On June 2, I told you about the tragic story of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez -- a 17-year-old pregnant woman who died in the vineyards of Stockton, California on May 16, overcome by heat after the company she worked for failed to provide her with the shade and water mandated by California law -- a failure so egregious that farmworkers and supporters from across California marched on Sacramento demanding justice.
Now comes word that the company whose negligence doomed both Maria and her unborn child has been put out of business by the State of California:
Merced Farm Labor Contractor, which hired the 17-year-old farmworker from Lodi who died after working at a Farmington vineyard, has been put out of business by the state.
The California Department of Industrial Relations issued an administrative order on Thursday prohibiting Merced Farm Labor Contractor from operating in the fields, citing the company's failure to comply with heat illness regulations as a threat to worker safety.
"With temperatures rising, we are taking this unusual step as a way to ensure that workers employed by this company are not put at risk," said Industrial Relations Director John Duncan. "This order will be in force until the company is in full compliance with California heat illness prevention regulations."
It's good to see action on this -- but it's shameful that it takes the death of an innocent woman and her child to focus the government's attention on protecting workers. I hope leaders in California and every state keep Maria's memory as a reminder that the lives of working men and women should be protected every day -- not just on those days when the media are watching.
UPDATE (1:45PM): The UFW has posted an online condolence card you can sign to send your condolences to Maria's family. Go and sign it.
