Every Sunday we put our faith into action and on this Labor Day weekend we invite you to send an email to Cal/OSHA telling them that they need to be in the fields right now to ensure the people who labor so hard to feed us are kept safe.
Farm workers are already dealing with repercussions from the pandemic and a dangerous heat wave. Now with the recent wildfires, the danger is escalating with farm workers laboring in dangerous wildfire smoke. Legislation passed last year mandates that growers provide N95 or equivalent masks if the Air Quality Index is over 150. The United Farm Workers are reporting that they are hearing again and again of cases where this just isn’t happening.
According to a poll of farm workers the UFW conducted three days ago, 84% of farm workers have not been given N95 masks from their employers. A KPIX story from earlier this week shared the story of Antonia, a Watsonville strawberry picker, who said her employers “do not provide any of the workers with masks, gloves or other protective equipment, which is a violation of California law, according to Cal/OSHA officials.”
The UFW has secured 50,000 N95 masks and will be distributing them — through our organizers and local groups in fire-affected areas — to the workers who need them most. They should NOT have to be doing this. It’s the employers’ obligation, and it’s Cal/OSHA’s job to make sure they do it.
Cal/OSHA is publicizing what the law is — but that’s not enough. They need to be proactively in the fields making sure that the necessary protective gear makes it to the workers. Cal/OSHA’s inaction is putting the workers in grave danger.
