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Heat. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health on July 16, 2009 for the second time rejected revised regulations that would set an 85-degree temperature trigger for employers to take steps to protect workers employed outdoors from heat stress. In 2009, 16 percent of the farms inspected by Cal-OSHA were found to be violating heat-stress regulations, down from 35 percent in 2005.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the United Farm Workers Union sued Cal-OSHA in July 2009, asserting that Cal-OSHA cannot protect farm workers from heat-related illnesses. Cal-OSHA reported three heat-related farm worker deaths in 2008; the suit alleges there were six in 2008, and 11 since 2005.

The ACLU-UFW suit acknowledges stepped-up enforcement of Cal-OSHA regulations, but asserts that 201 inspectors for what the suit says are a million California work sites is too few. It also says that the Cal-OSHA Appeals Board often reduces fines and penalties levied on employers by inspectors. Employers allegedly have an incentive to appeal citations in order to delay having to rectify violations while the appeal is pending.

The Los Angeles Times reported on October 21, 2009 that the Cal-OSHA Appeals Board often reduces fines imposed by Cal-OSHA inspectors. In 2009, 47 inspectors and district managers at Cal-OSHA, about a quarter of the staff, signed a letter complaining that Cal-OSHA's "deterrent effect has been significantly undermined as employers learn they can game the system" by appealing fines and winning reductions. The Cal-OSHA Appeals Board says that it settles fines for pennies in order to clear its backlog and get employers to fix safety problems? employers do not have to fix safety problems until appeals are decided.

Cal-OSHA inspectors issue fines, which can be appealed to an administrative law judge and then to the three-member Cal-OSHA Appeals Board. Between 2005 and 2009, some 18,000 fines or citations were appealed to the Board by employers; in some cases, the Board reversed ALJ decisions upholding Cal-OSHA inspectors even before employers appealed them.

California approved emergency Heat Illness Prevention regulations in August 2005 and made them permanent in 2006 (www.dir.ca.gov/Title8/3395.html). They have four major provisions, that is, employers are required to make available at least a quart of water per worker per hour; provide access to shade for at least five minutes for workers suffering from heat illness; train workers and their supervisors about heat illness; and have a written plan to deal with workers suffering from heat illness.

The ACLU-UFW suit, which includes declarations from workers alleging violations of heat-stress regulations on the farms on which they were employed, asks a judge to order Cal-OSHA to issue regulations that require employers to protect their employees from heat illness. The suit does not lay out a remedy, but it has been suggested that farm employers could order their employees to take shade and water breaks much as the US military often requires shade and water breaks.

The ACLU-UFW suit details alleged violations at Giumarra Vineyards, where the UFW lost an election, 1,141 to 1,266, on September 1, 2005. The UFW reportedly had signed authorization cards from 70 percent of Giumarra workers, and was surprised to lose the vote. If the card-check procedure laid out in SB 789 had been in effect (vetoed by the Governor in September 2009), the UFW would have presumably been certified to represent Giumarra workers.

There was speculation in the farm press that the ACLU-UFW suit was filed so that, in the event of another heat-related farm worker death, the UFW could press for tougher heat-stress regulations if growers did not withdraw their opposition to SB 789.

UFW. The California Legislature for the third time in three years approved a card-check bill, SB 789, that would allow the ALRB to recognize a union as bargaining representative for farm workers without a secret-ballot election. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 789 in September 2009, as he did similar bills in 2007 and 2008, citing fears of farm workers being unable to decide whether they want union representation in the privacy of an election booth.

The UFW in September 2009 led a union committee supported by a $1 million grant from the Change to Win federation to oppose water bonds that would finance construction of dams or a canal to move water from north to south. Former Los Angeles Times writer Miriam Pawel on September 9, 2009 noted that the UFW favored Legislative approval of water bonds to preserve farm worker jobs until SB 789 was vetoed.

The Hawaii House and Senate on July 15, 2009 voted to override the Republican governor's veto of HB 952, which would make it easier for farm workers employed by eight agricultural firms with annual gross revenue of more than $5 million to organize into unions. If a majority of workers on a farm sign authorization cards, the Hawaii Labor Relations Board can certify a union as the representative of the workers; bargaining must begin within 10 days of certification.

A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge in September 2008 recommended that the 353-142 no-union vote at Blue Diamond Growers in a November 2008 election be upheld despite Blue Diamond's unlawful promises of increased benefits and improved terms and conditions of employment in exchange for the no-vote. There are about 500 hourly paid employees at Blue Diamond's Sacramento processing plant, and the company opposed efforts by ILWA Local 17 to represent the workers. The ALJ found that Blue Diamond's violations of the NLRA were not sufficient to overcome the union's 2-1 election loss. In March 2006, Blue Diamond was found to have unlawfully threatened to close the plant if workers voted for union representation.

UI. California's unemployment rate was 12.2 percent in September 2009, as employers cut 39,000 jobs; nonfarm payroll employment was 14.2 million. Some 2.2 million California residents were unemployed, and about 812,000, 37 percent, were receiving UI benefits. Almost a third of the jobless were unemployed more than 27 weeks.

In the US, the unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in July 2009, meaning 14.5 million workers were jobless, including a third who were jobless 27 weeks or more, a record. The US labor force in July 2009 (not seasonally adjusted) was 156.3 million, the same as in July 2008. The California labor force was 18.5 million in July 2008 and 18.6 million in July 2009.

California in July 2009 had 12 percent of the US labor force and 15 percent of the unemployed.

Employment declined in every major sector, with construction employment falling almost 20 percent between July 2008 and July 2009 to 635,000 and manufacturing employment falling over 125,000 to 1.3 million. Educational and health services and agricultural employment rose slightly.

Health Care. The United Agricultural Benefit Trust (www.uabt.org) is a coop formed in 1983 and owned by its member growers; it provides health care to 15,000 workers employed in agriculture in California and Arizona. Health care coops do not pay taxes on their premium income and are exempt from assessments that fund state safety net programs, including guaranty funds that pay claims when an insurer becomes insolvent.

The UABT has 2,500 member growers and has earned a reputation with medical providers for promptly paying claims.

Marijuana. The La Brea fire that burned 90,000 acres in August 2009 was allegedly started by Mexican workers employed by cartels to grow marijuana in national forests. The state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting mounted 425 raids in summer 2009, seizing over 3.4 million plants, up from less than three million in 2008.

Most so-called "marijuana grows" rely on up to 10 workers to camp near the plants and develop an irrigation system to provide them with water. These workers usually flee when they hear planes and helicopters approaching; few have been arrested when plants are seized and destroyed.

Other. The Tulare county History of Farm Labor and Agriculture Museum is scheduled to open in a bright red barn-like structure in November 2009 near Visalia. The museum plans to feature stories of the waves of immigrants employed in agriculture, beginning with Armenians.

Stockton-born Jose Hernandez, whose parents were migrant farm workers, went into space on the space shuttle Discovery in August 2009. Hernandez, who reportedly did not speak English until he was 12, credits his parents for encouraging him to complete his education.

The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires payment of minimum and overtime wages. The Wage Theft Prevention Act (HR 3303) would suspend the usual two-year statue of limitations so that investigations of employers would not result in a loss of back pay for workers.

Jessica Garrison, "Worker safety appeals board rulings raise question," Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2009. W.J. Hennigan and Kate Linthicum, "United Agricultural Benefit Trust spotlighted as model for healthcare cooperatives," Los Angeles Times, August 6, 2009.