[Fwd: Mexican migrant farm worker receives $42K pension check]

[Guest guest]

This from Marinez. Bobbi Ryder

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Bobbi Ryder

CEO

National Center for Farmworker Health

1770 FM 967

Buda, TX 78610

512-312-5453 (direct)

512-312-5451 (Assistant, Carolyn Love)

512.312.2600 (fax)

http://www.ncfh.org

Posted on Tue, Jun. 24, 2003

Mexican migrant farm worker receives $42K pension check

MARIA-BELEN MORAN

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - Tolentino ez had forgotten

he contributed to a United Farm Workers pension fund in the 1970s when he

worked in California's tomato fields. He was shocked Tuesday when he

received a check for more than $42,000.

" I cried, " ez, 79, said in Spanish in a phone interview

after receiving the check at a ceremony in Fresno. " They did not

want to tell me how much it was, I thought it was going to be like 3,000

or 5,000 pesos. "

In addition to the retroactive lump payment, ez, who lives in

Tamaulipas, a Mexican town near the Texas border will receive $247.48

each month for the rest of his life.

Aging migrant farmworkers are owed millions in pension funds thanks to a

program established in the mid-1970s by the union's founder, Cesar

Chavez.

UFW president Arturo said there are still about 1,000 eligible

unidentified pensioners.

" A lot of these folks ... scattered around the country or moved to

Mexico, they left the fields not remembering that they had a pension

under their contract, " said.

Under federal law, the UFW is obligated to make a reasonable effort to

find pensioners. It has sent letters to known addresses, broadcast

notices about the pension on its La Campesina, or Farmworker, radio

network and has spread the word through mainstream media in the United

States and Mexico.

For the last eight years, the UFW has been trying to find these workers,

said pension plan administrator Blaylock. It even hired an

investigator who for four years tracked down and checked UFW members for

eligibility.

The UFW said family members and fellow workers have been a good resource

for getting information about eligible members.

ez learned he could apply to collect the pension last April while

visiting his daughters in California. Before returning to Mexico, he

asked his daughter who lives in Manteca to find out if he was

eligible.

" She speaks English and Spanish so she filled out all the forms and

read me the letters, " ez said. " I am going to tell (other

farm workers) to come to the (UFW) offices to see if they

qualify. "

Another roadblock the union found was that many of the workers used

multiple Social Security numbers to dodge immigration laws, and many of

the numbers were invalid.

" As far as we are concerned, they earned the benefit, as long as

they can provide proof they worked under those names and those numbers

they are entitled to those benefits, " Blaylock said.

The fund has grown to $100 million with 10,000 members. More than 2,200

retirees are receiving benefits.

ez, who has five daughters, 12 grandchildren and six

great-grandchildren, said he plans to pay off some debts and buy

construction materials for a new house.

ON THE NET

De La Cruz Pension Plan:

http://www.ufw.org/jdlc.htm

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Editors note: Retired farm workers who believe they may qualify for the

De La Cruz Pension Plan can call: 800-321-6607 or 888-735-5352.