juarezmex1952 at 1:48 PM August 3, 2010
Forty years ago todate, you would find me, my family and the rest of my farm worker community toiling in the tomatoe harvest. Ambient temperature 100 degrees plus, clouds of pesticide residue, no toilets, no drinking water, we ate our lunch in the fields. We worked as farm workers because that's all we had and knew of. What else could we do for work on farms as some readers suggest that we had options. How easy is it for any of us to leave our respective communities? Our work gave us dignity as impovished as our lives were. We were aware of our plight. As a young man I joined the United Farm Workers movement and raised hell to improve conditions for all farmworkers. Significant quality of life improvements were had: toilets, breaks, drinking water and (shocking) unemployment insurance-no more food hand outs during the winter months. The Gov's. choice to veto overtime pay for farm workers was reprehensible. For any one to suggest that exploitation of other humans is justified by any degree of circumstance is imoral. It is fitting that the Terminator's last movie stint is entitlted: "The Expendibles". That is how he views the lives of farm workers. Shame on him. Hope he and his chilldren enjoy their summer fruit while farm worker families continue
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