A Living Wage for Farmworkers
Take Action for a Living Wage for Farmworkers!
Click Here to Email Joan Hartmann, Santa Barbara County Board Supervisor!!
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BCC: Erica@causenow.org, vanessa.teran@mixteco.org
Subject: Support a Farmworker Living Wage!
Dear Supervisor Hartmann,
As we approach the Thanksgiving season, a time for reflection and gratitude, I am sending this email to express my deep concern regarding the urgent need for a living wage for the hardworking farmworkers in our community. As you are well aware, farmworkers do some of the most dangerous and essential jobs in our community, yet agricultural corporations are not paying their workers enough to afford basic needs like rent, groceries, and childcare, despite their invaluable contributions.
Santa Barbara County agriculture is a nearly $2 billion industry that continues to bring in record revenues by exporting products across the globe. It is disheartening to realize that while these agricultural corporations profit immensely, the very farmworkers who contribute to such a successful industry are only paid 20-30 cents to harvest grapes by hand for each bottle of expensive wine sipped by tourists in our scenic and world-renowned wine country.
This month, you held a hearing at which we witnessed hundreds of farmworkers show their support for a $26 minimum wage and heard hours of testimonies highlighting the immense struggles faced by their families. Their voices must not be ignored. It would be unconscionable to let their cries for justice go unanswered, especially at a time when we are meant to give thanks for all we have.
You have the opportunity to take a bold, decisive action that will change lives and elevate those who have long been overlooked. Anything less than supporting a living wage for farmworkers would be a betrayal of their dignity and contributions to our community.
Please listen to the voices of farmworkers and support real solutions proposed by farmworkers themselves, not small gestures proposed by industry that only tinker at the margins of poverty and inequality. We urge you to directly tackle the root cause of our community’s suffering: raise farmworker wages now!
Who are we?
“Trabajamos cada día para sobrevivir, no vivir”
In recent year, farmworkers across the region, facing rising housing and living costs have led strikes for better wages. Empowered by their status as essential workers, they joined forced with Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) and the Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) to form Alianza Campesina de la Costa Central (Alianza Campesina). Alianza Campesina works with farm workers across the Central Coast to organize and advocate for workers’ rights and improved working conditions.
Campesinos unidos por $26
Harvesting Dignity: The Case for a Living Wage for Farmworkers
On April 1, 2024, Alianza Campesina de la Costa Central (Alianza Campesina) released a report titled “Harvesting Dignity: The Case for a Living Wage for Farmworkers. " The report not only sheds light on the realities surrounding the pay farmworkers receive and their workplace conditions but also underscores the pressing necessity for farmworkers to be justly compensated for their arduous labor.
The report starkly reveals the wage disparity. In 2023, “the mean hourly wage for farmworkers in Santa Barbara County was just $17.42 or $36,244 annually.” This is compared to heavy truck drivers, who received a median hourly wage of $26.76, translating to an annual wage of $55,672. At the same time, construction laborers earned a median hourly wage of $25.04, resulting in an annual wage of $52,104, according to the California Employment Development Department.
Harvesting Dignity: Central Coast Advocates Release Report Showing Need for a Living Wage for Farmworkers
The wage discrepancy between labor-intensive industries that all share high rates of workplace injury and mortality points to the historic lack of inclusion of farm workers in labor unions as well as racial segregation of the agricultural workforce.
“Occupational death rates in farm work are consistently much higher than comparable jobs, with 23.5 fatal injuries per 100,000 workers in 2022 compared to 14.6 fatalities in truck driving and 13.0 in construction,” said Erica Diaz-Cervantes, Senior Policy Advocate at CAUSE.
The research also shows that a typical box of strawberries costs consumers $2-$6 at the grocery store, depending on seasonal variation and organic status, and only approximately 28 cents goes to the workers who harvested them.
“Many farmworkers cannot afford the basic cost of necessities such as adequate housing, healthcare, childcare, and food, especially with the increasing cost of living for cities along California’s Central Coast,” said Arcenio Lopez, Executive Director of the Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP).
Nearly Two Hundred Farmworkers Organized, Marched, and Rallied to Launch a Living Wage Campaign
The day of action in Santa Maria included a march from the Town Center to the Fairgrounds, where the annual strawberry festival is held, to shine a light on the difficult labor that farming strawberries require. The day jump-started Alianza Campesina’s farmworker living wage campaign with workers, organizers, and advocates outlining how local elected officials can – and why they should – support the effort for a more just work environment in the fields.
“We must lead by example and uphold the dignity of farmworkers whose contributions are foundational to our community. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors can champion an ordinance ensuring dignified living wages for local campesinos,” shared MICOP’s Santa Maria’s Labor Justice Organizing Manager, Fernando Martinez, “Providing a living wage is imperative for our farmworkers' well-being and our agricultural sector's sustainability. It's time to prioritize our essential workers.”
Alianza Campesina announced that the farmworker living wage campaign will urge the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to adopt an ordinance to raise the minimum wage for agricultural workers to $26 per hour.
"Today, we saw and heard loud and clear the will of the people. Now is the time for a local farmworker living wage ordinance to provide a dignified standard of living for essential workers who make Santa Barbara County’s multi-billion dollar agriculture industry possible. Our work will be done when the County Board of Supervisors prioritizes and adopts a $26 agriculture worker minimum wage." said MICOP’s Associate Director, Genevieve Flores-Haro.
“In recent years, the increase in rent has been an issue that has affected me and my family. A better salary would give me access to better housing conditions and would also help me pay my rent, which continues to increase. A raise would also give me access to healthier meals for my family, and help us reap the rewards of my work,”
-said Matilde, Farmworker Leader with Alianza Campesina.
Contact
Feel free to contact us with any questions.
CAUSE Office Location: 1619 S Broadway, Santa Maria, Ca 93454
Phone: (805) 922-4447
MICOP Office Location: 110 S Lincoln St Suite 201 , Santa Maria, Ca 93458
Phone: (805) 623-5862