Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO

FLOC NEWS

Church leaders and FLOC members gather in Raleigh N.C.
to remember the deaths, abuse, and neglect of immigrant farmworkers in the state.

In this section:

• FLOC Seeks Justice for Reynolds Tobacco Field Workers
  Action: Let Reynolds Tobacco know we all support justice
• FLOC and NCGA Renew Contracts
• Justice for Santiago Rafael
  Action: Remember Santiago!
• FLOC Fights for Immigrant Rights
• News Archive

FLOC SEEKS JUSTSICE
For Reynolds Tobacco Farmworkers

Tobacco workers suffer hazardous and demeaning conditions to make big corporations rich.
(See A Short Tobacco Day.)

Imagine the hazards of daily contact with nicotine that is absorbed into your entire body. Nicotine is not only classified as one of the most toxic poisons, but it also raises the body temperature and increases a worker's dehydration. In the past two years, six field workers have died in North Carolina tobacco fields, most of them due to heat stroke. In addition, most of these farmworkers suffer slave-like hardships, including racism, long hours of stoop labor in the fields, harassment in their work, abject poverty, staggering debt, exposure to lethal nicotine and pesticides, poor health, miserable housing in labor camps, and denial of basic labor and human rights protections.

The most serious problem faced by tobacco field workers is that they have no voice in those conditions that impact on their lives. If they complain about mistreatment or their productivity declines from tobacco sickness, they can be fired without question.

Big tobacco companies are among the richest corporations, because they have a monopoly on the procurement system, as well as the marketing and distribution of tobacco products. They determine what price they pay farmers, and therefore the pay and conditions of field workers. This system with layers of subcontracts is designed to avoid responsibility for what happens down the procurement chain. With their excessive wealth and power, they could do something about this situation... but have chosen to ignore this suffering in their drive for greater profits.

RJ Reynolds is one of the largest tobacco corporations, which makes one out of every three cigarettes sold in the US... controlling six of the top ten brands.

FLOC recently participated in the Reynolds Tobacco annual shareholders meeting to press for changes in the corporate structures that exploits the farmworkers who produce its products. FLOC's goal in the action is to call on Reynolds Tobacco to recognize the human rights of the farmworkers to have their own direct voice in the industry.

• Baldemar Velásquez, President of FLOC, introduced himself as the representative of these farmworkers. He promised that since the company does not want to talk with him in person he will be there at the shareholders meetings every year until this issue is resolved.
• The Capuchin Franciscan Brothers introduced a resolution calling on Reynolds to create procedures to ensure human rights conventions for all workers in its supply system, include the right to organize. Religious, Latino, labor, and community leaders cited the deplorable conditions of farmworkers who produce the company's products, and called on Reynolds to recognize its responsibility because it has the power to change the workers' horrible conditions. The Directors were asked to work with FLOC to address these problems and correct them.
• Susan Ivey, CEO of Reynolds American, consistently stated that the corporation does not employ farmworkers, inferring that they have no responsibility for farmworker conditions. She also repeatedly declared that Reynolds would not talk with FLOC. Though she never stated why they would not meet with FLOC, she did say that they were continuing to evaluate the situation.
• Outside the Reynolds American building, over 100 supporters rallied to call on the corporation to meet with FLOC to resolve the deplorable conditions of farmworkers who produce its products. Volunteers passed out an Alternative Shareholders Report to shareholders going into the meeting, which provides information on the realities of the tobacco industry. A number of farmworker, religious, labor, and community speakers declared their support for the FLOC cause.
• Both inside and outside the shareholders meeting, FLOC made it clear that we will be here until there is an agreement that guarantees the human rights of field workers. This agreement must include all parties in the whole supply system, especially those at the top who dominate and control the system... who have the wealth and power to make the necessary changes happen.

For more information on the Reynolds shareholders meeting, see:
Reynolds 2008 Shareholders Meeting (PDF file)

ACTION: We Need Your Help!

