Take action to clean up illegal farm labor contractor violations

Take action to clean up illegal farm labor contractor violations

San Joaquin Valley farm workers need your immediate help before the grape harvest begins in June. The farm labor contractor (FLC) system is corrupt. Illegal violations are an everyday occurrence during the harvest. Please take action today and e-mail CA Attorney General Jerry Brown and tell his office it's time to crack down on these law breakers.

Manuel Nunez, Alpaugh, CA: The bathrooms were always dirty and sometimes as much as a week would go by without them being cleaned. Some of the women in the crew would use the men's bathroom instead since theirs was unbearable...the stench was so unbearable that I would go deep into the rows just to get away from the smell. The crew had 54-60 workers in the crew and we only had the use of one bathroom each for the men and women.
--Employer: Chester Longboy (aka Macario Santacruz), FLC

Zulma Rosa Avila, Delano, CA: The portable toilets door did not have a proper lock; instead a cord was put in its place, the cord we had to constantly pull with one hand otherwise the door would fling open and with the other hand we had to cover the gaping hole where the lock would have been. The hole was large enough that we had to constantly cover otherwise our coworkers would be able to see inside. No hand washing soap or water was provided. The provided drinking water had an awful taste...We were always asked to arrive half an hour before our scheduled time to advance our work by half an hour. Our given daily goals were so massive we had no choice but to work during our breaks, for if we didn't we would fall behind and would be terminated from work as a consequence.
--Employer by Russell Contracting (AKA Jesusa Cantorna), FLC

Jose Luis Jimenez, Porterville, CA: We had to wash our trays that we used to carry the grapes on our own time. After a long day's work, we still had more work to do at home. Even though it is California law and we are only making minimum wage we still had to buy our own scissors that we used to pick the grape if we wanted to work. We also had to come in early before work and prepare our work area by placing labels on the boxes, getting a wheelbarrow and table for us to pack in. Something needs to be done.
--Employer by Russell Contracting (AKA Jesusa Cantorna), FLC

Farm labor contractor workers also tell us about retaliation when they are trying to organize for a union. Luis Jimenez from Porterville, CA told us after he talked to other workers about having a union, the supervisor "told us that we should not have done what we had done because we created problems and the company was mad."
--Employer by Russell Contracting (AKA Jesusa Cantorna), FLC

Being forced to work off-the clock, required to buy equipment, unsanitary toilets, and retaliation for union activities...these crooked actions are illegal under California law. It is inexcusable that hard working, low wage workers are forced to deal with such conditions.

Please e-mail California's attorney general Jerry Brown today and tell him enough is enough. It's time for the state to crack down. It is not acceptable to have these corrupt farm labor contractors break the law on a daily basis.



http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/flc407