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Labor groups protest worker’s death at WA dairy

September 3, 2015, Seattle, WA – Labor groups protested outside the Seattle headquarters of Darigold recently, claiming the milk-processing company’s parent – the dairy farm cooperative known as the Northwest Dairy Association – needs to do more to improve employee safety after a young worker’s death earlier this year.

According to the United Farm Workers union, 27-year-old Randy Vasquez showed up to work the night shift at a Yakima County dairy on February 24. He strapped himself into a front loader to go feed the cows but never returned. The front loader he was driving fell into a manure pond. The coroner’s report says he died from inhaling wastewater sludge. He wasn’t found until the next morning. READ MORE