Man dies in dairy farm manure pit as state lawmakers debate farm worker rights bill

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    LA SALLE, CO (KCNC) — A death at a dairy farm in La Salle has become a rallying cry for a bill about farmworker rights. Juan Panzo Temoxtle was operating a manure vacuum truck at Shelton Dairy when it somehow ended up in a manure pit.

“All of his coworkers who watched him drown in the pit, including his uncle, they really tried. They did everything they could,” says Nicole Civita with Project Protect Food Systems, a food workers’ rights organization.

She says Temoxtle had only been on the job six weeks and was still being trained on the truck when the accident happened. Pictures she provided CBS4 appear to show a broken fence.

Civita says adequate protections weren’t in place.

“These are conditions that are unsafe working conditions, and that certainly could have been addressed by the employer ahead of time,” she explained.

Many farmworkers, she says, are afraid to speak up. A bill at the state Capitol promises to protect them from retaliation.

“There’s nothing that we see in this bill that would have prevented this accident. I know proponents whistleblower protections exist already,” said Chad Vorthman with the Colorado Farm Bureau.

Vorthman says supporters of the bill are politicizing the accident. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jessie Danielson, says they’re simply giving farmworkers the same protections as other workers. Her bill would remove a decades-old provision that makes farmers exempt from many labor laws.

“We’re talking about really, really basic human rights – food and water breaks, minimum wage, overtime and the right to organize. These are all basic human rights and they’re all the basic protections that almost every single other worker in the state enjoys,” said Danielson.

Vorthman says most farmers already pay more than minimum wage but because farming is dependent on weather, he says, comp time makes more sense than overtime.

“In agriculture we’re unique. We need flexibility. There are days where there are long days in the orchard, but those days are often offset by a rainy day,” said Vorthman.

He is also opposed to allowing farmworkers to unionize, saying if they went on strike during a harvest, it could put food safety at risk. Danielson says, if nurses and pilots can unionize, so should farmworkers. She says she’s willing to consider changes.

“But we’re not willing to say that simply because you work in the agricultural industry means that you should be excluded from all of these basic protections,” Danielson said.

Shelton Dairy released the following statement, saying the accident has been traumatic for everyone at the farm:

“We cannot adequately express the deep sadness we feel over the accident that involved one of our employees. Our sympathy is with their family as we all mourn this loss. Safety protocols and physical barriers were in place at the time of the tragedy, and our team is working with the Weld County Sheriff Office and OSHA in full cooperation with their efforts as the investigation of this truly unfortunate incident continues.”

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