Ah yes Mexico...

[nadinbrzezinski]

Last edited Sat May 9, 2015, 10:56 PM - Edit history (5)

we have what looks like the beginnings of a generalized boycott over berries grown in Mexico, the Valley of San Quintin in Baja to be specific. Workers want nothing short than slightly better pay... access to the social security, which in Mexico means medical care... decent housing conditions, not to die from heat stroke and not to be exposed to a slew of chemicals.

We have been following this since I was alerted by members of the community. Today, they started a boycott. Anybody remember Cesar Chavez? And just as a coincidence the state police attacked htem this morning, According to sources police even went into homes without warrants.

Here is the link to the article, for those of you who are interested in social justice, you might be interested. And as a general observation, things are getting more interesting in Mexico by the month. We have a semi regular column called Dispatches from Mexico... and at times we speak with sources as well.

None of the sources that we used in the article can be identified by name due to safety concerns.

May 9, 2015 (SAN QUINTIN, BAJA CALIFORNIA) We have reports of confrontations between the state police of Baja California and the field hands at San Quintin. These are the workers who have gone on strike because of labor conditions and lack of access to medical care. Among other companies are BerryMex, which is a principal supplier to Driscolls in California.

Workers are demanding that their pay goes up to at least 200 pesos per day, about 20 dollars a day. They were demanding 300, but during negotiations they went down to 200.

They were expected to start an international boycott of berries that are grown in the valley on May 9, which is today.

The number of field hands involved in this boycott is over 80,000 which is most of the workforce in the valley. According to a press conference posted by Nueva Era a few days ago, This boycott also include delegations traveling throughout the rural areas in Mexico.

http://reportingsandiego.com/2015/05/09/dispatches-from-mexico-san-quintin-and-the-boycott/

Posting the update straight. The request for Feds surprised me to a point.

Update: From social media postings elements of the Mexican Navy were involved in lifting the blockade. Moreover, according to Arisgegui Notiicias, there are over 70 people injured due to the melee. She is also reporting that the Interior Secretary Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong intervene to solve the crisis. We also now have news that while there are no dead, as we reported earlier in the morning from La Jornada, there are 7 people in critical condition, which is where the initial report might come from.

The request for federal intervention came from Union leader Fidel Sanchez Grabrel, who wants that federal intervention to stop the attacks from the state police.

And... this is what happens with fluid stories:

Update Number 2: The National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH for their letters in Spanish) has released a news release in which they state that they have sent investigators to the valley. The press release partly states:

Con motivo de los acontecimientos violentos ocurridos esta mañana en San Quintín, Baja California, la Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos desplazó a ese municipio a un grupo de visitadores adjuntos de su oficina en Tijuana y a otros que se encontraban en Ensenada, para investigar los hechos que sean de su competencia.

Due to the violent events of this morning in San Quintin, Baja California, the National Commission of Human Rights has sent a group of investigators to that municipality. They are from the Tijuana office, and others were in Ensenada already investigating events.

As we reported in an earlier story the commission was already involved. They have spoken to problems in the valley regarding human rights. The situation is still somewhat fluid.

Now will put this here, without updating the actual story. Shall take this with some salt. We now have conflicting reports. We do have 3 dead field hands... and the bodies went missing. This would not surprise me, but if this is the case... and given all the calls for general mobilization, things are about to get uglier.

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Safeway is full of Driscoll's berries. Drat! I need some guerrilla stickers.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Read the label

some are grown in the states, some in Mexico.

That is what I do when I run out of berries and i have to go to Ralphs.

Though I buy mine at the farmers market and they are grown in Oceanside.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. "Product of Mexico." Those blackberries are huge, but I'll have to swear 'em off for now.

It's too early for the berries up here in Norcal.

But our blueberries are already on the way.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Then they are likely from that region

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. And what the hell, let's kick it for cross-border solidarity, too.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. To be honest not even in San Diego

too many people are aware. So I try,

[malaise]

9. Good work

Keep it up

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Thanks these days the FB and skype make this

far easier

We take full advantage.

[malaise]

15. You know a lot of what looks local to some folks is actually national

and international in that the same crap is going on everywhere.

I can't help thinking that if liberals and socialists across the planet were paying attention to what was going on in Chile and other places that were victims of neo-liberalism in the 1970s - 1990s, the planet might not be in this mess today.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Yup. and the language used

in many of the protests outside the US, includes neoliberals.

We have spent more time watching feeds from streamers from as far as Mexico City, than any sane person should. But on the other hand, WE BROKE news that happened in Mexico City before CNN, AP, and Reuters did. When they burned the central door of the national palace (attempted to). For us, as we watched the stream it was like... did we really see what we think we saw?

[malaise]

20. Sadly the impression managers at M$Greedia decide what is news

and if it doesn't suit their agenda, we'll never hear about it without private citizens doing what you're doing or what some folks do at DU and other places.

