Thousands of day labourers have blocked roads, staged marches and held meetings with lawmakers since March to rail against the grind of picking strawberries, raspberries and blackberries in the Baja California peninsula for what they say is as little as $1 an hour.
Genaro Perfecto, 38, pictured above with his family, is part of a growing underclass frustrated over pay and conditions in work that provides U.S. consumers with farm produce.
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Among the labourers hauling heavy crates packed with strawberries was Carmen Reyes, 34, who is seven months pregnant.
Reyes says she’ll keep working as long as possible before the birth to keep earning, as she has done during her previous nine pregnancies. One of the children died at 2 months.
Like Perfecto, she lives in a makeshift shelter made from cardboard and plastic sheeting, and complains of rashes and skin discolouring from her work in the fields.
"When we're nearby cutting fruit, they don't care, they continue to fumigate," she said, gesturing to a white patch on her forehead. "They say it won't harm us, but we think it does."