Loved ones and community members demanded action as they gathered in remembrance of farmworker Efraín López García, who died earlier this month while working outdoors in the sweltering heat.
García was working at a farm in Homestead when he was found unresponsive on the ground by co-workers, having earlier told them he was feeling unwell. The medical examiner's report has yet to be completed, but his family and colleagues are adamant that his death was heat related.
Dozens of people turned up at the Farmworkers Association of Florida in Homestead on Wednesday and remembered the 29-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, who had been in Florida for nine years.
“When I was with him we would talk and have good times,” said García’s brother, Jeremias, who struggled to keep his composure while speaking.
The death comes as Florida is experiencing its most historic heat wave in recorded history, and many organizations are sounding the alarm over outdoor working conditions. Earlier this week, an ordinance guaranteeing certain protections for outdoor workers passed its first reading in Miami-Dade County.
At the remembrance, Farmworker Association of Florida Homestead organizer Claudia Gonzalez spoke about some of the experiences that workers face when working in these extreme conditions.
“Those who work in landscaping tell me that they carry a bottle of gasoline — not water, but gasoline. If they did carry water they would be carrying two heavy bottles on them,” Gonzalez said. “[Their bosses] give them this gasoline so they don’t have to walk back to refuel, but instead, do it right there so they keep working.”
“Those that use a leaf blower have the motor on their back adding extra heat, and those who work with pesticides have to wear a special suit to protect them, which can turn into a sauna,” added Gonzalez.
Sonia Moreno of the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) talked about some of the changes the group wants to see in working conditions.
“Every human being should have the right to go to the bathroom when their body is telling them to. Every human being should have access to water," said Moreno. "How is it possible that people don’t want to drink water to prevent themselves from going to the bathroom? Those are the stories we hear in Homestead."
A majority of the farmworkers in Florida are undocumented, the number sitting somewhere around 300,000 according to the Farmworkers Association. It means that many are unaware of their rights — and many are also scared to ask for breaks to use the bathroom or to drink water for fear of losing their jobs.
READ MORE: New law is pushing South Florida's indigenous Guatemalan immigrants to flee - again
Following García's death, the Farmworkers Association alongside his family filed a report with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on the farm where he was said to be working. WLRN reached out for comment, but the farm's owner did not respond.
The groups have also been working to create legislation to protect workers. “We have been trying to pass legislation at the state and federal level to bring about change in the form of protections so workers have shade, water and breaks,” said Gonzalez.
The Miami-Dade ordinance passed this week still has to go through a committee meeting in September and if it makes it through it will head back to the commission for a final vote.
The Farmworkers Association has started a GoFundMe page to raise the money to send García's body to be buried in Guatemala, where his mother and extended family live.
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