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David Bacon
The face of work and poverty in Yakima, Washington, ranges from the rusting Boise Cascade plywood plant—where city residents worked 100 years ago—to the agricultural fields of today. Little houses in the surrounding neighborhood were originally built for millworkers. Now many are the homes of laborers in the valley’s fields and packing sheds.
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David Bacon
Rick, who lives in a tent camp set up by homeless people on the street downtown, says he’d like things to go back to the way they used to be. “There was work for everyone,” he remembers.
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David Bacon
Not everyone who lives here has such fond memories, however. Manuel Ortiz, eighty-five, came to the United States in the 1950s as a bracero. After a lifetime of labor in the fields, today he collects cans to pay his rent.
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David Bacon
In Moxee, just a few miles away, Mario Magaña cuts weeds between the rows of tall hop vines, whose fruit will soon be fermenting in the vats of one of Washington State’s many craft breweries.
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David Bacon
Celina Arcos thins fruit on apple trees. They typically work ten physically demanding hours each day.
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David Bacon
Long work days, or days of no work at all, were on the minds of hundreds of workers on May Day in this central Washington city. One group of workers, carrying the red flags of the United Farm Workers, came from the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery.
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David Bacon
The growing movement, visible in the streets, is challenging Yakima’s old power relations. New city council members include Latinas, who have won three of seven seats. They spoke to the marchers and condemned immigration raids. As they spoke, detainees in the Tacoma immigrant detention center, just two hours away, organized a hunger strike.