Prayers, a Veto, then Tears

Farmworker Miguel Barbaso Uribe, right, joined nearly 600 other farmworkers and their supporters in a prayer vigil outside the Governor's office in an effort to persuade Gov. Jerry Brown to sign a bill to make it easier for farmworkers to unionize, held at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, June 28, 2011. Brown has until midnight, Tuesday, to sign the measure that would allow farmworkers to organize if a majority of them signed cards saying they wanted to do so. Brown signed the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the nations first law letting farmworkers form unions and collectively bargain, when he was governor in the 1970's(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) (AP)

Maria Ramirez, of Half Moon Bay, joined other farmworkers in a demonstration calling for Gov. Brown to sign a bill to make it easier for farmworkers to unionize. (AP)

Maria Isavel Vasquez Jimenez, a farmworker who died in 2008 after working for nine hours in a California vineyard without shade or water in near-100-degree temperature. Her family pleaded with Brown to pass a bill that would help farmworkers. "We don't want another family to suffer like ours," said Maria's uncle, Doroteo Jimenez. (AP)

Farmworkers Ruth Martinez, left, and Josefina Flores, hold the chair of the former United Farmworkers leader, the late Cesar Chavez, during a prayer vigil outside the Governor's office in an effort to persuade the governor to sign a bill to make it easier for farmworkers to unionize. (AP)

California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the bill. "I am not yet convinced that the far-reaching proposals of the bill -- which alter in a significant way the guiding assumptions of the ALRA -- are justified," Brown said. (AP)

United Farmworkers Union member Esther Urunday wipes a tear after hearing that Gov. Jerry Brown had vetoed the bill. (AP)

United Farmworkers President Arturo Rodriquez, center is consoled by state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, left, and Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo, after the veto. (AP)