Social Justice For Sugar Workers

Check out this interesting story on a sugar workers strike in Santa Rosa, Texas:

Sugar field workers said they hope to begin negotiations Friday with the Santa Rosa Sugar Mill after striking for more than two days.

More than 300 workers began the strike Wednesday morning because management had not paid $1,000 bonuses that were promised in May, said Jose Torres, a paralegal in the Weslaco office of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.

Steve Bearden, president of the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers, said the cooperative has paid bonuses to workers in the past but couldn’t afford to this year because of equipment costs.

The issue here seems to be clear and simple: the workers were promised bonuses, the companies haven’t delivered. I understand equipment costs and the like, but if they were promised, they need to be paid. I’m sure that part of the problem, if the equipment costs cropped up after-the-fact, is that the growers failed to communicate with the workers.

Bookmark It