Support the farmworkers' union in Baja California

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In the San Quintín Valley of Baja California, 60,000 farmworkers labor in the fields, picking strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, and cucumbers. The life of the workers is extremely precarious; they are subject to long hours, low pay, the lack of basic legal protections and benefits, a high incidence of exposure to chemicals, and mistreatment and abuse. The majority are indigenous migrants forced from their communities of origin in poor, southern states like Oaxaca, Guerrero and Chiapas by globalization and free trade policies like NAFTA.

In December 2015 the workers formed their own independent union, the Sindicato Independiente Nacional Democrático de Jornaleros Agrícolas (SINDJA). Local growers and US-based transnational corporations employ corrupt pro-business unions to repress worker organizing and keep wages low. Every box of strawberries, every pound of tomatoes from the San Quintín Valley sold in US supermarkets represents the blood and sweat of poor, indigenous migrant farmworkers earning "hunger wages" under repressive conditions.

SINDJA, along with their allies in other countries, is asking for your support and solidarity:

(1) Donate to support SINDJA's efforts to grow their union. They need funds to buy office supplies, organizing equipment like projectors and a sound system, a car and gasoline to travel to different worker communities, to support their efforts to host women's organizing workshops, and to provide emergency aid to farmworkers who are facing debilitating illnesses, deaths, natural disasters, and workplace abuses.

(2) Boycott Driscoll's products (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries) until they and their growers sign a collective contract with SINDJA, guaranteeing a just salary and an end to abuses in the fields. Driscoll's is the largest and most powerful berry company in the world, and their extensive operations in the San Quintín Valley mean that they shape the labor and environmental standards assumed by other brands and growers doing business in the region.

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https://www.youcaring.com/sindja-984587