CRLA in the News

Big Win for Latina Workers

Ventura County Star

Ms. Garcia receives her settlement payment.

In a big win for Latina workers, clients represented by CRLA in a lawsuit jointly litigated by CRLA and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) accepted a $240,000 settlement in a case against two Southern California orchid growers accused of targeted sexual harassment against Latina workers.

Finalizing the settlement took bilateral support from CRLA and the EEOC, as well as notable bravery and loyalty from plaintiff Francisca Alvarado Garcia, a longtime employee of the growers who first reported the harassment to CRLA offices in Oxnard. Instead of merely looking out for herself, Ms. Garcia agreed to leave her settlement in jeopardy until other class members also received their settlement payments and requirements for future harassment prevention in the company were included as terms in the settlement agreement. We congratulate her and all the claimants on their tenacious fight for Latina rights in the workplace.

CRLA Directing Attorney Andres Garcia with Ms. Garcia and her son.

Ms. Garcia's story was widely covered in local and statewide news outlets; in the Ventura County Star, CRLA Directing Attorney Andres Garcia commented on the case:

"For our client, this case was about dignity and the right to work in an environment that's free from harassment."

Read full story by Ventura County Star >>

Battle over methyl iodide resurfaces in Monterey County

By Sarah Jane Keller/The Californian/January 11, 2012
Foes press for action on eve of court hearing to block state use of fumigant

Michael Marsh, right, directing attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance, speaks against the use of methyl iodide during a news conference Wednesday outside the Monterey County Government Center building in Salinas. The news event was held to help publicize legal action against the use of the controversial fumigant being heard today in the Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland. Conner Jay/The Salinas Californian.

Groups advocating against methyl iodide gathered in Salinas Wednesday, urging action against the pesticide within Monterey County and drawing attention to today's court hearing challenging state approval of the soil fumigant.

The press conference included community members from the women's worker group Líderes Campesinas, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, neighborhood organizations and the California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. The groups are pressing the Monterey County Board of Supervisors to pass a resolution urging Gov. Jerry Brown to reexamine the registration of methyl iodide.

CRLA, along with Earthjustice, filed a December 2010 suit against the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and its director. Arguments are being heard today in Oakland by the Alameda County Superior Court.

"In short there is not substantial evidence that the product should have been registered," Michael Marsh, the directing attorney for CRLA, said Wednesday afternoon at the Monterey County Government Center.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved methyl iodide as a pesticide in 2007 and it is currently used in 48 states for crops that include tomatoes, peppers, tree fruits, nuts and strawberries. The toxic chemical - listed as a carcinogen in California and a potential carcinogen federally - wasn't approved for use in the state until 2010.

Read full story by The Californian >>

Safe Drinking Water Plan for California

In the wake of CRLA's recent win for clients in the San Joaquin Valley who have limited or no access to safe drinking water, Governor Brown has signed seven bills aimed at improving water quality and access throughout California. Photo by David Bacon.

In the wake of CRLA's recent win for clients in the San Joaquin Valley who have limited or no access to safe drinking water, Governor Brown has signed seven bills aimed at improving water quality and access throughout California. In the case, Newton-Enloe and the A.G.U.A. Coalition v. Horton and California Department of Public Health, CRLA represented local residents and coalition members seeking to force the State to complete the Safe Drinking Water Plan. After a ruling in the Fifth District Court of appeals that supported CRLA's claims that the State was mandated to complete a Drinking Water Plan, the State of California and CRLA's clients agreed to a settlement whereby a high quality Plan will be completed.

Read on for some of the great recent press coverage about the case and its potential impact on CRLA client communities across California:

The Fresno Bee: Settlement Reached in Valley Water Fight >>
Oct 6, 2011

The Fresno Bee: Gov. Brown signs clean-water bills >>
Oct. 7, 2011

KVPR, Valley Public Radio (Part II: Water Quality) >>
October 11, 2011

Host Juanita Stevenson talks to Laurel Firestone of the Community Water Center in Visalia, Kara Brodfuehrer of California Rural Legal Assistance, and Dr. David Zoldoske California Water Institute about lack of water quality and access for rural towns across California.

Univision: Llegan a acuerdo sobre agua limpia en Condado de San Joaquín >>
Oct 7, 2011

History of the case:
New American Media: Dying for a Glass of Clean Water in CA's San Joaquin Valley >>
August 22, 2011

CRLA Joins Forces With Eastern Coachella Valley Communities to Tackle Systematic Housing Inequities

By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN/SFGATE/October 25, 2011
On edge of a desert paradise, Coachella farm workers live in putrid conditions

Farmworkers housing conditions in Coachella Valley, California. Photo by David Bacon.

THERMAL, Calif. - At one end of Avenue 54, a road slicing through some of the most fertile land in the United States, resides the California of the popular imagination: a place of Bermuda shorts, putting greens and picture-window champagne dinners overlooking the infinity pool.

But there is another Avenue 54 concealed behind tumbleweeds and dust. It is the 54 of arsenic-tainted water, frequent blackouts and raw sewage that backs up into the shower. It is a place of grim housekeeping, where the residents of the Eastern Coachella Valley's roughly 125 illegal mobile home parks struggle to make 720 square feet of deteriorating metal and plywood a safe and habitable home.

Even the names of unincorporated communities here - Mecca, Oasis - evoke Biblical lands, befitting the manmade plagues that beset the region. This desert valley, about 130 miles southeast of Los Angeles, is one of the country's richest agricultural areas, an irrigation-fed bounty of table grapes, bell peppers, seedless watermelons and most of the country's dates. Island-paradise palms spring mirage-like from the hot, arid soil.

This Coachella, unvisited by hipsters who attend a yearly music festival in the valley, is one of the poorest, densest areas of the United States - especially during grape season, when an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 migrant workers pour into the area.

Read full Article >>