Farm Laborers March For Money

Tue., June 6, 2000

From Staff

More than 3,000 farm laborers, chiefly cherry pickers, and their supporters gathered in Pasco’s Memorial Park and marched through town Monday to demand better pay and amnesty for undocumented workers.

Pay for cherry pickers has been unchanged for 15 years while industry earnings have tripled, organizers said Sunday. The harvest is scheduled to begin next week.

Guadalupe Gamboa, regional director of the United Farm Workers of America AFL-CIO in Sunnyside, said cherry workers are paid $3.50 to $3.75 per 30-pound box, the same as in 1985. That works out to about $40 to $100 per worker per day.

The union is seeking an increase to $6 a box.

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Farm Laborers March For Money

Jesse Tinsley

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