Latino Waste Worker Fatalities & Impacts, CA LULAC Waste Workers Advocacy Committee

Social Justice & Activism

This presentation will examine the nexus between ongoing Latino waste worker fatalities and injuries, civil rights concerns, and the 2025 California Assembly and Senate Joint Audit and Hearing identifying significant deficiencies at Cal/OSHA. The session will also address toxic waste site exposures, large-scale fires, and contamination incidents, highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive, transparent, and accountable oversight of related public safety, environmental, and water quality impacts. The CA LULAC Waste Workers Advocacy Committee, formed in 2025, supports Latino waste workers who have faced decades of hazardous workplace conditions in California, including exposure to radioactive materials, toxic smoke and vapors, workplace fatalities, wage disparities, discrimination, and intimidation. Now part of a broader coalition working with California Assembly members and university labor programs at UC Berkeley and UCLA, and supported by state and national LULAC resolutions, the committee advances policy solutions to strengthen worker protections, civil rights enforcement, and environmental justice.

Geoff Ellsworth

Geoff Ellsworth is the former Mayor (2018–2022) of the City of St. Helena, California, in Napa County. While in office, he became aware of significant mistreatment affecting the primarily Latino workforce at a local landfill and waste company in Napa County including a Latino worker fatality. Since leaving office, he has joined CA LULAC to help address these issues and the broader systemic problem of Latino waste worker fatalities and related environmental impacts throughout California.