March 29, 2015 (San Diego) Do you like strawberries? How about tomatoes? Perhaps you like other berries? I like cucumbers and onions as well. Expect to pay more for them if you live in Southern California. Why? There is a strike in the Valley of San Quintin in Baja California. It is over labor and pay.
Most of the workers in the valley are Native Americans, and their working conditions are horrid, with extremely low pay. These conditions have now been documented by the United Farm Workers, the organization that Cesar Chavez founded.
In a letter of support they wrote to their Mexican counterparts, that they have the support and backing of 27,000 workers in the Cesar Chavez organization. The letter partially reads: “We believe that all of us who work in the fields, picking up strawberries, tomato, or doing any other field work, deserve good pay and respect. It doesn’t matter where we are in the world. With our work we feed the world. We deserve to work in good conditions and good pay. This is why we support you.”
Workers in San Quintin are now travelling throughout the five municipalities of Northern Baja California, with a final destination the capital, Mexicali. Fruit is now rotting in the fields.
According to La Jornada workers want wages fixed at 300 pesos per day that is about 21 dollars per day. Pay currently is at anywhere from 110 to 130 pesos a day.
What are the workers demanding? Some of the demands we will list, the rest we will post.
They are demanding the end of the contract signed by the Central de Trabajadores de Mexico (CTM) and the Confederation Revolucionaria de Obreros y Campesinos (CROC) due to the violation of the current contract by the field owners.
They want to be paid overtime, as Mexican law demands; overtime pay can rate double to triple pay, so far they are not getting it. They also want the companies to respect days off, such as the seventh day, or federal vacations. If people work these days, they demand that they should be paid overtime.
In Mexico women get six weeks off before delivery and after delivery, by law this time off is paid They want that to be respected. Women are working right until they are about to go onto labor.
They also want a stop to sexual abuses, by those who lead work parties and respect for basic human rights.
The people in the valley call this nothing-short modern day slavery. Companies such as Driscoll Berry import these fruits from Baja California. Berry Mex is the company that represents them in Mexico, and they said in a press release that they respect workers rights.
In the press release of March 21, they said that while they respect the rights of people to demonstrate, they are not happy with damages. The looting has affected families and third parties.
There has been violence. The governor of the State, Francisco Arturo Vega de La Madrid, sent state police, and there were encounters between the officers and field hands. These included tear gas and rubber bullets on one side, and rocks on the other. There are people who have gone missing as well.
In a latter release they have softened their stand. In particular on the 24th they say that they are all for innovation that will better the conditions of workers. They also write they have always been concerned about the health and safety of their workers.
The governor’s office is also now saying that thousands of workers have returned to work. Among the agreements, according to the state government, that were reached, is that workers would take a 15 percent increase in their pay. This is double what companies were offering, but hardly the $300 pesos the workers were demanding.
Suffice it to say that while the stand off continues, the National Commission of Human Rights is now involved. According to their researchers workers who were detained by the municipal police were abused.
There is now pressure to find a solution to this problem that also encompasses basic human rights. This is an effort by both state and federal authorities to find such a solution.
In the United States the Frente Indigenista Binacional, based in San Diego, has come in support of the people of San Quintin. They are also demanding that US Companies do not cancel contracts to buy the fruits and vegetables. This is to put more pressure. They also condemn the repression of laborers, and the violation of their human rights, by about 12 companies. They also condemn in the strictest of terms, the inability of the Mexican government to protect their own citizens.
They are also demanding the stop to the state repression to workers who are demanding respect, better pay and the end of these conditions.
Edited for clarity
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Categories: Labor Organizing, Mexican Farm Workers, Valley of San Quintin
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