The CEO of this company, Hector Lujan, said they estimated that more than 1,000 million pesos in losses were recorded in more than 180 companies based in the region, according to their own production capacities.
He added that agricultural workers' dissatisfaction movement started in the strong part of the strawberry season and of crops such as pea and other winter vegetables and even products from the summer season.
However, he considered the most important losses were the incomes of the workers, who were not able to harvest the fruits, lost their earnings and the opportunity to ensure the well being of their families.
Now, he added, it will take at least three years to recover these economic losses. Additionally, several projects for the area were suspended and there was a reduction in production of around 30 per cent for this season.
"It will take two to three years to recapitalize the business, to get to where we were, even to achieve promotion in the future," noted the director of the company engaged in the export of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.
He said that there are currently around 25,000 resident migrant labourers in the San Quentin area and that another 15,000 were coming from other parts "attracted by the opportunity of making high revenues in the harvest."
He also said that "there are good opportunities for income, if people come from other places it's because of this opportunity", there are even companies offering good wages that keep the workers satisfied.
On June 5 it became known that the agricultural workers of the national, State, and Municipal organizations Alliance for Social Justice and the Federal and State authorities had reached an agreement that, among other things, increased the workers' daily wages so that they are now ranging from 150 to 180 pesos per day.
In addition, the integrated minimum daily wage will be retroactive to May 24, 2015, and, once the farmers pay taxes and Social Security, their wages will be 180 pesos for companies level A, 165 pesos for companies level B, and 150 pesos for companies level C.
The document signed by officials of the Secretaries of the Interior, labour, State and municipal Government of Ensenada and by the producers, establishes that the workers will also receive an end of year bonus equivalent to two weeks of service, proportional to the time worked, among other aspects.
The director of Berrymex considered that the increases are an issue that each company must solve and that they should offer an attractive salary for their labour base.
He also noted that dissatisfied workers had every right to manifest their inconformity to their companies within a legal framework and protest according to legitimate and legal arguments and without violence.
However, the business representative acknowledged that it was necessary for the authorities to continue working on the community problem, especially to invest to bring drinking water to the communities and sport arenas to attack drug addiction.
The region needs investment in recreational areas to reduce the violence problems between the regions and the community's colonies, improvements in the schools to keep the children and young people in them, health infrastructure and civilian hospitals to improve the quality of life.
He also said that Berrymex was currently working with 100 per cent of its workforce, that they were performing the necessary adjustments with the Union so that their revenues exceed the demands of the movement.
"Our workers currently earn an average of 2,500 to 3,000 and up to 4,000 or 5,000 pesos per week because the harvest opportunities are big; we have a solid work force," he said.
He even said that Berrymex had invited leaders of the Indigenous Front of Bi-national Organizations (FIOB) as independent observers, and that they had arrived to check their agricultural operations in San Quintin on April 21 and 22.
These independent observers, he said, are well known for their efforts to improve the well being of farm workers, and the company brought them in, in an effort to make its wage practices, welfare and working conditions transparent.
He said that their conclusions were that Berrymex was dedicated "to provide adequate working conditions and improve the welfare of workers with policies and programs in alignment with all federal laws and values."
On June 5, the day of the agreement, the Federal Secretary of Labour, Alfonso Navarrete Prida, said that the Mexican system of agricultural production couldn't and shouldn't be based on the exploitation of human beings, and that the agreement between workers and producers in the San Quintín valley, Baja California, contributed to that purpose.
The head of the Secretariat of labour and Social Welfare (STPS) said in a press conference that the agreement would allow peace, tranquillity and harmony to return to San Quintin, which would help the region to develop under more equitable conditions for those who produce the wealth.
