Cool Judgment To Protect Workers From Heat On Californian Farms

The dry California heat presents huge challenges for the farmers and often results in poor crop yield and loss of livestock. Unfortunately, it has also taken its toll of human lives, with United Farm Workers, President Arturo Rodriguez, saying that “At least 16 farm workers have died since 2005.” California had introduced the first heat regulatory bill in the US, that year to safeguard its 450,000 seasonal farm workers.

The UFW Union backed on Monday, a bill in the California State Legislature that would give the workers power to ensure that, their employers, complied with the measures stated in the bill, to protect them from excess heat on the job.

The Bill was introduced by Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, D-El Segundo, on Wednesday. The bill would require agricultural employers to provide water and shade to their workers. Workers could initiate legal action against non-complying employers.

Butler said that the regulations were “toothless” unless they were turned into law. “It is absolutely abhorrent to think that in this day and age, farm workers are not regularly provided with shade and water,” she said. “These two commodities are essentially free and we all know that no grower would let their crops go without water.”

According to the union, Cal/OSHA, is not applying the regulations for protecting workers from heat in the fields strictly enough. The Union said, “Since all of these deaths were preventable, it’s clear the regulation is not being enforced. Evidence exposed by our lawsuit shows the problem is in fact getting worse.”

UFW had filed a lawsuit against the state of California, authenticating that Cal/OSHA did not issue a single summons in more than 140 cases in which investigating officers had found serious discrepancies of noncompliance with laws regarding the problem of excess heat. Moreover, only subpoenas were issued in only 3 of the 75 complaints of serious illnesses caused by excess heat, brought to Cal/OSHA’s notice by UFW.

The bill is expected to ensure that growers comply with laws meant to protect the farm workers from the intense heat. Fear of legal action will see recalcitrant employees falling in line with the law. California’s almost 100,000 farm workers are the force that contributes a major share to the buoyant agricultural economy of the state.