Labor reformers are continuing their attempts to extract something positive from the death of Rosa Ruiz Barrera, a 22-year-old Guatemalan fish-processing worker who was killed in a car accident last November 19.

Two groups, the Rhode Island Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (RICOSH), and the Rhode Island Workers' Rights Board, last week petitioned the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to impose new rules on companies that transport workers.

The proposal would require employers and their subcontractors to provide seat belts for worker vehicles, train drivers in safe operation practices, and provide schedules that take into account speed limits and the need to avoid driver fatigue. Vehicles would be required to meet manufacturers' maintenance needs, and company supervisors would have to go through a checklist before vehicles would be released for use. The petition also asks OSHA to develop rules to protect highway workers and rescue personnel to avoid potentially fatal accidents.

A mother of three, Ruiz Barrera was a passenger in a van contracted by a temporary employment agency that regularly ferried immigrant workers between their homes in Providence and fish processing factories in the picturesque Narragansett fishing village of Galilee (see "Justice delayed," News, April 5, 2002). On the way home, the van veered off Route 1 in South Kingstown and rolled over. Ruiz Barrera was thrown from her seat and killed. Her husband, Nacario B. Garcia, in a similar van, came upon the accident minutes later.

Police later charged the driver, a substitute filling in for the regular driver and van owner, who was sick that day, with drunk driving, death resulting, but the man has eluded arrest. The van owner said he was retained by the employment agency that hired the workers for the fish processing firms. The van owner also collected $5 from each passenger daily for the round trip.

One month after the crash, the Workers' Rights Board, an unofficial panel of government officials, clergy, and other community members, heard testimony from workers about substandard pay and other working conditions at the plant.

Still pending are requests by the Workers' Rights Board for action from a variety of other government agencies, including the state Department of Labor and Training, which enforces minimum wage laws. Some workers alleged they were paid $5.75 - much less than the state's $6.15 minimum - and received no overtime for 70-hour work weeks.

Issue Date: July 25 - 31, 2002