M$Greedia cannot be trusted to keep us informed about issues that affect our lives.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. We have been talking about it

and the future of large media is actually under quite a bit of a threat.

Millenials do not sit down for the evening news. An actual newsprint paper is not something they curl up to either.

So a lot of the future of media, while it looks like not right now, is what many of us have started doing. There are standards. there are some independent media that has grown beyond their wildest dreams that I trust as far as I can throw. Mostly I have caught them making serious errors, and when told they just cop out an attitude and never correct that.

So it will be growing pains, but we will see, I predict, a series of smallish internet based media.

Things will get rather fragmented.

But if some of these groups do not start correcting things like sourcing, even their ardent readers will notice.

[malaise]

23. I had no idea that so many young folks could or would be so

blissfully ignorant about what is going on around them. I am no longer shocked just scared for them.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. You are confusing not reading the news paper

or sitting for the evening news for being ignorant.

They simply do not trust this. PRAVDA had it this good at the end as well.

[malaise]

27. I wish that were true

A small minority seek alternative sources - mqny don't want to know what's going on

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. People who watch the news

I have found, are less informed than people who seek alternate sources.

Perhaps it is the folks I hang out with, but they tend to be in the latter group.

[hunter]

36. It's my experience too.

Modern television news and other mass media seems to make many people less informed, making them more clueless than they would have been if they hadn't watched any television news at all.

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. And that is worst with some channels than others, but yes

[sabrina 1]

40. Well thank you for making people aware of this. I have a feeling that if the TPP passes there will

be Global uprisings.

This reminds me of what big Corporations have been doing in S. America and around the world to workers who try to do something about the injustices they suffer under these mega corporations and the governments that allow them to operate in their countries.

How sad that people died.

Thank you again for the OP.

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. I have the sneaky that TTP passes

Americans will trail, but we will join the rest of the world.

[jwirr]

7. I remember Cesar Chavez. I even still have the boycott Gallo bumper sticker. One of the grocery

clerks told me that many of the fruits and vegetables are raised in Mexico. Mostly due to the drought. It is going to very hard for them to win this one.

But no more berries for me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Read the label

not all are grown there, Quite a few are grown in California, even now, But Oceanside Strawberries have gotten expensive for some odd reason.

As to what they told you, depends on the time of the year and the drought is kicking Baja in the teeth as well.

[jwirr]

19. Just recently. I will start reading the label.

[malthaussen]

8. Solidarity

Probably not an issue for the East Coast, and we buy our berries locally anyway. To hell with them regardless!

-- Mal

[True Blue Door]

12. Does this include blueberries? That's mostly what I buy from Driscolls.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Once again check the label

some are grown in Oregon, some are grown in hot houses down there.

The label should have the country of origin on it.

[True Blue Door]

22. But how do I know if "Produce of Mexico" applies to that specific town?

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. It can apply to the Bajio Central

which is in central Mexico, but at this time of the year, a lot of the berries are grown in that region of Baja California. It is not just one town. It is a whole valley. The Valley of San Quintin. Workers are not happy, but have yet to go on strike to the south of them, but have been having trouble with their product reaching market due to the blockades of the roads. Berries in Tijuana, which is quite north, are expensive and hard to find becuase of this.

[True Blue Door]

26. So would it help anything to stop buying their blueberries?

On balance, since that would also effect the interests of people unrelated to the immediate problem, would that be worthwhile?

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. The same problem was faced by Chavez

not all were in as it were.

They are using the same exact techniques since the advisors from the Cesar Chavez outfit

In a letter of support they wrote to their Mexican counterparts, that they have the support and backing of 27,000 workers in the Cesar Chavez organization. The letter partially reads: “We believe that all of us who work in the fields, picking up strawberries, tomato, or doing any other field work, deserve good pay and respect. It doesn’t matter where we are in the world. With our work we feed the world. We deserve to work in good conditions and good pay. This is why we support you.”

http://reportingsandiego.com/2015/03/29/dispatches-from-mexico-expensive-strawberries-and-the-valley-of-san-quintin/

[Comrade Grumpy]

30. Best bet is not to buy any Driscoll's "made in Mexico" berries for the time being.

There are other producers.

And if you can't find them, well, it's only a few weeks to local berry season.

[okaawhatever]

14. K & R nt

[Divernan]

16. I forwarded this to the expat community in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Good, they should know

but if State is doing their job, they have been told of the dangers already.

[Comrade Grumpy]

31. Meh. I met expats in San Miguel who took a perverse pride in knowing no Spanish.

After living there for years. Mostly retired Texans, those ones.

It certainly is a charming place, though. Damn near turned me into a shopper.

[roody]

32. Non-organically grown strawberries

are one of the most pesticide laden fruits or vegatables.

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Very true

[Fred Sanders]

33. TPP has worker protections. But Americans will have to pay more for their berries and tube socks if

wages in Mexico go up to 20 bucks a day and 10 bucks a day in Vietnam! AND health care?? How much is that gonna cost at the Walmart checkout line??

