TV Ads Seek Farm Workers Who Are Due Pensions

In an effort to reach former farm laborers who are owed pension benefits, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and the United Farm Workers are trying a new approach: public service television ads in English and Spanish.

Bustamante, who will begin recording the advertisements today, said he offered to help the UFW in the union’s efforts to reach the thousands of aging farm workers who are eligible for pension funds. Only those farm laborers who worked under a UFW contract are entitled to the money, but UFW officials estimate that could be about 2,000 people.

“This could change their life fundamentally,” said Bustamante, who is running for reelection against state Sen. Bruce McPherson (R-Santa Cruz). “Farm workers ... were never treated like regular workers. They never thought they could receive retirement [funds]. We need to get the word out.”

The Juan de la Cruz Farm Workers Pension Plan, established more than 30 years ago by union founder Cesar Chavez, is the nation’s first and only pension program for farm workers. It is named for a 60-year-old farm worker who was fatally shot in a Kern County vineyard picket line in 1973.

Marc Grossman, spokesman for the UFW, said the union has tried various ways to reach the former workers, but added that they are proving difficult to find. Many used multiple Social Security numbers to skirt immigration laws, they moved frequently and many don’t even know they are eligible for the money.

“We have skeletal records,” Grossman said. “We’ve done an extensive Spanish-language campaign here and in Mexico. But there’s a fairly significant number of people who are entitled to benefits and we don’t know where to find them.

Under federal law, the UFW must make a reasonable effort to find those eligible for the benefits.

In recent years, UFW officials say dozens of former farm workers have received the pension funds. One 86-year-old man in Watsonville received more than $73,000 last year. He had no idea he was eligible.

“You have a person here who has long since retired, thinking he has no kind of pension plan,” Bustamante said.

“It’s pretty amazing.”

The UFW has established two toll-free numbers for former farm workers who believe they may be eligible for the money. The numbers are: (888) 735-5352 and (800) 321-6607.