Photo by lightmatter

A recent Yahoo! News article brought to light the hardships of California’s farm workers.  You can read the original article here.  A lawsuit is underway due to the deaths by heatstroke of five farm workers.  The core body temperature of one guy was 108 degrees!  So why did this happen?  Looks like good old-fashioned corporate greed.

The first things that came to mind were: Don’t they have laws to protect these workers?  Or, did their employers ever hear of a water break?  This would seem to be the sensible route, given that it’s FREAKIN’ HOT working out in the fields.  I didn’t know if I should start boycotting the California Raisins.

Well, apparently there was a law passed in 2005.  In fact, California was the first state to implement the nation’s first heat-illness standard.  So why did these five people die in the blistering heat?  You guessed it.  The enforcement agency is woefully understaffed.  Another kick in the ass: the number of farm worker heat-related deaths has actually increased since the law went into effect:

Catherine Lhamon, assistant legal director for the ACLU of Southern California, said, “The state’s system is so full of loopholes that compliance is effectively optional, and employers flout the law with impunity.” According to the lawsuit, the current regulation fails to adopt the safeguards that have “long been put into practice by employers ranging from firefighters to the United States’ military services.”

Yet another law with no teeth.  I just started a diet yesterday, and fruits were one of the things that I could eat.  Looks like I’ll be hitting the local farm stands for my fruit.  I’m not going to get lean at the expense of these exploited workers.  I’m sure they’re not making much.  Couldn’t they get a cool drink and a bit of shade?  It appears the big growers, who own most of the land, don’t have a conscience:

Lawyers for the farm workers say that the big growers, who own the land and who most profit by the workers’ labors, have little incentive to ensure adequate water and shade because farm-labor contractors employ the farm workers. In addition, says the lawsuit, employers see little reason to comply with the regulation because “those few violators who are occasionally identified generally escape with little or no punishment.” Attorney Bradley Phillips of Munger, Tolles & Olson says the way to improve worker safety is to “create the maximum economic incentive” for the large growers. Under the current system, labor contractors are potentially liable, but they are “not well capitalized and often have no fixed assets.” What is necessary, says Phillips, is to impose a fine or some sort of penalty on the grower.

I don’t want to sound like a socialist, but even though the middleman is liable, basic human decency should make the big growers accountable for the people who put money in their coffers.  They should read Cody Lundin’s book to see what a high core temperature does to a human body:

Even if the farm workers read Cody’s book, they would still be out of luck.  They have no right to a rest break until they are experiencing symptoms, and by then it’s often too late.  I used to do landscaping when I was younger.  My boss would make us take breaks, lest we pass out from the heat and dehydration.  I worked at that job for five years, and never had a heat-related illness.  I was a lowly grunt doing manual labor, but my employer made sure that I stayed safe.  It would be nice if the farm workers were treated in kind.

What do you think?  Did this piss you off?  Let’s hear it in the comments.

Follow more of my rants by signing up here: Subscribe

 Print This Post

• Barbaric Links, New "About" Page Edition Passive Family Income had this recent post about the types of posts he hates to write.  His dilemma was similar to mine, as I struggle with writing about really personal things.  Like my About page.  I commented that I thought mine was pretty generic, and that I would probably go......
• Save Big Bucks by Brown-Bagging It AMagill I started brown bagging my lunch several years ago, and can reveal that I've saved almost $5,000! My calculations follow. We employ a 9/80 work week, which means that we work nine days out of ten over a two week period. We get every other Friday off. Taking......
• 5 Things to Know About Social Security Photo by alan(ator) Yahoo! Finance recently published a guide to the five most common questions about Social Security benefits.  You can read the original article by clicking on the following link: What You Need to Know About Social Security Given all of the doubt that the entitlement program will......

• Dairy Farms Relying on Illegal Immigrants One thing that annoys me a lot is the illegal immigration debate. People say we need immigration reform and I agree! We need to make it easier to get work visa’s and to come to our country. Statistically speaking, we see increased illegal immigration when the economy is doing well......
• The Case Against Barry Sotero, aka Barack Obama The NIP so far has steered clear of the the Obama birth record controversy due to lack of concrete evidence either way. Taking our roll as watchdogs seriously, we ourselves do not want to be accused of disseminating false information. However, Diana West has now compiled a compelling list of discrepancies and......
• California Salmon Population Dropped 88% in 5 Years California Salmon are disappearing.  The number of King Salmon (aka the Chinook) returning to the Sacramento watershed was at a near record low low and an 88% drop from the population 5 years ago. Calif. salmon population declines. Regulators are still trying to understand the reasons for the shrinking number......