Agricultural Workers in Mexico and the United States

Florencio Posadas Segura
Alex Sager
Maria Sager


DOI: 10.2190/WR.14.4.c

Abstract

This article presents the results of extensive interviews with agricultural workers and leaders in Sinaloa, Mexico, and in California. It shows how individual workers understand their social conditions and reveals their strategies for agitation and resistance, as well as the alliances that they seek to form. The interviews explore agricultural workers' demands such as those for higher wages, access to social services, freedom of association (including the right to unionize), land reform, and the legalization of immigration status. The article documents how workers react to obstacles that thwart their attempts to organize and advocate for their rights. In particular, it reveals both similarities and differences between the strategies of workers in the United States and the strategies of their Mexican counterparts. This research is placed in its social and historical context and used to provide recommendations for addressing agricultural workers' grievances.

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