Still No Justice in 17-Year-Old Farmworker's Death
If a boss ignores health and safety regulations and a farmworker dies — even a teenager — he should be given probation and a few days' community service. At least that's what San Joaquin District Attorney James Willett believes.
The nation was shocked when 17-year-old farmworker Maria Isabel Vasquez died from heat exhaustion while she pruned grapes in a field run by California's Merced Farm Labor.
Maria succumbed to the heat after working nine hours, collapsing into her fiance Florentino Bautisa's arms. Florentino says that a farm labor contractor balked before taking Maria to the hospital, telling workers to dab her with rubbing alcohol. When she didn't wake up, the contractor sent her to a local clinic instead of the hospital, with instructions that workers tell the clinic Maria fainted while exercising. When the clinic saw Maria, they sent her to a hospital. She arrived at the hospital comatose, her body temperature reaching 108 degrees.
She died two days later. While examining Maria's body, doctors discovered she was two months pregnant.
Maria didn't have to die. Her employer, Merced Farm Labor, was fined in 2006 for violating heat regulations. Merced ignored the fine and continued to ignore the heat rules, leading to Maria's death. The day she collapsed, Maria's workday had begun at 6 a.m. with only one water break around 10:30.
Even though the owner and company's former safety director of Merced Farm Labor were charged with involuntary manslaughter in Maria's death, District Attorney Willett cut them a deal.
The owner of the labor contractor company will probably serve 3 years probation and 40 hours community service, while the safety coordinator will get 400 hours of community service and a $1000 fine. For good measure, Willett may even reduce the safety coordinator's charge from a felony to a misdemeanor after he finishes probation.
Such a deal is outrageous, and sends a clear message to other farmworker employers in California and the nation: farmworkers' lives aren't important.
More than 500 Change.org members and thousands more UFW supporters have sent emails to District Attorney Willett asking for jail time in Maria's preventable death.
Earlier this month, the UFW held a press conference demanding justice in Maria's death. But still, District Attorney Willett hasn't budged.
Photo Credit: UFW
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