North Bay farmworkers demand better pay at protest rally in Healdsburg
HEALDSBURG -- Hundreds of Sonoma County farmworkers marched in Healdsburg Sunday demanding higher wages and hazard pay.
"When it's hot in extreme heat (and) when there's smoke, we're out there as farmworkers," Isidro Rodriguez said on Sunday. "We're taking care of these vines. From planting them, all the way until they make the grapes for the wine. This industry, this wine industry, is very rich. They are not paying us what we deserve. If we weren't taking care of these plants, none of them would exist."
Rodriguez said he worked through the Point Fire, a Sonoma County wildfire that destroyed buildings, forced evacuations and caused officials to declare a state of emergency.
"During some of the first fires, we really were not prepared and we didn't even get masks," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also said workers had their hours cut during heat waves, causing a reduction in wages.
"The rent is high (and) the food is high. The wages are not keeping up with the cost of living," he said.
Workers are demanding $25 an hour or $250 for every ton of grapes picked. They also demand hazard pay, which would provide them with additional money when working through dangerous conditions such as wildfires and heat waves and compensation for hours lost.
"Thousands of tourists come for the wine that they drink here and it wouldn't be anything without workers," Aura Aguilar, a march organizer and daughter of South American immigrants, said on Sunday. "All of the people you saw here today are going to back the workers up if and when they go on strike."
Workers said they are prepared to strike if their demands are not met.
"We are not going to stop marching and doing these marches until we win disaster pay and dignified wages. We plant these plants, we take care of them and we make it possible for them to have their wine," Rodriguez said.