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| Courtesy La Jornada |
Here we have been sickened by the terrorist attack in Charleston - and now reports are coming in of two more shootings into crowds of people, one in Detroit the other in Philadelphia, unclear at this moment if these are also racially motivated attacks. We will return to the drug war violence in Baja California, dozens more have been executed; officials still say there is no CJNG or new cartel in our area - but detainees have a different story.
If any of us actually thought that the Jornaleros of Ensenada were satisfied with the accord reached with government officials on 06/04 over the wage increase issue, we were wrong. According to the Jornaleros, the word "integrated" had been super imposed into the agreement which drastically changed their entitlement to benefits.
It was Zeta's Juan Carlos Dominquez who first reported that within the ranks of the Jornaleros there was dissatisfaction with the accord of 06/04 on the very day it was signed. Since his report (which mainly interviewed Justino Herrera), there have been two more articles from La Jornada which address the specific issues and clarified that the entire team of leaders from the Alliance have now unified behind Justino Herrera's initial complaint.
Justino Herrera, described as being the most outspoken over the accord of 06/04, walked out of that conference and refused to sign the agreement with the government officials. He has explained the reason he did this was because he saw the word "integrated" superimposed in the text and could not receive a straight explanation from either the Subsecretario de Gobernacion or the Gobernador y Delegado de la Confederacion de Trabajadores de Mexico (CTM) what exactly "integrated" meant. This he said, was the trap.
Herrera explained that the word "integrated" was never included in the original texts/minutes of the agreements of 05/13 and 05/14. By adding the word "integrated" to the 06/04 agreement it would mean that "Point 12" which was agreed on 03/19 and 03/20 would be superseded. "Point 12" had established pay to the Jornaleros for public holidays, the seventh day, overtime, seniority and also pay for vacation time.
According to Herrera he pointed this out to his confederates, but his advise was not heeded. He states in this interview he was disappointed that the other leaders of the Jornaleros signed the agreement.
(Not in this article but reactions from Mexican people who I have spoken to regarding the accord of 06/04, were that the Leaders of the Alliance signed the agreement because they were frightened for the safety of their families and also afraid if they didn't sign it, they would not be re-hired.)
Juan Carlos Dominquez asked Herrera , "Los chamaquearon entonces?" (polite translation: They were screwed then? Or, They had a fast one pulled on them? Can substitute the word Fu**ed for screwed, or Fu**ed for having a fast one pulled on them) Herrera replied that yes they were but as far as himself he will not be "chamaqueen-ed." They will have to imprison him or make him disappear, but he won't be "chamaqueen."
Justino Herrera predicts another potential disaster on the horizon for the Jornaleros: that the agribusinesses will begin to haggle and redefine their status thus enabling them to pay the Jornaleros less than they should. In other words, if a company is categorized as "C" and should be paying the Jornaleros 180 pesos per day, they can redefine themselves in to the other categories of "B" (paying 165 pesos per day) or "A"(paying 150 pesos per day) there by paying the Jornaleros less. With the strawberry crop and harvest Herrera stated that about twenty five companies will be able to categorize themselves as "A."
(Not within this article, but here we have already decided to boycott the Mexican produced vegetables and strawberries in the U.S. stores if the conditions do not improve for the Jornaleros.)
When this article went to print, Herrera stated he would stay on the sidelines more or less as a spectator - that is, until the first week of July when another conference will determine the progress of the 06/04 accord. But he said he is not leaving entirely, he intends to fight on for the Jornaleros and believes he will be able to mobilize all 70K of them once again. "Me voy a hacer cargo yo, amenaza Justino Herrera." (I will take care of it myself threatened Justino Herrera)
Latente Huero Estallido En San Quintin
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| Courtesy La Jornada - Today 06/20: The Leaders of the Alliance Are United - I believe that is Justino Herrera on the far left and he certainly does look as though he could handle it by himself, I must say. |
Javier Cruz Aguirre of La Jornada writes that La Alianza de Organizaciones Nacional, Estatal y Municipal por la Justicia Social (aka La Alianza - the Alliance) has reported that the Ministries of the Interior, Labor and Social Security have not and presently do not meet the labor, social and political agreements which were signed with the Jornaleros in the 06/04 accord.
The Alliance accuses both Federal and State officials of manipulating the text/minutes of the agreement of 06/04 in favor of the agri-businesses by "...apparently maliciously" changing the wording which would impact how the Jornaleros would be paid.
