Farm workers on Long Island struggled for three years to form New York’s first farm workers union at Pindar Vineyards. After establishing their union in 2021, to much fanfare, they have embarked on yet another struggle: winning a fair contract.
More than a year has gone by and Pindar Vineyard’s owners have refused to negotiate on the first labor contract that would guarantee the farm workers increased wages, paid sick leave, overtime pay, and paid holidays.
Since first arriving in the U.S. from Honduras in 2001, 47-year-old Martí Zambrano Diaz has worked nearly every day at Pindar Vineyards on the far eastern end of Long Island. For 21 years, Diaz toiled over the vineyard’s rich soil, pruning its trees, raking its leaves, and harvesting sixteen varieties of grapes, including Merlot and Chardonnay. For 63 hours a week, six days a week, Diaz has endured the long hours just to keep food on the table for his wife and four kids.
Exposed to the harsh arctic winds sweeping in from the Atlantic, his hands would cramp and ache from the cold, he said. They say the body never forgets trauma, and for Diaz, the years of physical labor have caught up to him. “With so many years of working here obviously, I’m not the same anymore,” he said. “It takes a toll on your body. My bones and my feet hurt.”
Due to federal labor law that bars agricultural workers from earning overtime pay, Diaz and 11 of his fellow workers have not been entitled to holiday pay, overtime pay or paid time off. Farm...
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