On Tuesday, Dolores Huerta, 89, was arrested at a labor protest. Huerta joined 500 Service Employees International Union members, who have no received a raise in a decade and demanded better pay at the Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting. The activist was one of six people arrested for allegedly not dispersing after an order to do so.
Fresno County deputies released Huerta and the others arrested after issuing them tickets, according to USA Today.
In an interview with reporters, she criticized supervisors. “All of these supervisors make over $100,000 a year, while these people have gone without a wage increase for 11 years, and it’s time. Que es tiempo,” said Huerta, who has been arrested several times over her last six decades of organizing. “If supervisors can’t take the hear, they should get out of the kitchen.”
The negotiations have taken place over months, and while supervisors offered to bump the home care workers’ pay up 10 cents – they currently earn a $12 minimum wage – the union is pushing for a dollar raise.