Farmworkers in Baja California will get a raise in their daily wages, but not as much as they'd been demanding in months of strikes and protests.
Farmworkers Agreement
Daily wages for Baja California farmworkers will be based on the size of the farms.
Large farms: 180 pesos/day ($11.47 US)
Medium farms: 165 pesos/day ($10.51 US)
Small farms: 157 pesos/day ($9.56 US)
After six hours of negotiations Thursday, the farmworkers agreed to a tiered compensation plan. It's based on the size of agribusinesses: larger ones will pay higher wages, and smaller ones will pay lower wages. Under the agreement, the top wage at large farms will be about $11.47 US per day. In some cases the increases represent as much as a 50 percent increase in daily wages.
The farmworkers originally demanded the U.S. equivalent of $13 a day. During negotiations last month, government officials and farmworkers signed a preliminary agreement in which officials said they would make up the difference if growers refused to pay the full $13 a day.
Farmworkers said they were unsatisfied with the agreement because it falls short of the government's promises.
"The government saw us feeling weak, and they killed us, finished us, destroyed our fight," said Justino Herrera, a spokesperson for the farmworker group at the forefront of the strike, Alianza de Organizaciones Nacional, Estatal y Municipal Por La Justicia Social.
Herrera said he walked out of yesterday's six-hour meeting and refused to sign the agreement, which the rest of the Alianza's leadership signed.
"I'm never going to accept these terms," he said. "I plan to re-organize with my companions and continue with this fight in the future."
The strike began in March with some staged protests that turned violent. At the end of that month, growers offered a collective 15% increase in wages for the farmworkers. Some remained unsatisfied and continued to strike.
In addition to boosting wages, the final agreement guarantees farmworkers an end-of-the-year bonus equivalent to two weeks' wages. It also includes social security benefits for the farmworkers, social and economic development programs for the region, and labor ministry inspections carried out with a commission designated by the Alianza.
The farmworkers harvest cucumbers, tomatoes and berries in an agricultural valley called San Quintin, about 200 miles south of the border.
They plan to meet with growers and government during the first week of July to follow up on the implementation of the agreement.
