Mathieu Chabaud

Mathieu Chabaud is a Seattle affiliate of New Students for a Democratic Society.

Students for Farm Workers

On Friday, March 31 2023, Students for Farm Workers led a demonstration of more than 150 people starting from the steps of the Suzzallo Library in the middle of University of Washington-Seattle campus to the Husky Union Building.

Students for Farm Workers, SSFW, is a support group for United Farm Workers, fighting to stop the University of Washington from selling and serving mushrooms from Greenwood Mushrooms Farms in both grocery stores and dining halls.

Isela Cabrera, a farmworker at Greenwood, said, “In the 90 days that we have had since the switch, we have only been allowed to take days off when we are assigned them. Every day, we are expected to harvest 50 pounds of mushrooms within an hour and that’s not realistic.” She added, “We say thank you to the young people who seem to have all the energy in the world to excel.”

Adding to this energy, Mathieu Chabaud from the University of Washington Progressive Student Union said, “We need them to keep on losing customers until they get the message, written in their ledger, that they cannot keep oppressing workers.” Diana Paola Vergara from MEChA said “Their fight is not an easy one, but they’re not alone - look at everyone that is here.”