Is that why some progressives are so angry and do not believe their own President?

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. This is a result of NAFTA (TLCNA)

And all leaked chapters point to TTP making wages go further down all over the world, including the U.S.

And one more thing Fred, in that disingenuous hippie punching of yours, it is PROGRESSIVES who want those workers rights to go up.You defend these kinds of agreements you are defending a modern form of slavery.

[sabrina 1]

42. What worker protections? Where did you find that out?

[Fred Sanders]

46. There are a lot of misconceptions, as Obama as said, and one of them is how workers in low

wage partnership nations will be affected, and a lot of other stuff as well.

You know I never make a claim without facts and logic.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-obamas-trade-fight/2015/04/26/b2750a20-eaa5-11e4-9767-6276fc9b0ada_story.html?hpid=z3

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6650059

[nadinbrzezinski]

51. You will have to forgive me for laughing in your general diretion when you say

that this will strengthen labor abroad.

Mexico already reformed Art. 123, that is labor law. IN that reform, for the first time in Mexican history, temp work is formalized. Also since the ratification of NAFTA, Union rights have been weakened.

This is the second time that this article is modified to suit these kinds of agreements.

So I am sorry Fred, but I will have to snicker in your general direction.

The difference is that while you go, but the POTUS is misunderstood, in Mexico workers get it. They know who the enemy is... it's not just Pena Nieto, but the whole neo liberal system you are defending.

Do you understand Spanish? Because some of the videos emerging due to this strike, or the missing 43 students, do lay the blame on the neoliberal economic system.

I hope you read Spanish, outside of the actual Bill, this is quite clear of an explanation

http://economia.elpais.com/economia/2012/10/01/actualidad/1349128068_344535.html

[Fred Sanders]

52. You are not just allegedly snickering in my direction, Obama is standing right in front of me in the same area.

[nadinbrzezinski]

53. It was the same claim made for nafta

so yes. i do snicker

And Fred you keep ignoring that Mexican Labor Law was CHANGED to fit TTP requirements, weakening LABOR RIGHTS. So you can go make those claims to people who have no clue, By the way, that article came from a BUSINESS PAPER in Mexico City.

[olddots]

38. I have a suspicion about the Dollar Store produce

all being very anti labor .....we must wean oursrlves off of it because our kids desrrve a better world than what our world has turned into .

[nadinbrzezinski]

39. The produce still (should) be labeled

for country of origin.

[sabrina 1]

44. There is a real need for a Global Workers Movement. Corps have been Global for decades

but the workers have had to try to deal with the problems in their own countries, and it is difficult to do. Now it's time for the workers to go Global. It will be a lot more difficult to deal harshly with workers in one country if when they do, the rest of the world goes on strike in solidarity with such a country.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. I have the suspicion that one is starting to take shape

[Hekate]

43. KnR

[nilesobek]

47. I've worked in the American berry

harvest as a migrant worker and would like to add that if most people saw the chemicals applied to commercially grown berries they would probably stop eating them.

In phases, in season, according to need, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and chemical fertilizers are liberally sprayed by men driving around in trucks with hoses and tanks with pumps.

On one occasion, we had to remove some berry bushes because of blight and we all got sick from the chemicals in the plant matter we dumped at the composting place. I'm very cautious about what I eat and am considered radical because I refuse to spray my property.

These horrible working conditions exist here in the USA also. I'm working in similar conditions right now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

48. I realize this

And agricultural work is done out of mind and sight for a reason. Thanks for punting this out.

[Sunlei]

49. It's Mexico who allows USA corps to pay their citizens $7.00 a day to work in their border factories

and farms. That's where all the American consumer goods and foods are made these days. That's where all the jobs went long ago.

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. Actually more complicated than that

they went to Mexico, then they went to China, Vietnam, et al... then oil hit 100 bucks a barrel, and they went back to Mexico where workers are still more expensive.

We are all surprised that the insta-factories have not bolted back to Vietnam now that it has dropped bellow 50 a barrel.

But NAFTA (in spite of the prattling at the time that it was going to strengthen worker rights) it actually weakened Article 123 of the Mexican Constitution and erased more than just a few rights for workers. The TTP I suppose, will finish that neoliberal job. I know because that article has been rewritten and ratified by the (Mexican) congress already (2012), as part of a slew of "reforms" to make the country ready for it.

[Sunlei]

54. yes it is more complicated, but many of our consumer goods like washers are made by exploited,

$7.00 a day Mexican citizens in Mexico. It's been like that for decades.

The Mexican Gov should demand the American owned mega-farms pay the Mexican workers the American minimum wage.

But Mexicos Gov. has never demanded anything to help their own exploited citizens in Mexico.

[nadinbrzezinski]

55. who benefits

oligarchies are what they are

[bvar22]

56. SOLIDARITY!

...though we grow our own berries and freeze them or make preserves for the Winter.