Schwarzenegger warns farm contractors

SACRAMENTO, June 4 (UPI) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday California would ramp up efforts to enforce labor laws that protect farm workers toiling in sometimes-stifling heat.

In a written statement, the governor said employers that did not comply with laws on heat-illness prevention would be dealt with harshly.

"Employers or labor contractors who do not comply with the heat illness prevention standards will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," Schwarzenegger said. "My administration will rigorously enforce the heat regulations I signed into law in 2005."

The statement was issued as the California State Labor Commission decided to begin the revocation of a Colunga contractor's license. Merced Farm Labor had been in charge of a work crew from which one of its members died last month.

Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, a teenager from Mexico, died while working in a vineyard near Stockton on a sweltering day. The investigation produced allegations that water was not accessible to the workers and that a supervisor was apparently not overly concerned when Vasquez Jimenez passed out.

The governor's office said the Labor Commission was focusing on specific allegations that Merced Farm Labor failed to correct previous safety violations and supplied false information on its license application.