Braving 90-degree temperatures in Los Olivos Saturday, 50 men, women and children carrying signs and banners and chanting slogans marched in support of a living wage for Santa Barbara County farmworkers, especially those in the wine grape-growing fields for the local wine industry.
The Alianza Campesina Winery March opened with speeches at St. Mark’s-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church, followed by a walk through town that stopped near local tasting rooms to bring the message of “Essential Work, Essential Pay” for farmworkers.
At Los Olivos tasting rooms, wine can cost tourists $30 to $50, some even exceeding $100 per bottle, while farmworkers who tend to the grapes earn pennies for each bottle sold, said rally organizer Alianza Campesina de la Costa Central…