UFW sues State of California for systematic failure to enforce heat regulations (remember Maria?)

[Omaha Steve]

Maria's story here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9261132&mesg_id=9261132




Link for this post: https://secure.ufw.org/page/contribute/heatls

Last Thursday, our lawyers filed suit against the State of California and its Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Cal-OSHA) for its “systematic failure” to enforce the regulation that requires growers to provide water, shade and rest to their employees in order to prevent heat illness or death. Your donation can help.

Our current lawsuit follows our other lawsuit in 2009. The new lawsuit includes evidence from 2011 and 2012, which shows Cal-OSHA's failure is not a thing of the past, but persists today.

https://secure.ufw.org/page/smartproxy/BSD_BAZCXAwKSEEDRB5aQwI/FQRRUA/SA/Axc/DQlFQgYGSF4VVA

Cal/OSHA itself, in a press release this summer, estimated that employers fail to comply with the heat illness prevention regulation in 1 out of every 4 instances, leaving more than 156,000 farm workers at risk.

Natividad Carrillo is one of the workers joining us in this lawsuit. Her brother, Ramiro Carrillo, died of heat stroke after picking nectarines in 112 degree weather in Fresno County. We have evidence that Romiro Carrillo’s employer did not provide any shade and did not seek any medical attention for him when he was dying. She tells us, "My brother died because of heat. Right now I am picking olives in the fields and things are still bad. Temperatures rose to 108-111 degrees this summer and the water they gave us was dirty and undrinkable. There was no shade for us."

Snip: Our organizers have documented many situations like this, filed many charges and need to continue to do so. Can you help fund this team? Your donation will both strengthen our lawsuit and allow us to do everything we can to keep farm workers safe.

FULL story at link.

https://secure.ufw.org/page/smartproxy/BSD_DAhRGxABD0FLXEJS/BwlDUBAQB0AA/CQpVVA8X/BAZCXAwKSEEDRB5aQwI/EANBGAsBB1AAQR5SWAM

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Good. There needs to be strong disincentives to prevent employers from flouting the law. n/t

[Care Acutely]

2. Hey, I know this is OT, but is Fischer going down this week or what?

Wow, didn't even realize what forum I'm in so apologizing again, but I still wanna know!

[Omaha Steve]

3. She was endorsed by the Omaha World Herald today

http://www.omaha.com/article/20121021/NEWS0802/710219967/1679