California vineyard laborers wanted wildfire safety. Then came a shadowy counter-movement

As harvest season becomes riskier, workers are pressing for safer conditions including disaster insurance and hazard payWhen Margarita García, a 39-year-old mother from Oaxaca, Mexico, picks wine grapes during a wildfire, the sky is red and thick with smoke. Ash falls on her face, irritating her throat and eyes. The hot, fast work makes N-95 masks too suffocating, so she and her colleagues opt for bandanas.In this part of northern California, the grape harvesting season has been transformed by fire. Sonoma county is known internationally for its pinot noir and - increasingly - for intense wildfire seasons made worse by the climate crisis. That has created new economic threats for both grape growers, who can lose an entire season's harvest in a matter of hours, and for workers, who must operate in increasingly dangerous conditions without replacement income if work is called off. Continue reading...