Gabriela Vivar was just 15 when she started working on farms in Santa Maria. A job, she says is not only physically demanding but has long been underpaid.
"It's getting hard to pay with this," Vivar said. "[The] economy's getting hard to pay everything.”
She explains that farmworkers can experience rain, cold, heat and other tough conditions.
"There's times where there's only three women packing and you get a shortage of employees," Vivar said. "So it's pretty hard because you struggle more, do the double work, and you're only getting paid the minimum wage.”
With farmworkers in California making an average of $16.50, according to the organization CAUSE, which promotes justice for working-class and immigrant communities, Vivar says covering rent and other basics is a constant struggle.
“I had to rent the garage from my aunt's house because we weren't getting through the economy," Vivar said.
Celina Zamora with CAUSE says Vivar's situation is far from unique.
“We know one worker who sleeps in someone else’s bathtub. How many more people are out there that we don't know that are living the same way?" Zamora said.
That's why, since 2021, farmworkers in Santa Barbara County have been pushing for a $10 pay increase, which would raise the minimum wage to $26 an hour.
“This is the second hearing we’ll have with the board of supervisors," Zamora said.
However, the Grower-Shipper Association of Central California has voiced concerns, citing research that suggests the impact could be significant.
“We're very concerned about a local minimum wage that would drive local growers out of business, cost farmworkers their jobs and hurt our local economy," said Claire Wineman, Grower-Shipper Association of Central California.
Agricultural economist Dr. Timothy Richards’ research projects the increase could cost the local economy more than $1.3 billion in annual output.
“You might find in the economic analysis the impact that even a $20 an hour minimum wage increase would entail," Wineman said.
At a meeting before county supervisors on Tuesday, both sides made their case.
“We intend to bring together various experts and stakeholders to further examine the unique labor, health, and housing conditions of farmworkers in our county," Supervisor Joan Hartmann said in a statement.
Though a final decision will take more time, pending review by an advisory committee, farmworkers say their fight is not over.
“We all deserve a better-paying wage of $26 an hour, not only for us in Santa Maria, but everyone else in the Santa Barbara County," Vivar said.
