SANTA ROSA, Texas -- Sugar field workers said they hope to begin negotiations Friday with the Santa Rosa Sugar Mill after striking for more than two days.

More than 300 workers began the strike Wednesday morning because management had not paid $1,000 bonuses that were promised in May, said Jose Torres, a paralegal in the Weslaco office of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.

Steve Bearden, president of the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers, said the cooperative has paid bonuses to workers in the past but couldn’t afford to this year because of equipment costs.

“It was a great year as far as sugar was concerned,” Bearden said, but the cooperative ended up with a $750,000 loss.

“We’re working with (the workers) and trying to get them to come back to work,” Bearden said Thursday. He deferred further comment to the cooperative’s lawyers.

Workers on the picket line declined to comment, saying they feared retaliation by management.

Torres said the striking workers are not unionized because agricultural workers are barred from joining unions under the National Labor Relations Act.

Torres said the mill has already placed advertisements for new field workers.