WA State slashes by two thirds ‘puny’ fine for worker killed in manure pond. Help make this right.

[Omaha Steve]

http://action.ufw.org/page/speakout/fineslashed




Washington state officials just announced they were gutting an already “puny” fine against the Darigold dairy where Randy Vasquez, 27, was killed earlier this year when he drowned in a manure lagoon.

The state fined Darigold-member Riverview Ranch Dairy $6,800 following Randy's gruesome death on Feb. 24. Yup, that was apparently what they thought a farm worker life was worth. However, Riverview Ranch Dairy didn’t even think Randy’s life was worth that much. It appealed the fine. Key members of the Washington Ag industry supported its appeal.

On Tuesday, the Daily Sun News shared how state officials had agreed to reduce the fine for a worker killed in this dairy to $2,200, less than a third of the original fine.

Nubia Guajardo, Randy's widow tells us, “Is $2,200 all Randy’s life is worth? What do I tell our two small children who no longer have their loving father? The state acts like a farm worker dying is just a cost of doing business. State officials should be ashamed of themselves for slashing their already puny fine. And I have faith the public won’t accept it.”

Randy’s death is only the latest in the Washington dairy industry. Since 2000, a worker has been killed in a Washington dairy on average every 16 months.

Tell Washington Governor Jay Inslee something has to be done now. Nubia is right, the industry just doesn’t value a farm worker’s life. In September, when Nubia and the UFW tried to turn in 38,000 signatures on a petition asking Darigold to take immediate action to prevent these deaths at their member dairies, Darigold locked the doors and refused to accept the petition.

Something has to be done. And it needs to be done now! $2,200 is an insultingly low fine for the loss of a farm worker’s life. E-mail the Washington state governor today and demand he reinstate and increase the fine on Randy's employer. Demand that Darigold work with the UFW and Randy’s widow to take real steps to ensure workers are treated fairly and can work without fear of death or injury.


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