Santa Maria Holds Rally to Honor Cesar Chavez After Nearly 300 Farmworkers Were Laid Off
SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Organizations in Santa Maria are teaming up today to honor the legacy left behind by Cesar Chavez.
The rally scheduled for 5 p.m. in front of Santa Maria City Hall is expected to draw a crowd of about 100 people, including local farmworkers.
“Farmworkers in many ways live in the shadows and we use this today to bring light to their struggle,” said Hazel Davalos.
Davalos is a community advocate who works with Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy or CAUSE.
Farmworkers advocates are also using the rally as a platform to ask the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to vote for a farmworkers bill of rights.
“We found alarming trends around wage theft, safety and well issues and extreme overwork now we are asking our county board of supervisors to vote to pass a farmworkers bill of rights that would include a number of protections for farmworkers,” said Davalos.
The rally comes just days after nearly 300 farmworkers were laid off from the Bonita Packing Company in Santa Maria. A U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE) audit found that they could not provide legal work documentation.
“When we talk about farmworkers we talk about workers who may be undocumented, immigration status, may or may not speak English, may have a language barrier or speak an indigenous language and not speak Spanish and literacy issues also prevent workers from accessing information and knowing their right,” says Davalos.
We called Bonita Packing Company but they did not return our calls. An ICE spokeswoman tells KCOY 12 they routinely conduct audits to make sure companies are following the laws with their workers.
Davalos says next week they plan to meet with the County Agricultural Committee and within the next few months hope to get their proposed bill of rights on the agenda for the County Board of Supervisors.
