40 Hours Community Service for Killing a 17-Year-Old Girl?

Seventeen, happily engaged, and pregnant, Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez's life was just beginning when she collapsed under the brutal California sun. Forced to work nine hours without water or rest in the shade, her body gave up and she fell into her finance's arms. Even then, her employer, Merced Farm Labor, showed more concern for covering themselves than for her safety: the workers who took her to a local clinic were told to claim that Maria had passed out while exercising. Though clinic staff rushed her to the hospital upon seeing the dangerous state she was in, it was too late: she died of a 108 degree fever. The adequate punishment for those who caused her death? Forty hours community service, apparently.

That's the sentence San Joaquin County District Attorney James P. Willett is considering in a plea deal for Merced owner Maria De Los Angeles Colunga, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Safety coordinator Elias Armenta, also charged, faces 400 hours community service and a $1000 fine — still nothing in comparison to snatching away a young life. But Maria's family and other supporters aren't willing to let the California justice system act like her life didn't matter. At a press conference organized by United Farm Workers (UFW), where Maria's fiance and the uncle she lived with appeared, they made it clear that nothing short of jail time will provide justice in the beloved teenage girl's case and send a message that the lives of farm workers are not disposable.

At the press conference, UFW Vice President Merlyn Calderon stated: "Maria's death is so hard to accept, because it didn’t need to happen. The labor contractors did not even observe the most basic heat laws. This was not a onetime occurrence. In 2006, Merced Farm Labor was fined for failure to have a written heat stress prevention plan and training for workers. They never paid the fine." They willfully continued to ignore the safety of their workers, while having the audacity to ignore their fine. Merced Farm Labor lost its license to operate for its clear culpability in Maria's death.

Calderon also quoted Cesar Chavez, the organization's founder, who stated that "accidents" like Maria's untimely death don't just "happen." They happen "because employers and labor contractors treat us as if we were not important human beings." They happen because people like the owner and safety coordinator of Merced Farm Labor believe that they will never be held accountable when their callousness costs employees health or life.

Please stand with Maria's family by signing this petition from United Farm Workers asking the DA to retract his absurdly lenient plea deal and seek jail time for those responsible to her death. To do anything less is a serious disrespect to her memory and sends the message to other employers that it's acceptable to mistreat their workers -- and, unfortunately, such disregard for worker safety is not as rare as it should be. You can also join UFW phone campaign by calling District Attorney James P. Willett at (209) 468-2400 to voice your outrage at the proposed plea deal.

Photo credit: Jocelyn Sherman