On the picket line

Farmworkers march on Albany, N.Y.

About 100 farmworkers and their supporters held a “March for Justice” across upstate New York from April 29 to May 3. Traveling more than 200 miles through apple-growing country, the workers took their demands for the right to collective bargaining, overtime pay, a day of rest each week and disability rights to the state capital.

One of the marchers told the May 3 Finger Lakes Times that the farmworkers, many of whom are immigrants, often labor 70 hours a week for only $6 an hour. The average farmworker in that region makes less than $8,000 a year.

One worker, who wouldn’t risk losing her job by giving her name, said through a translator, “My goals are to receive better treatment and have more rights.”

Vanessa Margan, who works with Farm worker Legal Services in Rochester, noted, “Without the right to collective bargaining, farmworkers can be too easily replaced.”

Marching behind a banner that read “Farmworkers deserve equal rights,” the workers chanted, “Si se puede”—It can be done!—and “Que queremos? Justicia!”—What do we want? Justice!—as they set off from Albion. A number of groups sponsored the march, including the Centro Independiente de Trabajadores Agricolas and Rural Opportunities.