Lucia Hernandez, spokesperson for the Alliance reports, "...They put "integrated salary " in the place of "base salary" which is a violation of labor rights. Justino Herrera added that the "integrated salary" allows the employers to avoid paying benefits.
Ten of the thirteen leaders of the Alliance confirmed that the alliance is NOT broken but now is even more unified and strengthened to resume their battle - one major point of course is "...to correct the text/minutes which 'someone' altered." The leaders of the Alliance admit they made a mistake by signing the 06/04 accord without understanding the ramifications of the document content and apologized to their constituents. One of their goals now is to eliminate the superimposed wording.
However, there are more charges against the Federal and State Ministries of the Interior, Labor and Social Security which are not in compliance with the 06/04 accord and need to be addressed:
- The non-delivery of the 14 million pesos to the Mercado El Reloj of Camalu for compensation which would release the last fourteen prisoners held for violent incidents of 03/17.
- The agri-companies themselves of San Quintin have not been officially categorized as "A", "B", or "C".
- A special commission has not been integrated to verify the registration of the farm workers to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) in the companies of the Agricultural Council of Baja California.
- In the 06/04 accord, it was agreed that representatives of the Alliance be present in the categorization of the agri-businesses and the registration of laborers to IMSS. Hasn't happened.
- No date, time or program venue-agenda-order of business of the follow up meeting which is supposed to take place the first week of July reviewing the accord of 06/04 between government officials and the Jornaleros has been presented to the leaders of the Alliance.
- Payment increase due to Jornaleros for strawberry, blackberry and tomatoes harvested has NOT been received - the workers have been told it is "pending."
- The violation of the rights of the workers and their exploitation continues, it still persists in the fields of San Quintin.
- In Rancho Santo Domingo a Moramex exporting company, also the subsidiary of the transnational Driscoll Company who is the principal exporter of strawberries to the U.S. and one of the three main foreign traders of blackberries and blueberries based in the San Quintin Valley are laying off anyone who does not accept the labor wages and working conditions of the company.
- Rancho Santo Domingo has also increased the work loads of each worker without increasing their salaries - this is applicable to strawberry planting from 8 flats to 20 flats. No increase in pay.
All of these grievances will be placed on the negotiating table the first week of July by the Alliance. Even though they have not received an agenda or order of business from the government, I guess.
Denuncian Jornaleros de SQ incumplimiento de Acuerdas de Gobierno
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And there is much more: Roberto Garduno writes that the attention or care and the eventual solution to the social problems in San Quintin by the Federal government , "...should not focus solely on the salary scale, but in the programs and actions to resolve the problem which generates poverty."
Jaime Martinez Veloz the Commissioner of the Indigenous peoples of the Interior Ministry said that the inhabitants of the San Quintin Valley are living with enormous deficiencies in housing, health needs, education and development.
Here are statistics from the Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL) of conditions in San Quintin:
- In housing, 3,693 dwellings or 12% do not have piped water.
- 73,000 homes have no electricity or rural sanitary sewer. This also applies to shops in the area. Most homes have outhouses.
- 19.23% of the houses have only one room and only 5% of these "houses" actually have hardwood - or cement floors. The floors are dirt.
- There are no health services for 38.4% of the population.
- 6.5% of the children between 6-11 years old and 12-14 years old are not attending school.
- The average level of schooling is only 6.4 years which is equivalent to the primary level; there is 13% illiteracy rate and 14% with no degree of education in the total population ages 15 and above.
- In San Quintin there are 40,936 people who are registered aged 6 and above. 26,461 are men, 14,475 are women.
- The social programs of SEDESOL and other programs which participate in the National Crusade Against Hunger have limited coverage and social programs of the Federal government such as Prospera, Program Food support and Community Kitchens only serve 31% of the population.
If these Federal government programs actually worked through the support Program for Agricultural Workers according to this article, it could mean the improvement of living conditions for thousands of families, the conditions of the region and the population in general.
As it stands the support Program for Agricultural Workers only reaches 1% of the total San Quintin population. Childcare facilities only support 147 working mothers - or 0.2% of the population. The 3X1 program for migrantes only supports one of the inhabitants of San Quintin. Concerning other programs, there is virtually no presence in the region.
Mejorar el salario de jornaleros no resuelve problemas en San Quintin
I'll be back......
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