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'It is difficult for us right now': Farmworkers share stories of laboring amid intense heatwave [1]

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Date: 2022-09-08

“She works very hard everyday in the hot sun,” Paola said. “She's 59. Here she is this morning packing grapes in 93° temperature.” She said temperatures in Porterville, located in Tulare County, were expected to hit 109 on Wednesday. Carlos and Maritza were seeing even more brutal heat in Richgrove, also located in Tulare County. “It was 112° at 2 pm when Maritza sent us this photo from the grape harvest,” UFW wrote.

x Paola shares, "As a daughter of a farmworker, I’m proud of my mother, Patricia. She works very hard everyday in the hot sun. She's 59. Here she is this morning packing grapes in 93° temperature. It will reach 109° today, here in Porterville CA." #WeFeedYou #Calor #AB2183 pic.twitter.com/xEuUAW0012 — United Farm Workers (@UFWupdates) September 8, 2022

x It was 112° at 2 pm when Maritza sent us this photo from the grape harvest in Richgrove CA on Tuesday. #CALOR #WeFeedYou #AB2183 pic.twitter.com/MTU8m06WHR — United Farm Workers (@UFWupdates) September 8, 2022

“Farmworkers, who are a majority migrant and Spanish-speaking workforce, die of heat-related causes at a rate of 20 times more than other professions,” Civil Eats reported last week. “In 2004, a worker in the valley died from heat stroke after he spent 10 hours picking grapes in 105-degree weather, prompting California to enact the first heat standard in the nation. It requires employers to provide water and shade when temperatures climb above 80 degrees.” But UFW has said it can be a struggle to get employers to adhere to rules.

x Wow, talk about hot. It was 112° yesterday afternoon when Carlos sent us this photo from the grape harvest in Richgrove CA. #CALOR #WeFeedYou #AB2183 pic.twitter.com/5DwR31Gri5 — United Farm Workers (@UFWupdates) September 7, 2022

“Elena has harvested broccoli in Salinas CA for 30 years,” UFW wrote in another tweet. "It is difficult for us right now with the heat wave that's happening,” Elena said. “Yesterday the heat reached 95°. This is difficult, as living on the coast we are not used to to working in this high heat." Yesica Balderrama previously reported for Prism how heat-related injury can follow workers long after they’ve finished the day’s work. “Sometimes you get headaches, but there is nothing else to do but to keep going,” one worker said in the report.

x Elena has harvested broccoli in Salinas CA for 30 years. "It is difficult for us right now with the heat wave that's happening. Yesterday the heat reached 95°. This is difficult, as living on the coast we are not used to to working in this high heat." #WeFeedYou #Calor #AB2183 pic.twitter.com/dYYzlposEX — United Farm Workers (@UFWupdates) September 7, 2022

Supporters have also continued a vigil in the state’s capital, urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to pass into law legislation strengthening farmworkers’ union rights. But despite endorsements from the nation’s leaders, Newsom has not yet signed the Agricultural Labor Relations Voting Choice Act. Sacramento broke a nearly century-old heat record this week when the temperature in the downtown hit 116 on Tuesday. The last time the area saw heat that intense was 1925, when the temperature hit 114, The Sacramento Bee reported.

x Yesterday on Day 10 of the vigil at the Sacramento Capitol, farm workers say, "No Nos Moveran". @CAgovernor Newsom sign #AB2183. We deserve the right to vote in union elections free from intimidation or deportation! pic.twitter.com/ikVFU1Fmzh — United Farm Workers (@UFWupdates) September 8, 2022

x "We want @CAgovernor Gavin Newsom to sign #AB2183 so that workers don’t feel intimidated by their bosses when they ask for better working conditions."

-Susana, Delano area farm worker pic.twitter.com/2xY92JivuI — United Farm Workers (@UFWupdates) September 8, 2022

But as of Thursday morning, there’s been no word on the status of the bill. Newsom vetoed a version of it last year, and again expressed concerns over the version just passed by California lawmakers. But despite winning many of the changes he requested, the bill remains on his desk. "We want @CAgovernor Gavin Newsom to sign #AB2183 so that workers don’t feel intimidated by their bosses when they ask for better working conditions,” said Susana, a farmworker from the Delano area. Farmworkers are doing their jobs. The governor should do his, too.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/8/2121543/--It-is-difficult-for-us-right-now-Farmworkers-share-stories-of-laboring-amid-intense-heatwave

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