The Los Angeles Times published an op-ed by California Rural Legal Assistance criticizing the state government and employers for allowing 6 farmworkers to die of heat stress this year.  All of these deaths were preventable.

We need to change the mindset of this nation regarding farmworkers.  Farmworkers are not beasts of burden.

California state law contains stronger protections for workers in the fields than does federal law.  Recent deaths among farmworkers in North Carolina could have been averted.  Federal law needs to change. But extra protections are useless if they are not enforced.  The government and employers need to make a commitment to prevent heat from taking the health and lives of the people who put fruits and vegetables on our table.

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See also Preventable Tragedies: Farmworkers and Heat-Stress