It’s been over a month since the death of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jiminez, who died of heat stroke while laboring in a Stockton-area vineyard that, it later turned out, provides grapes for Bronco Wine’s notoriously cheap Charles Shaw — aka Two-Buck Chuck — sold exclusively at Trader Joe’s. Maria fell into a coma the afternoon of May 14, a day that saw official temperatures as high as 95 degrees, in an area with no shade, with the nearest drinking water a 10-minute walk away. Witnesses report that the crew were given only one break for water that day, and that rather than call for immediate medical care when she collapsed, her foreman moved her to a work van, where she lay for two hours before being taken to the hospital.
In response to Maria’s tragic and preventable death, farmworkers and advocates marched over 50 miles from her home in Lodi to Sacramento to demand safer working conditions, and United Farm Workers launched an action campaign to pressure Trader Joe’s to leverage what is described on the company web site as “a great relationship with a valued supplier” for more responsible labor practices.
The California State Labor Commissioner has begun the process of revoking the business license of Merced Farm Labor, the contractors who hired Maria Isabel.
I had a hard time finding a lot of mainstream media coverage outside of California on this story. Which isn’t altogether surprising — when it comes to the sustainable food discourse, labor issues often take a back seat. Stories about the people who toil in our fields are even harder to think about than pesticides or GMOs. It’s easy to want to trust in a chain like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods that their organic labels indicate a moral code that extends to other aspects of their production, including fair wages and safe working conditions. But is it even possible to produce a $2 bottle of wine without exploiting somebody? Seems unlikely. Here’s hoping Maria Isabel’s story gets the attention it deserves.
Related links:
The Dominion’s June 27 interview with Arturo Rodriguez of UFW
More about Trader Joe’s and Bronco Winery from Five Husbands
Sacramento Bee article and video coverage of the march
2 responses so far ↓
1 Californian // Jul 4, 2008 at 12:28 am
Thanks for posting this.
2 Chris // Jul 22, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Bronco Wine is part of a conglomerate that produces wines sold at just about every major chain in the U.S., not just Trader Joe’s.
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