Unsafe Conditions at CA's Lt. Gov Maldonado's Farm.

[annm4peace]

Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2010
Lieutenant governor's family farm has had many safety violations

A worker at Abel Maldonado's 6,000-acre Santa Maria operation was crushed by a tractor. The firm has had numerous other Cal/OSHA citations, plus tax liens. The Republican says some citations stemmed from overzealous regulation that harms California businesses.

With as many as 16 farm worker deaths due to heat illness alone during Governor Schwarzenegger's administration, the report of a farm worker death at Maldonado's farm is of deep concern.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "the run-in with regulators was part of a pattern for Agro-Jal Farming Enterprises, the farm in Santa Maria that pays Maldonado a six-figure salary to serve as controller. Maldonado, a telegenic former state senator, is running for the seat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to earlier this year.

Agro-Jal has accumulated dozens of violations from Cal/OSHA since 1990, hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax liens, and multiple citations for exposing workers to toxic pesticides and skirting clean water regulations, government records show. Four of the violations were for running tractors across the fields with no driver at the wheel and no means of steering or stopping the machines.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the lieutenant governor said in an e-mail, "that many of the violations against the farm are the product of overzealous regulators 'who put businesses out of business and dissuade new businesses from coming to California.'"

Lt. Governor Maldonado frequently serves as acting Governor. We need confidence that Lt. Governor Maldonado will be enforcing the law and ensuring the safety of farm workers laboring in California's fields--including his own.

Please e-mail Lt. Governor Maldonado today and encourage him to meet with UFW President Arturo Rodriguez so they can discuss how Lt. Governor Maldonado can support labor protections for farm workers that have real teeth in them.

take action here
http://action.ufw.org/page/speakout/maldonodo_alert