| “Farmworkers Unite for $26” |
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 Courtesy photos. |
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| SANTA MARIA — In Celebration of May Day, on April 28, 2024, over a hundred farmworkers – along with CAUSE and MICOP – organized a rally and march to launch a new farmworker living wage campaign for Santa Barbara County.
“Nearly two hundred farmworkers are here today because of the ongoing and increasing difficulty to afford housing, childcare, healthcare, and food despite their essential work for the Central Coast, state, and nation,” said Hazel Davalos, Co-Executive Director of CAUSE. “In the face of doing physically strenuous labor to support an essential part of our local economy, those who toil in the fields are paid low wages, denying farmworker families the ability to live in dignity. The community of Santa Maria showed up today to celebrate May Day and stand in solidarity with farmworkers. Our state and society has deemed farmworkers as essential, and it’s past time that these very workers deserve to be treated as essential and paid wages that honor the sacrifice, health risks, and the hours farmworkers endure.”
Alianza Campesina de la Costa Central – a collaborative effort between CAUSE, MICOP, and local farmworkers – began April by publishing a new research report: Harvesting Dignity: The Case for a Living Wage for Farmworkers. The research informed the new campaign, exposing that wages paid to farmworkers aren’t enough to keep up with the increasing cost of living and that the agriculture industry can afford higher wages. |
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| “There’s no way around it – farmworkers are the backbone of the local economy, and a farmworker’s living wage is needed now because it’s the only way forward for the future of the agricultural industry. As Alianza Campesina, we’ve gathered farmworkers over the past three years to hear what they need from their industry, and it always comes back to wages. We have talked to workers who have been in the fields for over ten years, and they are receiving the same wages today that they did when they started,” said Zulema Alemán, Associate Organizing Director with CAUSE. “Farmworkers shared with us that the cost of living is too high, and to make ends meet, they make sacrifices, such as not accessing healthcare when it’s needed, buying cheap food that isn’t as nutritional, and living with multiple families in one home. It’s not just farmworkers but their children who make unnecessary sacrifices to their well-being. Farmworker families deserve to have shelter, food, healthcare just like all other community members. A living wage is the way we make this vision a reality.”
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.
Photos from Alianza Campesina’s Farmworker Living Wage campaign launch and May Day celebration are available at the following link courtesy of MICOP & CAUSE staff. |
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| Alianza Campesina de la Costa Central is a partnership between Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) and the Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP). Alianza Campesina works with farm workers across the Central Coast to organize and advocate for workers’ rights and improved working conditions.
Central Coast United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) is a base-building organization committed to social, economic, and environmental justice for working-class and immigrant communities throughout California’s Central Coast. CAUSE builds grassroots power through community organizing, leadership development, coalition building, civic engagement, policy research, and advocacy. causenow.org
The Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP)supports, organizes, and empowers the indigenous migrant communities in California’s Central Coast. We operate over 20 programs across Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties, offering various social service and community organizing programs, Indigenous Language Interpretation Services (ILIS), and Radio Indigena 94.1 FM. For more information, please visit mixteco.org. |
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