Farm Workers in Mexico Earn $5 a Day to Put Food on U.S. Tables

Huddled around a single flickering candle in a tiny wood and cardboard shack on scrubland in Mexico’s northwest, laborer Genaro Perfecto and his family prepared to bed down for the night on a bare earth floor.

His 3-year-old daughter asked for an extra blanket to ward off the cold, but they had run out – a measure of their hard-scrabble life spent harvesting fruit bound for U.S. dining tables.

Since March, thousands of day laborers have blocked roads, staged marches and held meetings with lawmakers to protest the grind of picking strawberries, raspberries and blackberries in the Baja California peninsula for what they say is as little as $1 an hour.

Perfecto is part of a growing underclass whose frustration over pay and conditions is pressuring companies that supply U.S. markets to make improvements.

At least one company told Reuters it would reexamine its treatment of workers.

Kevin Murphy, CEO of U.S. fruit company Driscoll’s, said his company was reevaluating standards in the wake of the fruit picker protests, and was going to audit living conditions.

“We’re going to go back and look at them again and reevaluate them and put in some improvements,” Murphy said.

Companies operating in the area say they pay workers fair wages and provide them with adequate healthcare coverage. Local government officials, meanwhile, say recent protests over wages by fruit pickers were politically motivated.

Having moved north to escape poverty in southern Mexico 15 years ago, Perfecto, a father of five, said he is too poor to simply move away from this dusty stretch of industrial farmland known as San Quintin.

“If you’re ill, or cut yourself in the fields, they don’t pay the day (if you are out for treatment),” he said, flanked by plastic bags dangling from the low roof that serve as storage for their belongings, a few threadbare clothes and blankets.

“You keep quiet, and keep working covered in blood,” added Perfecto, a 38-year-old whose main diet consists of refried beans or flour tortillas sprinkled with salt.

Perfecto works for Mexican firm BerryMex, a major supplier for Driscoll’s. A BerryMex representative said it pays workers on a regular contract even if they are sick. But the representative also said temporary workers, who make up about 75 percent of its workforce, are not paid for fruit they have not picked.

In the last few months, laborers have expressed increasing anger over conditions that even some conservative Mexican media have characterized as “near slavery”.

On March 18, more than 200 protesting workers on the peninsula were arrested in a clash with local authorities. Several protesters were injured on Saturday in fresh disturbances.

WAGE DISCONNECT

The boom in sales, meanwhile, has enabled fruit companies to pay above the minimum wage, which in Mexico is 70.1 pesos ($4.57) a day.

On average, Perfecto picks around 110 kg (243 lbs) of strawberries a day, and up to 200 kg (440 lbs) in high season, he said. Across the border in the United States, a kilo of strawberries fetched $5.19 on average in 2013, according to U.S. government data.

But Perfecto said he earns between 850 and 1,200 pesos ($56-$79) in a week that regularly exceeds 50 hours, roughly between $1 and $2 an hour.

Five of some three dozen workers interviewed by Reuters showed payslips reflecting earnings of between 782 pesos ($51.10) and 1,210 pesos ($78.80) per week. The slips did not provide a clear breakdown of the hourly compensation.

When asked how much it paid per kilo, a BerryMex representative stated only that workers had an “average earning opportunity” of $5 to $9 an hour with top workers making up to $10 per hour.

This, BerryMex added, resulted in average weekly earnings of 3,600-7,200 pesos ($238-$476) in a 48-hour week.

A company representative could not account for the gap in the wages the company cited and those reported by workers.

“Where we find something that is wrong, we will correct it. No one is perfect in this world,” said Hector Lujan, CEO of BerryMex.

Among the laborers hauling heavy crates packed with strawberries was Carmen Reyes, 34, who is seven months pregnant.

Reyes says she will keep working as long as possible before giving birth in order to keep making money, as she has done during her previous nine pregnancies. One of the children died at 2 months.

Like Perfecto, she lives in a makeshift shelter made from cardboard and plastic sheeting, and complains of rashes and skin discoloration from her work in the fields.

“When we’re nearby cutting fruit, they don’t care, they continue to fumigate” with pesticides, she said, gesturing to a white patch of skin on her forehead.

Behind Reyes sat one of her daughters, aged 15 and caked in dirt. Outside, her husband, gaunt and dusty, worked on a rudimentary extension to their shack.

“They say it won’t harm us, but we think it does,” she said.

