Misconceptions of Mexico Farm Labor

Mar

maggie

Farm Life, Our Story, Worker Appreciation

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There has recently been a minor uproar in the news regarding the labor standards in Mexico and as many would concur, perhaps rightly so. Some of the stories I read reported deplorable living conditions and a blatant disrespect of labor laws, not to mention a disregard for standard human decency. In response to these stories, one blogger went so far as to point out that she would no longer be buying anything at the grocery store that had Mexico listed as its Country of Origin. She advocated that others do the same.

I get it. I really do. Many of the stories I read of Mexican labor standards were repulsive and I understand, to some degree, why this woman did not want to buy any produce from Mexico. But I can’t help but wonder why we must always throw the baby out with the bathwater. The impression can quickly become that because a few select companies are mistreating labor, then all labor standards in Mexico must be abhorrent. If some companies are mishandling their employees, then all companies operating out of Mexico must be doing the same thing, right?

WRONG. We can’t speak for Mexican owned farms, but as an American owned farm operating seasonally in Mexico, this is not the case at Southern Valley. Knowing the Hamilton family and knowing the wages and living conditions for workers here in Georgia, I already knew that the stories I was reading did not match up to the reality of the situation at Southern Valley de Yucatan, but I wasn’t sure I had the facts.

Here are the facts:

Southern Valley Yucatan workers are paid an average of 200% of the standard Mexico Minimum Wage. This percentage is a combination of our base wage which is 125% more than the standard minimum wage, plus a production bonus. The 200% is the average, but there is certainly opportunity to make more than this based on each individual’s production.
Workers are paid once a week, every week, at lunch on Saturday for the work that was completed that week. Wages are never held till the end of the season as a way to trap workers into labor.
Workers must be 18 years of age to be employed with Southern Valley and this is verified by presentation of their Federal ID at time of employment. There are no children present in the labor camp and we have posted signs saying so. Southern Vallley has received the “Child Labor Free Agricultural Company” Distinctive which aims to promote the adoption of best labor practices in agricultural companies in Mexico to avoid the use of child labor on farms.
All workers are a direct hire by our own HR department; we don’t use any crew leaders or recruiters to hire our workers. Recruitment can sometimes carry a negative connotation because of what personal gain may be in it for the recruiter. Southern Valley is also a recipient of the “Family Friendly Company” Distinctive. This distinctive was created by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and given to businesses that promote best practices in three fields: work-family reconciliation, equal opportunities, and the fight against workplace violence and sexual harassment
Over half of our labor is local to the state of Yucatan. These workers are provided transportation to and from their towns and villages each day at no charge to them. The remaining laborers come from distant towns and are provided free chartered transportation to the farm at the beginning of the season and back to their homes at the end of the season.
All workers have the option to come and go as they please. There is no contract and they can leave at anytime.
Workers that live on site are provided with housing, free of cost. Bathrooms are outfitted with running water from a deep well for the use of showers, drains, and flushing toilets. There are also wash basins for washing clothes which is sourced with the same deep well water.
Workers are provided 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. Each meal is nutritionally balanced and comes complete with a protein source. They can return to the line for 2nds or 3rds and there are always tortillas on hand to be taken for a snack later. Workers are charged less than 10% of the average weekly wage for the total cost of meals each week.
The kitchen at the farm in Yucatan received the “Distinctive H” rating from the Ministry of Tourism, which is endorsed by the Health Ministry for hygiene and quality standards. This rating meets the same standard that is required for resorts in Mexico and is the highest rating that can be achieved.
While in the fields, crews always have clean cold water in coolers and there are portable restrooms, hand washing stations, and first aid kits easily accessible to each crew while they work.
There is no company store on our farm. Workers are already provided with housing, food, and transportation, so there is no need or opportunity for the price gouging that is reported to take place through a company store.

One thing that should be noted about the Yucatan farm is that our workers come and go freely and voluntarily. They are never forced or coerced to work for Southern Valley, put quite simply, they CHOOSE to. Once they have chosen us as their employer, they are then housed and fed on the farm with the mentality that everything they are provided with meets or exceeds their cultural standard.

Now we all know, and I don’t have to be the one to tell you, that the American cultural standard and the Mexican cultural standard are far from the same. For example, the cultural standard for Yucatan is for families to live in stick and mud houses. The houses on our farm are made of concrete and have concrete floors. It goes without saying that this surpasses their cultural standard. Workers don’t have beds on the farm, but rather sleep in hammocks, just as they are accustomed to doing in their own homes. This complies with their cultural standard since hammocks have a reputation of being cool, portable, and bed-bug free. Interestingly enough, we initially provided workers with beds but found that they simply hung their hammocks over the mattress when it came time to sleep. Sleeping on a mattress is as foreign to a Yucatecan as sleeping in a hammock is to an American. While some may read reports of Mexican workers not having a bed to sleep on and be appalled, we read it and know that for our workers a hammock is actually preferable. In the same manner, rice, beans, and tortillas on a regular basis may lack appeal to an American eater, however, this is a staple for our kitchen in Yucatan because it is also a staple in our workers’ homes. A meal without rice and beans in Mexico is as unacceptable as not having sweet tea in the South. It just ain’t gonna happen. So, as you can see, our nutritionally balanced meals, often paired with rice and beans, are ideal for the cultural standard of our workers.

While we are not trying to paint the picture that we are running a hotel and resort on the Yucatan farm – it is a working farm after all – what we do have is a clean, safe, healthy housing environment where workers come voluntarily, work by choice, eat well, and are paid well and on time. As a farming operation, we are very grateful for the labor we have, both in Mexico and at our farm and operating base in Georgia. Our workers work hard for us and we strive to compensate them fairly in wages, food, and living conditions. We find that in doing so, we continue to have the same workers choose to return to work on our farms, whether in the US or in Mexico, year after year.

We’ve provided images below of the latest renovations at Southern Valley de Yucatan, so you can get an idea of what our facilities look like.