“Don’t wait until one of us dies…”
Posted Wed, 07/24/2024 - 1:21pm
A family on a Vermont dairy farm was recently assaulted by the farm owner, sending one worker and his 15-year-old nephew to the hospital. The employer is facing criminal charges, while workers are calling for greater protections to prevent future cases of violence against farmworkers. The farm is in the dairy supply chain of Hannaford Supermarket, which has refused repeated calls to join Milk with Dignity, a worker-created program to protect farmworker rights.
On July 3rd, Richard Hulett, the owner of Deer Flats Farm and a member of the Pawlet Select Board, approached the workers’ housing, upset over a misunderstood conversation between workers earlier in the day. Farmworker Ulver Perez opened the door and was immediately attacked by his boss, who pulled him down the stairs and began hitting him.
According to Ulver: “He punched me repeatedly until I fell to the ground, using his metal [prosthetic] hand. He kept hitting me and I wasn’t able to defend myself. I pulled myself to my feet, but he cornered me against the bannister. He kept hitting me and began to choke me with the metal hand. He was holding my throat so tightly that I couldn’t breathe. I started to black out and thought I was going to die. I thought my boss would kill me and I would never see my family again.”
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