inspectors violate the rules as compared to 67% three years ago. Yet the UFW and its attorneys contend that last year the agency conducted only 750 inspections among the approximately 35,000 farms statewide - and found "that nearly 40% had violated mandatory heat-safety regulations." According to the lawsuit, six farm workers died from heat-related illness in 2008. State officials count three. There have been no deaths in 2009, but the union says there have been numerous...
...problem with the current regulation is that workers have no right to a rest break until they recognize they are experiencing symptoms - and this is often too late to prevent illness. "The evidence points to neglect not ignorance as the cause of farm worker deaths," said UFW President Arturo Rodriguez. He said the union had been in negotiations with state officials to improve the current regulation but with temperatures in the San Joaquin Valley now averaging 100 degrees they cannot afford to wait. "This lawsuit ensures that the governor knows we mean business," Rodriguez said...
...contribution to equal opportunity for women and Latinas in particular deserves special recognition. Huerta enacted social change at a time when female labor leaders were not treated with equality or even respect. Her work with the UFW and more recently as a board member of the Feminist Majority Foundation has empowered women of color across the country. She has improved the lives of thousands of women who may never have the chance to meet her—as many Harvard Latinas did on Monday—but who owe her an insurmountable debt, a debt that should be paid...
...marginalized. Fittingly, she ended her speech with two rallying cries for solidarity. The first was a Zulu cry, “Wozani!” (“People together!”), often used in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa. The second was the traditional UFW chant: “¡Sí Se Puede!” This cry was eventually translated into “Yes, We Can!”, the slogan of President Obama’s 2008 campaign...