Doroteo Jimenez speaks at LA vigil for his niece, heat death victim Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez

Run time: 02:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8sdo-FuhL8   Posted on YouTube: May 14, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: May 15, 2009 By DU Member: Omaha Steve Views on DU: 532

 




More info at Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5/15/731860/-Take-action-to-Stop-Farmworker-Deaths-on-the-Anniversary-of-Maria-Isabels-heat-death

“Maria was a beautiful human being who came to this country with a lot of dreams and the desire to work hard and help her mom and younger siblings, but her dreams were cut short. A year after her passing, the best way to honor her is by making sure farm workers are protected and treated with dignity and respect.”

--Doroteo Jimenez, uncle of 17 yr-old Maria Isabel, speaks at a Los Angeles area vigil commemorating Maria's life.
(Click to see video)

We want to tell you a story. We wish we could say this story is fictional. It isn't. It's a story of agribusinesses greed and indifference. It’s the story of a young girl whose life was lost before she even had a chance to start living it.

Yesterday, we marked the one year anniversary of when 17-year old Maria Isabel collapsed of heat stroke. The anniversary of her death is tomorrow on on May 16.

Maria collapsed while working for Merced Farm Labor in a vineyard owned by West Coast Grape Farming outside of Stockton, CA. Maria worked for nine hours in temperatures that reached 101 degrees. There was no water nearby. There was no shade.

After about 2 hours of delays, Maria was finally taken to a clinic. Her temperature upon arrival was 108.4 degrees. Maria's heart stopped six times in the next two days before she passed away. Doctors said if emergency medical help had been summoned or she had been taken to the hospital sooner, she might have survived. (click to read Maria's story.)

Governor Schwarzenegger came to her funeral and said words that gave workers hope: "Maria’s death should have been prevented, and all Californians must do everything in their power to ensure no other worker suffers the same fate. We have put in place employer regulations to prevent heat illness, and I cannot say strongly enough that they must be followed...There is no excuse for failing to protect worker safety."

Unfortunately, these were words, like the words said in movies. The state has finally filed charges in Maria's case. This is good. However, violations occur every day and little is done. Complaints regarding lack of drinking water, shade and work breaks to make use of these simple but lifesaving measures are an everyday occurrence for farm workers (see worker stories). Last year five other farm workers died of heat-related causes after Maria's death.

It's why SB789, CA Employee Free Choice Act for Farm Workers (Steinberg) is so vital. This bill, will make it easier for farm workers to organize and help enforce the laws that California's government cannot enforce. SB789 passed the California state senate and will next be heard in the state assembly and then go to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Please take action today and tell them to pass SB789, a bill that will give farm workers the power to protect themselves.

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

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On May 14, the official temperature was 95 degrees; it was even hotter inside the wine grape vineyard owned by West Coast Grape Farming, east of Stockton, where Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez and her fiancé, Florentino Bautista, worked. Maria had been working for nine hours.

There was no water for the workers from 6 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. When water arrived, it was a 10-minute walk from where Maria was working, too far to access. There was no shade or training for foremen and workers about what to do if someone became ill from the heat—as required by law.

At 3:40 p.m. Maria became dizzy. She didn’t know where she was and didn’t recognize Florentino. Maria passed out. Florentino helplessly held her in his arms.

The foreman came over and stood four or five feet away, staring at the couple for about five minutes. He said, “Oh, that’s what happens to people, but don’t worry. If you apply some rubbing alcohol to her, it will go away.” It didn’t.

After a number of delays Maria was taken to a clinic. On the in Lodi, the foreman called on the driver’s cell phone and spoke to Florentino. “If you take her to a clinic,” the foreman said, “don’t say she was working . Say she became sick because she was jogging to get exercise. Since she’s underage, it will create big problems for us.”

They arrived at the clinic at 5:15 p.m., more than an hour and a half after Maria was stricken. She was so sick an ambulance took her to the hospital. Doctors said her temperature upon arrival was 108.4 degrees, far beyond what the human body can take.

Maria’s heart stopped six times in the next two days before she passed away on Friday.

Doctors said if emergency medical help had been summoned or she had been taken to the hospital sooner, she might have survived.

It is hard for Maria’s family and her fiancé, Florentino, to accept her death, knowing it could have been prevented.

Florentino, said, “There should be justice for what happened. It wasn’t just. It wasn’t fair what they did.”

The grief that fills our hearts today inspires our work tomorrow.

benefit of this loss of life. This story needs more traction. It is this story and more like it that happen everyday that are the reason for needing unions.