Mexico Farm Workers Demand Higher Pay, Better Conditions

More than 7,000 agricultural workers marched in the state of Baja California on Friday to demand higher salaries and better working and living conditions.



Protesters rallied in front of Ensenada City Hall where leaders met with federal government representatives in an attempt to resolve a labour dispute that has lasted for more than a month.



The fruit and vegetables pickers from farms across the San Quentin Valley area, a semi-desert Pacific coastal region, are demanding an increase to their daily wages from $8 (120 pesos) to $13 (200 pesos).



The laborers, who work an average of 14-hour days, six days a week, are also asking for the right to receive social benefits and the end to sexual abuse of female farms workers.



Farms in San Quentin Valley are still dealing with the effects of a 10-day strike by 80,000 workers last March.



"Millions of dollars have been lost," especially in the strawberry fields of the region, according to Mayor Gilberto Antonio Hirata of Ensenada.



About 20 percent of those workers have yet to return to the farms, maintaining pressure on the remaining employees.



The vast majority of Baja California's workers originate from Oaxaca, Guerrero and Chiapas, the poorest states of Mexico.



They live in slums and without facilities, schools, or access to health care.



More than 2 millions workers live in semi-slavery conditions in Mexico, without contracts or social benefits, according to government statistics.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Mexico