Dylan Anderson is a member of United Farm Workers Internet Communications team. The UFW has been fighting to bring dignity, respect and decent working conditions to our state’s hard-working agricultural workers. Below is his request for Californians to stand-up for these workers. If you are willing to help assure this measure becomes law by signing the petition linked at the bottom of this piece, the long and hard fought battle to achieve these important goals will be closer to reality.

Recently, both the California Senate and Assembly passed SB 104, “The Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act.” Introduced by Senator Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), SB 104 would give the state’s more than 400,000 farm workers an alternative to on-the-job polling place elections to decide whether to join a union. The new option would allow them to fill out state-issued representation ballots in their homes, away from bosses’ threats and other interference.  If a simple majority – more than 50 percent — of workers sign the ballots, their jobs would be unionized. 

Now the bill is going to Governor Jerry Brown. If he does not sign SB 104 into law, farm workers will continue to face unbearable conditions and pressure. Many workers don’t have access to basic things like shade, water, heat training or even breaks during the hot summer days. And nothing will change. Wage and hour violations will continue. Overexposure to pesticides will go unchallenged. Sexual harassment will remain rampant and the health crises caused by a lack of sanitation and lax safety standards will continue to plague farm workers.

 In an effort to put pressure on Governor Brown to protect farm workers, UFW has created an online petition to gain support. 

 You can find more information on SB 104 here:

http://www.ufw.org/_board.php?mode=view&b_code=news_press&b_no=10158&page=1&field=&key=&n=743

http://www.ufw.org/_board.php?mode=view&b_code=cre_leg&b_no=9206&page=1&field=&key=&n=5

This video segment does a good job explaining why SB 104 is so important:

http://www.ufw.org/_board.php?mode=view&b_code=res_multi&b_no=10019&page=1&field=&key=&n=264

                            To sign the petition, go to:

http://action.ufw.org/page/s/sb104petition?source=web

As always, we at Speak Out California would be interested in your thoughts and comments.