Gratefully shared from and originally published by Colorlines.
by Yvonne Yen Liu, Thursday, February 17 2011.
Juan Baten came to this country from Guatemala seven years ago in search of a better life. A bus in Cabral, Guatemala, hit his father so Baten left home at the age of 15, to make the journey north. He made his way to Brooklyn, N.Y., where he found work in a tortilla factory in an industrial corridor along the Brooklyn-Queens border. He worked six days a week, nine hours a day, from five in the evening until two in the morning, operating the machines that churned out tortillas. The $7.25 per hour he earned was sent back to his family in Guatemala, supporting his four brothers.
Baten also found love. Seven months ago, his common law wife Rosario Ramirez gave birth to daughter, Daisy Stefanie. They dreamed of a day when they could move their family back to Guatemala.
However, one Sunday, Baten’s arm got stuck in the blades of a dough-mixing machine and he was crushed to death.
The 22-year-old dad’s story splashed across the pages of the New York tabloids, and his death led to investigations by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and state Department of Labor. The Workers Compensation Board discovered that the factory owner was not offering worker’s compensation to his employees and issued a stop-work order. The factory is now closed, pending payment of insurance and fines by the owner, according to news reports.
Daniel Gross, executive director of Brandworkers International, noted in response to the case that the workers at the tortilla factory were not organized into a union. Neither had the facilities ever been inspected by OSHA prior to Baten’s tragic death. Many more questions remain unanswered: Were Baten and his colleagues adequately trained to use the dangerous food machines safely? Were they given breaks during their graveyard shift? What access to health care did Baten have to ease the fatigue he undoubtedly experienced from working six days a week?
But what we do know is that Baten’s workplace wasn’t unique. Workers suffer from low wages and hazardous working conditions throughout the food chain.
Continue reading at Colorlines.com.