Farmworker leader: ‘Why won’t Gov. Newsom meet with us?’

United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero did not mince words in questioning by Gov. Gavin Newsom will not meet with farmworker representatives on the birthday of the farmworker movement’s founder.

Romero, speaking at a March 24 ceremony at Fresno State’s Peace Garden to honor César E. Chávez, said the governor vetoed the Agricultural Relations Voting Choice Act last year.

“Those voting choices include letting agricultural workers vote in the comfort and security of their own homes,” said Romero, who became the UFW’s first female – and first immigrant – to serve as leader of the farmworker movement that Chávez and Dolores Huerta launched in 1962 in Delano.

“These are the same voting choices that Gov. Newsom used to defeat the Republican call last September.”

Romero, who succeeded Arturo S. Rodríguez as UFW president in December 2018, said the union has re-introduced the bill this year and wants to meet with Newsom to ask him why farmworkers can’t vote by mail in a union election.

Farmworker leaders, said Romero, have asked to meet with the governor on César E. Chávez Day (March 31).

“The governor has once more declined to do so,” said Romero during her 15-minute talk in front of a large bronze statue of Chávez.

“César Chávez’s life was all about helping farmworkers win respect and be treated as important human beings,” she said. “It is disappointing that Gavin Newsom won’t show them the same respect by meeting with elected farmworker leaders on César Chávez’s birthday.”

People should honor Chávez, who died at the age of 66 in April 1993, by taking action rather than repeating words of appreciation.

“The living legacy for those acknowledging César Chávez Day is to go beyond cut-and-pasting annual generic messages glibly paying homage to the farm labor and civil rights leader,” said Romero. “Farmworkers ask people to listen to them, to join in conversation, and to help their voices be heard by those in power.

“They hope Gov. Newsom will speak with them and listen.”

Romero also expressed hope that the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which the House passed last year with 30 Republican votes, will get another opportunity before the Senate.

She noted recent successes for farmworkers, like pay increases averaging more than 5% due to a pair of federal court rulings, and a campaign that kept the Trump administration from cutting pay for H-2A guest farmworkers.

Yet, the lives of farmworkers remain difficult because of the pandemic, extreme heat and wildfire smoke.

“Agricultural workers often must live, commute and toil in overcrowded, substandard, and unsanitary conditions,” said Romero.

She then rattled off a list of factors that make farmworkers more vulnerable to the coronavirus, from not being able to shelter in place or work from home, to lack of childcare, to lack of transportation.

“All of this is why the coronavirus is disproportionately afflicting field workers and why infections and deaths are growing at alarming rates,” she said. “Government at all levels must do all it can to remedy these inequities.

“It begins with getting farmworkers vaccinated as quickly as possible.”

The Fresno State observation included a student speaker, comments by university president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, performances by Los Danzantes de Aztlán and Mariachi Fresno State, and a garlanding ceremony led by Dr. Sudarshan Kapoor.

“Whenever we got back to school from breaks, my teachers would ask us what we did over the summer,” said Mel López, a first-year construction management student at Fresno State. “I would get bothered because out of 31 students, I was the only one picking.

“I knew my childhood was different.”

López, who started picking strawberries in Salinas when she was 13, spoke about farmworkers have to work in the heat, the cold and in muddy conditions.

“We don’t have the luxury of paid leave time,” she said. “Next time you buy fruits and veggies, think about the sacrifices that farmworkers have to endure.”

Jiménez-Sandoval said Chávez used “collective power” to improve working conditions and get better pay.

“Above all, recognition of the dignity of the very people on whose labor is the backbone of large agribusiness which our Central California community depends upon,” said Jiménez-Sandoval.

He encouraged students to “remember our obligations to one another and remain committed to our community as he taught and lived.”

“You do that by getting good grades. For every A that you get, it’s not for you. It’s for your mom. It is for your dad. It’s for a sister. It’s for a brother. It’s for a neighbor. It’s for a friend. It’s for the community. It’s for the Valley. It’s for our Central California,” said Jiménez-Sandoval.

“That is the future of California in itself.”

Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 27 de marzo de 2022, 5:47 p. m..