US Department of Labor, CalVans partner to expand safe farmworker transportation plan at Fresno event

FRESNO, Calif. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the California Vanpool Authority will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to expand the use of the authority’s CalVans fleet – based on the demand from growers, packers and farm labor contractors – to ensure safe and reliable transportation for Central Valley farmworkers to and from the fields every day. The event coincides with the anniversary of an infamous vehicle accident that killed 13 farmworkers in the region in 1999.

WHO: U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
California Vanpool Authority
Agricultural groups and associations
Representatives from community organizations

WHAT: Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony, media availability

WHERE: U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
Civic Center Square Courtyard
906 N. St.
Fresno, CA 93721

WHEN: Aug. 9, 2016
10 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT

BACKGROUND:  While the 1999 incident near Five Points spurred numerous safety changes, farmworkers continue to be killed in vehicular accidents at an alarming rate. From 2010-14, the California Highway Patrol reports that 16 farmworkers died and 194 were injured while being transported between their homes and their work sites. In 2015, four farmworkers died in a vehicle accident, including a 16-year-old girl. 

An estimated 3,500 farmworkers depend on van transport provided by 260 CalVan vehicles in the Central Valley to get to and from work every day. CalVans’ Director Ron Hughes said, “Since the program’s start in 2002, no farmworker has been killed or seriously injured while using CalVans to travel between work and the field.”

• Read this news release in Spanish.

Press interested in attending this event should contact 
Leo Kay or Jose A. Carnevali using the contact information provided below.