“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 the afternoon of Thursday, July 18th, two dozen farmworkers and allies gathered in front of Deer Flats Farm in Rutland County, Vermont. Workers spoke out about an assault that took place two weeks earlier, steps away from where the gathering was held. The event was livestreamed on our facebook page.
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.
Ulver’s family watched in horror from inside the trailer. Seeing his uncle’s distress, 15-year-old Josue Adrian attempted to intervene. During last Thursday’s gathering, he recounted what happened next.
When I saw him strangling my uncle, and that there was blood coming out of his face, I went to help. The boss turned around and punched me in the chest with his metal hand. I fell against the stairs, almost hitting my head.
Following the assault, Richard followed the family into their home, continuing to hit and yell at Ulver. “I took out my phone and tried to call for help,” recalled Ulver, “but the boss took the phone out of my hand and threw it to the ground.”
In a bizarre turn, Richard then took Ulver and his nephew to a nearby lake in his motorboat. “The person who had just tried to kill me gave me a beer and told me to go with him on his boat,” Ulver said. “I was in shock and afraid for my life. I felt like I couldn’t say no.”
15-year-old Josue, who does not know how to swim, said: “I went with them because I thought that if I wasn’t there the boss would kill my uncle. He put us in a tube and dragged us behind the boat. I was crying and thought we were going to die.”
Upon returning to their trailer, the farmworkers asked Richard to take them to the hospital. According to Ulver, Richard “laughed and made fun of us and told us that he wouldn’t take us.” Once Richard left, the family called Migrant Justice. A member of the organization took the family to Rutland Regional Medical Center, where they were treated for chest and facial contusions.
With the support of Migrant Justice, Ulver filed a report with the Vermont State Police. Richard was cited for two counts of assault and will be arraigned in Rutland District Court.
Since the assault, the family has continued to live and work at Deer Flats Farm, despite the fear they feel. At Thursday’s gathering, Josue shared: “I’m scared to leave the house now. I don’t want to see the boss; I don’t know what he might do. I’m scared to be around anyone from the United States. This is an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Ulda Diaz, Josue’s mother, witnessed the assault from inside the trailer. She spoke Thursday after her son.
“We are here today because we have the courage to speak out, and because we know that we are not alone. We need people to see what happens on dairy farms. We want an end to violence against farmworkers.”
Referring to other cases of employer assaults against dairy workers in Vermont, Ulda continued: “The companies that buy milk from these farms only care about money. They don’t care about the workers. If this farm were part of Milk with Dignity, this couldn’t have happened. We would have been protected.”
At last Thursday’s gathering, workers called out Hannaford Supermarket for the company’s refusal to join the Milk with Dignity Program. Deer Flats Farm is a member of dairy cooperative Dairy Farmers of America, which supplies milk to dairy processor H.P. Hood; Hood, in turn, bottles Hannaford-brand milk. Since 2019, Hannaford has rebuffed repeated invitations from Migrant Justice to follow Ben & Jerry’s in joining Milk with Dignity.
On Thursday morning, Hannaford spokesperson Ericka Dodge was quoted by the Burlington Free Press defending the company’s decision to remain outside of Milk with Dignity.
“‘I think what's important here is that we share the goals of Migrant Justice when it comes to safeguarding dignity and well-being of farmworkers.’ Hannaford has its own ‘Standards of Engagement’ with its dairy supply chain, Dodge said, which include "provisions for how suppliers must treat and compensate workers.”
Despite the company’s stated standards, abuses in Hannaford’s supply chain remain rampant. Farmworkers have alerted Hannaford to violence, discrimination, unsafe conditions, substandard housing, and more, but have not seen conditions improve. The workers at Deer Flats Farm, for their part, remain unconvinced by Hannaford’s claims. “Don’t wait until one of us dies,” urged Ulda. “Join Milk with Dignity now.”
Farmworkers are not alone in the call for greater protections. Thursday’s gathering concluded with a speech from Megan Cancio-Belli, a neighbor of Deer Flats Farm. Offering her support to the family, Cancio-Belli pledged: “I want the family to know that they are not alone. We stand with you.” The crowd chanted together, “No están solos.”