SEIU 721 in Solidarity With Farm Worker’s March on Capitol

By Rosie Martinez
Retired Los Angeles County public health nurse, member of the SEIU 721 Retiree Senior Committee
Today we are walking in the spirit of Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and those that have died working in the fields. Farm workers deserve the same rights that other workers have. Farm workers provide the produce we eat every day. They should receive a just wage for their work. They are denied breaks and they suffer from dehydration, sunstroke and other heat illnesses and even death. That is why I am participating in a 13-day March to support farm workers’ rights.   
During the morning, I provide first aid to marchers as we make our 200-mile journey from Madera to Sacramento. In the afternoon, I walk side by side through the hot and dusty roads that snake through the Central Valley, past the very fields where many of the workers toil.
In June, Gov. Brown vetoed the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act, a bill that would have made it easier for farm workers to join a union and speak up for their rights. During the 12 days the governor was deliberating over the bill, farm workers spoke of being denied bathroom breaks, not receiving overtime compensation, lack of safety in the fields and continual heat regulation violations that have cost workers their lives. We need to tell the governor not to turn his back on the most vulnerable of people.
Please join me and walk side by side with our UFW brothers and sisters that need us now.
Take Action
• SEIU 721 members can show your solidarity for farm workers by joining us on the final day of the march at the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Now march and rally that will culminate on the steps of the state capitol Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011 at 10 a.m. If you are interested in joining other SEIU members on a bus from Los Angeles to Sacramento, please contact Christina Rodriguez (213) 368-8631 or email Christina Rodriguez for more information. RSVP by noon, Friday, Sept. 2.
The bus will leave at 2:00 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 4, from 500 S. Virgil Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90020.
UFW Labor Day March.pdf
• You can help, virtually. If you can’t make it to Sacramento, you can still show your support by signing a petition today asking the governor to reconsider his position and sign new bills that are coming his way.
UFW petition

•  Want to join the walk in progress? You can support the marchers along the march, from Madera to Sacramento:
Download the UFW Madera to Sacramento March Itinerary.