Catherwood LibraryILR School

Coming four years after a similar accident in 1998, the death four months ago of fourteen Latino guest-workers when the van carrying them to their forestry jobs skidded off the road to fall upside down in a river as it sped across a bridge in the early morning hours. Following intense public and political commentary, the Labor Department is pushing to revoke the license of the subcontractor that hired the fourteen workers, and Maine?s State Legislature is set to begin debating legislation to establish greater protections than those currently afforded to forestry workers by federal law. Under one bill proposed by State Representative Sean Faircloth, forestry employers---who are currently subject to far fewer regulations than field-work agricultural employers---would be required to provide employees with transportation to and from worksites, and housing near to worksites to avoid hazardous early-morning and late-night commutes.