(Editing by Simon Gardner, Dave Graham and Ken Wills)

 



Trending News on PVDN

  • 10 Million Pesos Allocated for the Rehabilitation of Puerto Vallarta's Iconic Los Muertos Pier10 Million Pesos Allocated for the Rehabilitation of Puerto Vallarta’s Iconic Los Muertos Pier PUERTO VALLARTA (PVDN) - The Mayor of Puerto Vallarta, Luis Alberto Michel Rodríguez, recently toured Los Muertos Pier to supervise the ongoing rehabilitation work. This project, undertaken by the Secretary of Infrastructure and Public Works (SIOP) of the State Government, has been backed with an investment of 10 million pesos. Los Muertos Pier is one…
  • Expats Need to Be Honest, Mexico Isn't Safe (Opinion)Expats Need to Be Honest, Mexico Isn’t Safe (Opinion) PUERTO VALLARTA (PVDN) - Can you name any country that is dubbed safe, despite weekly discoveries of over 100 bags filled with human remains scattered across its lands or where international criminal organizations have infiltrated local governments from city council to mayor, governor, local and state police, the military, and the presidency? The answer, astonishingly,…
  • Missing LGBTIQ Activist, Rubén Michel Castro Guízar, Found Dead in Puerto VallartaMissing LGBTIQ Activist, Rubén Michel Castro Guízar, Found Dead in Puerto Vallarta Puerto Vallarta (PVDN) - A tragic ending to a mysterious disappearance, Rubén Michel Castro Guízar, a notable figure within the LGBTIQ and deaf communities of Puerto Vallarta, was found deceased on Monday. The grim discovery was made ten days after the 32-year-old's sudden disappearance following his participation in a local pride march. The deaf activist,…
  • Puerto Vallarta International Film Festival Kicks Off in StylePuerto Vallarta International Film Festival Kicks Off in Style PUERTO VALLARTA (PVDN) - The 23rd edition of the Puerto Vallarta International Film Festival (FICPV) has officially opened with an illustrious gala at the Dr. Juan Luis Cifuentes Lemus Auditorium, located in the Centro Universitario de la Costa (CUCosta). The festival, running from June 8th to 11th, showcases a diverse selection of films and brings…
  • FBI Issue Warning to American Timeshare Owners in Mexico: $40 Million Lost to Scams in 2022FBI Issue Warning to American Timeshare Owners in Mexico: $40 Million Lost to Scams in 2022 PUERTO VALLARTA (PVDN) - In a recent revelation, the United States embassy in Mexico, in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has issued a warning to American timeshare owners in Mexico. The advisory focuses on an emerging scam targeting this demographic via unsolicited phone calls or emails intending to rent their properties. In…
  • The Humble Origins of Puerto Vallarta: From Las Peñas to a Global Tourist DestinationThe Humble Origins of Puerto Vallarta: From Las Peñas to a Global Tourist Destination The Birthplace of Puerto Vallarta: Las Peñas Long before the town's transformation into a popular tourist destination, Puerto Vallarta, or as it was originally known, Las Peñas de Santa Maria de Guadalupe, began as a humble fishing village. Nestled between towering mountains and a sprawling sea, Las Peñas was home to only a handful of…
  • Massive Infrastructure Rehabilitation Underway in Puerto VallartaMassive Infrastructure Rehabilitation Underway in Puerto Vallarta PUERTO VALLARTA (PVDN) - The municipal government of Puerto Vallarta is making strides toward bettering the infrastructure of the city. Focused efforts on the rehabilitation of streets, rural roads, and the cleanup of ditches, grates, and sewers are enhancing the quality of life for Vallarta's residents. Crews from the Public Works Directorate have been actively…
  • Eight Call Center Employees Suspected in Cartel Scam Targeting Americans Confirmed DeadEight Call Center Employees Suspected in Cartel Scam Targeting Americans Confirmed Dead Eight young employees of a call center in Mexico were confirmed dead Tuesday, victims of a violent drug cartel involved in a real estate scam targeting Americans. The tragic news comes following reports from family members who had reported the youths missing after failing to return from work. A Grisly Discovery and the Unmasking of…
  • Puerto Vallarta Sees Post-Pandemic Tourism Surge with Over 3 Million Air PassengersPuerto Vallarta Sees Post-Pandemic Tourism Surge with Over 3 Million Air Passengers PUERTO VALLARTA (PVDN) - In a remarkable post-pandemic rebound, Puerto Vallarta has welcomed more than 3 million passengers by air this year, nearly half a million of whom arrived in May alone. Passenger Traffic on the Rise According to data from the Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP), which manages the air terminal at this tourist…
  • Popocatépetl Volcano Activity Continues; June 5, 2023 Monitoring UpdatePopocatépetl Volcano Activity Continues; June 5, 2023 Monitoring Update PUERTO VALLARTA (PVDN) - In the latest updates from the monitoring systems of the Popocatépetl volcano, 108 exhalations were recorded in the last 24 hours, accompanied by water vapor, volcanic gases, and minor quantities of ash. The monitoring systems also registered 51 minutes of tremor segments, ranging from low to moderate amplitude and high frequency.…

Compare Listings

Title Price Status Type Area Purpose Bedrooms Bathrooms