"With bullhorns, musical instruments, honking cars and chanting — “Wage theft is not OK, Sakuma has to pay” — the loud procession made its way to the family-owned Sakuma Brothers berry farm and packaging plant.
The workers, many of whom are undocumented indigenous Mixteco or Triqui from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, were marching to commemorate the third anniversary of their dispute. Organized by the independent Familias Unidas por la Justicia (Families United for Justice), protesters rallied for a continued consumer boycott of Driscoll’s berries and to put pressure on Sakuma Brothers to sign a contract allowing union representation for seasonal farmworkers...
In a statement on their website, the union alleges that Sakuma Brothers is guilty of “systematic wage theft, poverty wages, hostile working conditions, and unattainable production standards.” They’ve organized protests, strikes, legal actions and boycotts of both Sakuma Brothers and Driscoll’s, their largest client for fresh berries...
The allegations that brought supporters out in protest on Monday stem from a conflict that has been brewing since 2013. That’s the year the Sakuma Brothers started bringing in temporary workers from Mexico as part of the H-2A Guestworker Program. The program mandates that you “pay certain wages and provide certain housing,” CEO Weeden explains on a recent afternoon at the farm. As a result, guest workers were paid an hourly wage rather than by the weight of their harvest and had access to better housing than the laborers who’d been working there seasonally for decades.
At the peak of the 2013 summer harvest, seasonal workers not participating in the H2-A guest worker program began organizing protests and work stoppages, and demanding equal treatment. In response to the unrest, Sakuma Brothers suspended its use of the H2-A program after just one year, but workers’ demands for better treatment have continued."
Ooooh this is real for me, I am never happier than when I am surrounded by fruit and I cannot stop myself from snagging berries whenever they are on sale (... and often when they aren't. So expensive! So quickly consumed!).
But I'm obviously here for this boycott.
FB: "Kevin Murphy, Global CEO of Driscoll's, says that their company has been working with Sakuma Brothers on improving conditions for farmworkers since 2013. "They’ve done a lot of work in the years to make the adjustments necessary,” he says.
Still, Murphy supports the workers' right to unionize, protest and even boycott. He trusts Sakuma Brothers will take the necessary steps to resolve the labor dispute.
“We don’t like that we’re getting boycotted, but that’s not the point," he says. "We want them to resolve the issue.”"
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