Thread: 90% of Day Laborers in Mexico Make Less than US$15 a Day San

90% of Day Laborers in Mexico Make Less than US$15 a Day

San Quintin protests brought to light the abusive conditions under which Mexican farmworkers work. | Photo: Reuters Previous Next

Published 18 May 2015 (13 hours 56 minutes ago)

As well as tiny salaries, the overwhelming majority of fishers, farmworkers and forest laborers lack medical care. About 90 percent of Mexico's farmworkers, fishers and foresters make less than 200 pesos (US$15) a day for shifts of up to 12 hours, according to a survey by the country's national statistics institute INEGI. This labor sector represents 13 percent of Mexico's total work force, which is estimated at just under 50 million. The INEGI revealed that over 6.5 million Mexicans working in agriculture, livestock, fishing and forestry make a mere US$15 a day. The same survey reveals that over 94 percent of these workers lack medical care. Some 4 million others earn far less than US$15: many are taking home anywhere between 70 pesos — or US$4.5, the national daily minimum wage — and 200 pesos for a day’s work. Close to 2 million others, predominantly women or children, work without any pay in exchange of squalid shelter and food, according to the INEGI. It is overwhelmingly people of Indigenous backgrounds who are subjected to modern-day slavery conditions. This was highlighted in the recent case of the 200 Tarahumaras people who were rescued in Baja California. A company linked to former Mexican President Vicente Fox was apparently responsible for the crime against this indigenous group. Mexico’s poor labor conditions were highlighted recently by arduous protests by agricultural day laborers in San Quintin, Baja California, just south of the U.S. border. While the workers finally achieved a US$15 daily minimum wage based on an eight-hour shift, as well as 13 other favorable agreements, such as the right to form unions and medical care, their main demand of salary increases remains unresolved.

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