Church leaders and FLOC members gather to remember the deaths, abuse, and neglect of migrant farmworkers.
Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO
Church leaders and FLOC members gather to remember the deaths, abuse, and neglect of migrant farmworkers.
In this section:
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.
Baldemar Velásquez, President of FLOC, first requested a meeting with Ms. Ivey in July of 2007, which was declined. On November 14 2008, Mr. Velásquez, made a second request in a letter to Ms, Ivey to meet with him "to discuss the conditions of tobacco farm workers who harvest the tobacco used by your Company." Velásquez's letter further states that "on November 19, 2008, in support of my request for a meeting, you will be receiving thousands of post cards signed by Reynolds American 'stakeholders' from around the United States calling on you to meet with FLOC. I hope you will take the time to review these post cards and understand the concern for tobacco farm workers behind each signature."
Reynolds American CEO Susan Ivey has made a strong statement about the corporation's Corporate Responsibility Report. She states that as an objective of the company is to ensure that key suppliers comply with applicable laws and adhere to responsible practices. Farmworkers are employed directly by growers who contract with Reynolds and should be provided with necessary protections FLOC has already developed and implemented an innovative structure that ensures the conditions of field workers are just and fair, through these workers having a direct voice in their own affairs. As FLOC President Baldemar Velasquez notes, Reynolds' CEO and directors have a responsibility for the well-being of the company that as a part of the structure of our society goes beyond financial profits and includes the ethical, human, and community well-being... And the common good of all.
FLOC supporters have called upon Susan Ivey to meet with FLOC and take part in improving the working conditions for thousands of field workers who produce their tobacco. In one action, delegations all over the country presented Reynolds executives and Board members with 6,000 postcards signed by supporters from throughout the US asking Reynolds American to meet with FLOC.
Call to the Fields
FLOC President Baldemar Velásquez was raised as a migrant farmworker. Since his childhood, he has worked in the fields and orchards of many states from Texas to the Midwest. He suffered the oppression and discrimination of migrant workers, and watched his parents humiliated many times from the injustices they experienced trying to support their family. Finally, after one incident when his father was cheated out of promised wages in front of the family, Baldemar began organizing migrant workers to stand up for their rights. Following the model of César Chávez, this protest led to the founding of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC).
Baldemar has a long history of sacrifices for migrant rights, including living in poverty to start and maintain the FLOC movement in its sturggles and fasts to focus public attention on the suffering of migrant workers who provide Americans with food on their tables.
Baldemar has led the FLOC movement through many hard times to a number of victories, including the Campbell Soup strike and boycott and the Mt. Olive boycott... and into the current RJ Reynolds Tobacco campaign. FLOC staff and supporters know that the FLOC motto "Hasta La Victoria" is a promise to struggle through all the hardships to victory.
Baldemar's commitment to justice now leads him to experience one more challenge - to understand directly the hardships of tobacco field workers. This account is being recorded so those of us who follow Baldemar's leadership can better understand the current struggle for justice.
To follow Baldemar's experience, see Call to the Fields
ACTION: We Need Your Help!
| Write, fax, and/or call Reynolds Tobacco, and ask them to meet with FLOC:
Susan Ivey, CEO |
For more information on the Reynolds campaign, see:
Also see:
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 has always been 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?
The day after Easter on April 9 2007, FLOC lost Santiago Rafael, an organizer who was viciously tortured and murdered in the union's offices in Mexico. Santiago was found tied up and beaten to death in the FLOC office. Testimony by witnesses who found the body indicate that Santiago was tortured by more than one individual in the early hours of the morning.
Who could have done such a vicious act? In FLOC labor agreements with our partner growers, "guest workers" have their own direct voice in their own working rights, and FLOC has an effective process where we can work with some 600 growers to address any problems and misunderstandings at the work site. As a result of the cooperation between FLOC and North Carolina growers, corrupt elements in Mexico have lost more than $2 million a year in bribes, extortion, and other practices that put the H2A workers in debt before they even begin earning wages. These corrupt elements have a clear motive to send a strong message to FLOC to back off. Though the lost of Santiago has saddened us deeply, we cannot not hesitate in our pursuit of justice for migrant farmworkers.
After Santiago's assassination, FLOC filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which found there was sufficient evidence that Santiago's murder was a part of a larger context of hosility towards FLOC. The IACHR ordered the Mexican government to provide security measures for FLOC personnel in Mexico. See IACHR Approves Petition.
Despite some 100,000 letters and messages from all over the world sent to the Government of Nuevo Leon, which has been responsible for the investigation of Santiago's vicious assassination, state authorities have clearly demonstrated that they have no intention of pursuing possible political and economic motives in the case, and has proven to be both incompetent and evasive in the investigation.
FLOC leaders, staff, and supporters who worked with Santiago know him as a cheerful person concerned with the human and working rights of
ACTION: Remember Santiago!
More than a year after the assassination of Santiago Rafael, the case is still unresolved!
