Farmworkers call for more extreme heat protections as Health Secretary Xavier Becerra touts existing policies
Farmworkers call for more extreme heat protections as Health Secretary Xavier Becerra touts existing policies: Secretary Xavier Becerra met with members of Líderes Campesinas, a statewide women’s farmworker advocacy organization, to hear about the risks California farmworkers face as weather conditions become more extreme.
Health Secretary Becerra Touts Extreme Heat Protections. Farmworkers Want More.
| California HealthlineCLARKSBURG — On a sunny August morning in this agricultural town, before temperatures soared to 103 degrees, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra stood outside the small public library. “There are still not enough protections for workers that are picking the food that we eat,” Becerra told a group of local reporters and government officials, who outnumbered the farmworkers in the audience.
California cuts back on safety enforcement as farmworkers toil in extreme heat
| Los Angeles TimesCalifornia has sharply cut its enforcement of heat-protection laws for outdoor laborers while extreme heat has intensified in recent years — endangering farmworkers, construction workers and others who toil in scorching temperatures — an investigation by the Los Angeles Times and Capital & Main has found.
Undocumented workers could have a vital benefit if this bill is approved
| CALÓ NEWSMany undocumented workers in California have some of the most challenging and dangerous jobs with little to no benefits. While federal and state taxes are deducted from their paychecks, the law prohibits undocumented workers from unemployment compensation for services performed in California.
Californians say they were fired for leaving their jobs in sweltering heat. Is the state on their side?
| CalMattersThey worked nearly three triple-digit days before it felt unsafe to go on.
Maria Paredes said she already had a headache while working in a tomato field near Dixon on June 5, when high temperatures hit between 99 to 107 degrees. The hotter the next day got, the 40-year-old farmworker said, “the more it started to go back to my head, and I started to feel like vomiting.”
Q&A: A Conversation with the Women of Líderes Campesinas
| Alta JournalNovelist Helena María Viramontes deftly captures farmworking conditions of the mid-20th century in the August California Book Club selection, Under the Feet of Jesus. In carefully drawn descriptions and scenes, the book reveals the grueling circumstances workers are forced to toil under: constant exposure to the sun and toxic chemicals, minimal breaks, a lack of safe drinking water, and the push to always keep working faster and faster.