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.

“Farmworkers are demanding that they share in the benefits of the county’s $70 million wine industry, which is generated through the arduous labor of farmworkers,” Alianza Campesina said.

Also seeking improved working conditions, one marcher said it is so hot in the growing fields right now that workers are forced to farm at night while wearing helmets and headlamps.

Alianza Campesina is a partnership between CAUSE and MICOP that empowers farmworkers across California’s Central Coast to organize for their rights and fight for dignified working conditions.

For more, visit alianzacampesina.org.