Write Reynolds American, and aks them to meet with FLOC:

Susan Ivey, CEO
Reynolds American Inc.
401 North Main Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27102-28066
FAX: 336-741-0881

(Please send a copy to FLOC, 1221 Broadway, Toledo OH 43609)

For more information on the Reynolds campaign, see:

• Justice for Tobacco Field Workers (web page)
• Justice for Tobacco Field Workers (PDF)
• FLOC Announces a New Campaign (PDF 9/2006)
• Farmworker Remembrance (PDF 9/2007)
• Let Them Not Be Forgotten, FLOC President Baldemar Velásquez (PDF 9/2007)
• FLOC Marches at Reynolds Tobacco (web page 10/2007)
• A Harvest of Shame, FLOC President Baldemar Velásquez, The Huffington Post (web page 10/2007)
• Reynolds 2008 Shareholders Meeting (PDF 5/2008)
• Alternative Reynolds Report 2008
  Alternative Reynolds Report 2008 (PDF 5/2008)
• Letter from CEO Susan Ivey to Shareholders, Reynolds American Inc. (Note emphasis on profits and returns to investors, and the absence of reference to workers who produce their products. Also note comments on Corporate Responsibility and the core values of Principles, Creative, Dynamic, and Passionate.)
• Our Guiding Principles and Beliefs, Reynolds American Inc. (Note the absence of principles about the workers who produce their products.)

Thank you! As in former campaigns, it is encouraging to know we are not alone. There has always been a broad network of people and groups across the country who make a major difference for justice. Big corporations may be rich and powerful, but in the long run the balance is always restored by millions of people who truly believe in the American ideals of justice and equality. If we stand together, how can the rich and powerful resist our collective call for justice?

FLOC AND NCGA SIGN NEW CONTRACT

FLOC supporters celebrate the renewal of the historic labor contract with NCGA, covering some 7,000 agricultural "guest workers" in the South

Long-time FLOC supporters remember when the second set of farm labor contracts were signed in the Midwest. The renewal of a contractual relationship signaled a commitment by all sides to work together to guarantee worker rights and to increase productivity. Over the years, cooperative working relations between FLOC workers, growers, and agricultural processing corporations have steadily developed, to the benefit of all.

In 2004, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee AFL-CIO and the North Carolina Growers Association signed historic labor contracts covering some 7,000 H2A "guest workers" and 800 growers in the South. This historic agreement provided important new rights and protections for "guest workers" coming to the U.S., including a grievance procedure which guarantees worker's voice at the work site. Other provisions include freedom from retaliation for filing a grievance, no terminations without just cause, the right to receive visitors in camps, compensation for the day of an injury, a medical leave with the right to return to the same job, a paid bereavement leave, and a half-day off for religious worship.

In February, FLOC and the NCGA renewed this contract, which furthers the rights and protections of these workers. New features include:

• Workers are now able to apply for jobs through the union based on their seniority. This "bid" process is a major step in bypassing the corruption in the recruitment process that has abused and extorted workers who want to come to work in the U.S. legally.
• Workers do not have to pay any recruitment fees, including fees for visa interviews and transportation to their work site in the U.S. This provision institutionalizes a previous court decision, and is designed to bypass the corruption in the recruitment process, since it eliminates all exchanges of money in Mexico. (Previously, workers had to pay $346 in recruitment fees and up to $2,000 in bribes and extortion to be recruited for work in the U.S., usually at 20% interest a month.)
• Time limits in the grievance procedure have been established to facilitate faster resolution of problems.
• A procedure has also been established to facilitate greater cooperation in filing and processing worker compensation claims for on-the-job injuries.
• The NCGA and FLOC have also agreed to collaborate to bring more growers under the labor contract, to the benefit of both growers and workers.

These contacts between FLOC and the NCGA are historical in being a model transnational labor agreement. The inclusion of provisions concerning recruitment of workers in their home country opens the door for more progress in realizing the self-determination and human rights of workers as labor migration increases around the world.

FLOC looks forward to continuing relations with the NCGA and its growers in finding ways to benefit all sides in the production of agricultural products.

For more information, see