Bills to Aid Farm Workers

Ruben Navarrette Jr. has once again played fast and lose with the facts and scarcely disguised his prejudice against the United Farm Workers in a commentary on the August farm labor van crash near Fresno that killed 13 tomato workers (Opinion, Sept. 19).

Navarrette derides lawyers representing the families of the dead and injured workers as a group that “circle[d] the accident scene.” In fact, these attorneys are legal representatives of the Mexican Consulate, which called them in to represent the families of the Mexican nationals who were crash victims.

He claims “not one elected official seemed to know what to say or do” right after the accident. Not true. Immediately after the collision, both Central Valley Latino Democratic Assembly members Dean Florez and Sarah Reyes went to work on legislation to require seat belts and other reforms.

Navarrette falsely wrote that “to the UFW, the Florez and Reyes bills nibble around the edges of real reform. The union would prefer that lawmakers require growers to transport their workers to and from the fields.” The UFW strongly supported and lobbied for the legislation. The Florez seat belt bill in particular will save lives. Although the UFW has in the past sponsored and might reintroduce a proposal making growers responsible for the actions of their labor contractors, the union knew it could never get such a controversial measure through the Legislature during the last weeks of session in an urgency bill requiring a two-thirds vote.

The UFW has never supported requiring growers to transport workers.

MARC GROSSMAN

UFW, Sacramento