Baja Farmworkers Win Pay Hike in Landmark Deal, But Fall Short of Goal The Los Angeles Times
go to original June 6, 2015

A volatile farm labor strike that crippled exports from one of Mexico’s key agricultural regions ended this week with an unprecedented accord that boosts wages as much as 50% for thousands of laborers in Baja California.

Although the agreement is considered a landmark achievement for a farm labor movement in Mexico, the mood was subdued after labor leaders learned that the federal government was pulling its offer to provide subsidies to reach the 200-peso daily wage rate -- about $13 -- sought by laborers.

The agreement reached after a six-hour negotiating session calls for a three-tiered compensation system. Large farms will pay workers 180 pesos per day; medium farms, 165 pesos; and small farms, 150.

Since most work at large agribusinesses, the wage increase amounts to about $4 per day for many of the estimated 30,000 workers in the region 200 miles south of San Diego.

“This isn’t the agreement that laborers were hoping for … but we made  significant gains,” farmworker leader Fermin Salazar said after the meeting.

Read the rest at The Los Angeles Times

Photo: Getty Images

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