Post by account_disabled on Mar 13, 2024 0:55:28 GMT -5
If your coffee comes from Chiapas, Mexico, chances are it was harvested by migrant workers from Guatemala. It has been this way for decades: Coffee farms in Mexico’s southernmost state depend on labor from their neighbors across the border and coffee workers in Guatemala find more plentiful opportunities here in Chiapas. Many workers live in Guatemala’s northern state of San Marcos, which means they can go home for a weekend during the harvest to visit family and deliver earnings. But here as in all parts of the world, migrant workers are vulnerable to exploitation, having little legal or financial recourse should an employer harass them, fail to pay them full wages, or commit other human rights abuses. That’s why the Rainforest Alliance certification program includes provisions to protect the rights of workers, both seasonal and permanent. We talked to migrant workers on two Rainforest Alliance Certified farms in southern Chiapas, Laguna Prime and Guadalupe Zajú, to get a sense of their experiences on certified and non-certified farms. Reliable pay Coffee worker in Mexico Carlos Humberto Ramirez Solis When Carlos Humberto Ramírez Solis started traveling from San Marcos, Guatemala, at age 18 to work on coffee farms in Chiapas, he was following in his father’s footsteps: His dad had supported a wife and eight children this way.
Ramírez first began working seasonally, wherever he could find employment, but he wasn’t always compensated as promised. “I worked on farms where the pay is delayed, or they pay you only a part of what you’re supposed to get, or they take money out for this thing or the other,” he said. Whereas on the Rainforest Alliance Certified farm, Guadalupe Zajú, he said, “we are paid on a fixed schedule and it’s always (the amount) we’re supposed to get.” His seven-year-old currently attends the farm’s primary school, and will likely attend secondary school here, too. His hope is that she will take her studies even further. “I want her to be able to do what I BYB Directory couldn’t.” Access to medical care Mexican woman smiling Aura Dianet Maldonado Aura Dianet Maldonado started coming to Mexico more than 20 years ago, after coffee work dried up in her native Retablo, Guatemala. Over the course of two decades, she’s worked on both small-scale family farms and large coffee estates—and of all of them, she most likes working on Laguna Prime, a Rainforest Alliance Certified farm. “We don’t want for anything here—not food, not water, nor electricity.
And if someone gets a cold or flu, they take us to the doctor in town. They drive us and wait for us, or they will even go into the clinic with us.” She said a doctor from the clinic comes to the farm to give talks on subjects like family planning, women’s health, and more. With her earnings, she’s sending her younger son to study for his bachillerato (Mexico’s non-compulsory second stage of high school for students 15 to 18 years old). Her older son, now 21 and married, works on Laguna Prime as well. Worker housing Mexican man smiling Santiago Rodas Because San Marcos native Santiago Rodas’s job is to maintain equipment on the grounds, there is year-round work for him on Guadalupe Zajú if he wants it—and he does. One thing Rodas, who has a wife and daughter, particularly likes is the housing. “Families have their own section, and single men are in a different area. The bathrooms are divided, too: There are eight for women and nine for men,” he said. “In contrast, on other farms, men and women are not separate, and sometimes there aren’t showers at all—you have to go to creeks or rivers to wash.
Ramírez first began working seasonally, wherever he could find employment, but he wasn’t always compensated as promised. “I worked on farms where the pay is delayed, or they pay you only a part of what you’re supposed to get, or they take money out for this thing or the other,” he said. Whereas on the Rainforest Alliance Certified farm, Guadalupe Zajú, he said, “we are paid on a fixed schedule and it’s always (the amount) we’re supposed to get.” His seven-year-old currently attends the farm’s primary school, and will likely attend secondary school here, too. His hope is that she will take her studies even further. “I want her to be able to do what I BYB Directory couldn’t.” Access to medical care Mexican woman smiling Aura Dianet Maldonado Aura Dianet Maldonado started coming to Mexico more than 20 years ago, after coffee work dried up in her native Retablo, Guatemala. Over the course of two decades, she’s worked on both small-scale family farms and large coffee estates—and of all of them, she most likes working on Laguna Prime, a Rainforest Alliance Certified farm. “We don’t want for anything here—not food, not water, nor electricity.
And if someone gets a cold or flu, they take us to the doctor in town. They drive us and wait for us, or they will even go into the clinic with us.” She said a doctor from the clinic comes to the farm to give talks on subjects like family planning, women’s health, and more. With her earnings, she’s sending her younger son to study for his bachillerato (Mexico’s non-compulsory second stage of high school for students 15 to 18 years old). Her older son, now 21 and married, works on Laguna Prime as well. Worker housing Mexican man smiling Santiago Rodas Because San Marcos native Santiago Rodas’s job is to maintain equipment on the grounds, there is year-round work for him on Guadalupe Zajú if he wants it—and he does. One thing Rodas, who has a wife and daughter, particularly likes is the housing. “Families have their own section, and single men are in a different area. The bathrooms are divided, too: There are eight for women and nine for men,” he said. “In contrast, on other farms, men and women are not separate, and sometimes there aren’t showers at all—you have to go to creeks or rivers to wash.
