The farm workers of the San Quintin Valley have gotten the federal government to commit to facilitating negotiations for a wage hike, the central demand of the more than 80,000 agricultural laborers in this region of Baja California. But Lucila Hermandez, a spokesperson for the movement, warns that the agreement is still not a clear victory.

Representatives of the Alliance of National, State and Municipal Organizations for Social Justice succeeded on May 14 — after negotiations with representatives from federal and state agencies that lasted more than 14 hours on end — in opening up negotiations starting June 4 to establish and formalize agreements.

The central bargaining point is the wage increase to 200 pesos that is at the core of the farm workers’ movement. The wage increase is the only outstanding point of a list of 14 agreements reached between the Alliance and the government on May 14.

Although the media framed the story as if it were a done deal, the more than a hundred farmers who make up the Agricultural Council of Baja California still have to accept the increase to 200 pesos demanded by the workers. The Mexican government has already announced, before the June round of negotiations, that “where appropriate,” it will provide any difference between what the growers accept and the demand. Many people have denounced this move as an unacceptable government subsidy that, in effect, Mexican taxpayers would pay for the benefit of the large growers.

In the meeting held in Ensenada, the representative of the Ministry of the Interior, David Garay; the governor of Baja California, Francisco Vega de Lamadrid; and the Assistant Secretary of Labor, Rafael Avante, among other government representatives, participated.The spokesperson and leader of the San Quintin farm workers movement, Lucila Hernandez, told the Americas Program that the result of the negotations is so far “just an agreement, and we will wait to see if it is actually applied.”

“We’re watching closely to see what happens these next few days,” she said.

The peasant leader, who has worked in the fields in Baja California since she was 11 years old, indicated that the success of the agreement with growers depends on them “doing their part” to resolve the work stoppage that has been going on for the past two months. At the start of the strike on March 17, the day laborers of San Quentin demanded wages of 300 pesos per eight-hour day, but then lowered their demand to 200 pesos per day before the growers broke off the dialogue after offering only a 15 percent increase.

The Mexican federal government, represented at the Ensenada meeting by the Under-Secretary of Labor, Rafael Avante, promised the striking workers to help negotiate the pay hike the workers are demanding as minimum.

Government representatives have also promised to work for the release of 18 prisoners related to the movement, ensure affiliation of workers to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), and establish an independent union. The federal representatives also agreed to review requests for improvements in housing and basic services, such as health and safety in boarding houses or settlements of the laborers.