ONLINE VERSION	VOLUME 106 - NUMBER 9 - OCTOBER 1997

Farm Workers in North Carolina Call For Union

Nearly 1000 North Carolina migrant workers signed union authorization cards in a six-week period this past spring asking for union representation in the state's pickle industry. The union, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), has intensified its organizing efforts in North Carolina this year. FLOC, undaunted by the challenge of organizing in this right-to-work state which has the second-lowest percentage of unionized workers in the U.S., has been in the cucumber fields in North Carolina all summer and "we are going to stay here until something happens," said President Baldemar Velasquez. FLOC is focusing its efforts on the pickle industry but doesn't rule out widening its organizing campaign since many workers work for farmers who also raise tobacco, sweet potatoes and other labor-intensive crops. The Raleigh News and Observer reported that an estimated 36,000 migrant farm workers went to North Carolina during the peak harvest season last year. Of those, more than 7,000 spent at least some time picking cucumbers according to FLOC. Many workers "come from Mexico to North Carolina under a federal guest-workers program known as H2A, which is designed to provide a labor supply to regions where there are not enough locals willing to take certain jobs," said the Raleigh News. These workers spend their work day, often 10 hours or more in the hot sun, picking cucumbers to be processed into pickles. Workers earn $4.75 when paid by the hour but many are paid by how much they pick. Workers, hundreds of miles from home, live in dirty, crowded camps, where one bathroom may be shared by 30 people. Workers are employed by the growers but the produce companies "have great influence" over how much the growers can afford to pay them. That is why FLOC has developed multi-party contracts between workers and produce companies. FLOC has bargained for pickle and tomato workers in Michigan and Ohio with many growers and Heinz, Vlasic, Green Bay and Aunt Jane among others. In North Carolina, FLOC is concentrating on seeking an agreement with Mount Olive Pickle Company, the top producer of pickles in the Southeast. FLOC wants Mount Olive to buy cucumbers only from growers whose workers are union members. The company refuses to negotiate said a vice president because it has a long-standing policy of opposing unions and to support talks would be contradictory to the company philosophy. The BMWE International Association, in June 1996, passed a resolution in support of the organizing efforts of FLOC, in part because "the present working conditions of the unorganized farm workers closely mirrors the horrendous working conditions faced by maintenance of way workers prior to being organized." To help, BMWE members can write Mr. William Bryan, Chief Executive Officer, the Mt. Olive Pickle Company, Corner of Cucumber and Vine, Mt. Olive, NC 28365. Tell him that you're a consumer concerned with farm workers' living and working conditions. Ask him to recognize his company's responsibility to the farm workers who work in the cucumber fields contracting to Mt. Olive by negotiating with FLOC. Send a copy of your letter to FLOC at 1221 Broadway Street, Toledo, Ohio 43609. To further support the dream of dignity and self-determination of farm workers, send a donation to FLOC at the same address.