The organization has increased its membership in recent years faster than any other union in the country. The UFW and these workers are fighting for many issues. This would give the strawberry worker a 50 percent wage increase, almost to the level of their wages back in 1985, accounting for inflation. But the corporate farmers don't want to see the union mobilize. Many growers will even tell the inquisitive individual that their workers don't want to unionize.
Farmers also say that they follow state and federal regulations regarding work conditions.
Yet there are numerous cases of workers being paid below minimum wage. Some growers have forced their workers to pick for five hours straight before they could have a drink of water. Sanitation in the fields is poor, at best, and medical care for workers is almost nonexistent. Union jobs mean union benefits that most employers would not otherwise provide. Yet the growers and their allies are ruthless.