Community members, in solidarity with farmworkers, will participate in the Alianza Campesina Winery March, noon-2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30 in Los Olivos.

The Labor Day Weekend demonstration is designed to demand justice, dignity, and most of all a living wage for farmworkers in Santa Barbara County, organizers said.

The march will proceed down Alamo Pintado Avenue, stopping at Los Olivos Corner Park, and ending up back at St. Mark’s.

Farmworkers are demanding they share in the benefits of the county’s $70 million wine industry, which is generated through the arduous labor of farmworkers, according to the event host Alianza Campesina.

“In luxurious Los Olivos tasting rooms, tourists sip wines often priced at $30, 50, and some over $100 per bottle, while farmworkers who tend to the grapes earn pennies for each bottle sold,” Alianza Campesina said.

Alianza Campesina said it calculates that farmworkers harvesting wine grapes could be paid a living wage at a similar cost to the consumer as the 1% wine tax just passed by Santa Barbara County to promote the industry.

“Farmworkers are the backbone of Santa Barbara County’s wine industry, driving the economy not only through agricultural production, but also by sustaining the lucrative wine tasting and tourism sector,” march organizers said.

“Yet, farmworkers continue to face low wages, unsafe working conditions, and the constant threat of detention and deportation,” Alianza Campesina said

“Earlier this year, Santa Barbara County supervisors voted to raise their own salaries, boldly maintaining that hard work deserves higher pay. We agree, the time is now for a living wage for farmworkers,” organizers said.

Alianza Campesina, a coalition of farmworkers and community leaders organizing alongside local nonprofits CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy), and MICOP (Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project), dedicated to advancing fair wages and improved working conditions in California’s Central Coast.

Alianza Campesina de la Costa Central 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.