Please write Mexican President Felip Calderón to call for an open and thorough investigation of the assassination of Santigo and for the guaranteed safety of FLOC staff and members in Mexico:
Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de "Los Pinos", Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
México D.F. 11850
México
Fax from the U.S.: (011-52) (55) 52-77-23-76, 52-77-23-76
For more information and a sample letter to President Calderón, see:
For further information, see:
Santiago Rafael Cruz, PRESENTE!
As all throughout American history, each new wave of non-Anglo immigrants have always experienced racism and discrimination. The hate in the national and local legislation has sparked mass demonstrations for Americans to live up to our own core ideals.
The American society is facing a major challenge: What kind of society we are making for ourselves? Are we to become a hateful and oppressive society? Or will we become the best that we can be as a people?
FLOC has stood for social and economic justice since its beginnings. Our members are largely immigrants making important contributions in producing foods for Americans. In recent worker conventions, they have raised the issue of the prejudice and discrimination directed against them, and have called on the union to defend immigrant rights.
In response, FLOC has developed our Immigrant Rights Campaign, with the primary goals of:
As we have asked many times, who is behind the harsh treatment of immigrants? Some suggest that this crackdown is an effort to push Congress into enacting a broad guest worker program, which exploits immigrant workers and promotes abuses in the recruitment system in their home countries.
In addressing the immigration issue, FLOC President Baldemar Velásquez states that the system is designed to benefit corporations and their investors at the expense of workers. He has proposed a Freedom Visa where workers have the same rights as corporations to cross the borders between countries that have trade agreements in the search for economic well-being. For more on the Freedom Visa, go to:
Freedom Visa
Latinos and Civil Rights: Changing the Face of America (webcast, requires latest version of browsers)
Baldemar Velásquez, the founder of the FLOC movement, gave the keynote address at the 2009 Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Event hosted by the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Community Museum. In this address, Baldemar shared his vision of migrant worker justice. He states that the Immigrant Rights Movement is a continuation of the Civil Rights Movement in pursuing self-determination. It is not enough to have laws - the structures of society must be changed so people have a direct voice in advocating for themselves. Baldemar also gives his personal story in the struggle for migrant worker rights and self-determination.
Regarding the immigration debate, Baldemar says that American is reaping what it has sowed. Migration does not happen on its own, he says, and gives the example of how the NAFTA trade agreement as displace over six million Mexican corn farmers, who have not other option than to go to the U.S. seeking a way to support their families. He points out how anti-immigrants think history only just started. He quotes the Bible which says to not mistreat or oppress the alien... yet we are terrorizing a whole segment of the population. Christians believe that we have received the greatest amnesty known to man, he says, "How can we deny this to others?"
On "guest workers" in agriculture, Baldemar points out how the current system pits family farmers and farmworkers against each other. Farmers can't afford to bring in legal temporary workers, so in North Carolina 90 percent of field workers are undocumented. Critics of guest worker programs say with some validity that to open the door to temporary foreign workers leads to exploitation. But, he says, this does not have to be the case if these workers can advocate for themselves. He cites how FLOC currently represents about 7,000 guest workers who have an immediate grievance system for addressing problems. We need to shift the whole paradigm of immigration, he says. The agricultural procurement system is designed for the benefit of the large transnational corporations... but, he points out, this makes them responsible for the people at the bottom, both farmers and farmworkers.
Baldemar presents the FLOC solution to the migrant workers "problem". He argues that codes of conduct and other such measures are not the answer, because these still leave the decisions solely up to those who dominate the system for their own benefit. In contrast, FLOC seeks to empower people to defend themselves. Then, they do not have to depend on others to advocate for them... they can advocate for themselves.
In reference to the Civil Rights Movement, Baldemar says he had the privilege of working with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Poor People's Campaign. He reflects how Dr. King laid out the cornerstone of the strategy the FLOC movement has used in its struggle with the agricultural corporations: "When you impede the rich man's ability to make money, anything is possible." He also remembers that Cesar Chavez once said that "all we have to invest is ourselves". Baldemar states that the opposition measures things in terms of money. But, he says, "We have more time than they have money. How can we lose if we don't give up?"
The great lesson of the Civil Rights Movement, Baldemar says, is "Why do we have to discriminate against others? Why does there have to be an exploited group? Everybody had the right to a quality life, to not be exploited." He notes how the next great doctor, scientist, artist is out there is some poor neighborhood.
"Don't lose hope", Baldemar says. "We have to adjust to the realities." We can create laws that are just, make trade deals that are fair. "We hope t be a light to the whole world. Well, let us be that."
Listen to Baldemar's vision in his own words at http://www.anacostia.si.edu/Webcast.htm (webcast, requires Internet Explorer)
Baldemar Velásquez writes President Obama on Guest Worker programs (English/Spanish, PDF file)
In response to the exploitive lame-duck rules for "guest workers" implemented by the Bush administration before he left office, Baldemar Velásquez has written President Obama about the Guest Worker program. His main points include:
Flash: DOL Secretary Hilda Solis Suspends Midnight H2A Rules
For more on FLOC's efforts to bring justice for immigrants workers, see:
FLOC Summer 2007 Newsletter (September 2007)
FLOC Spring 2007 Newsletter (May 2007)
FLOC Winter 2007 Newsletter (February 2007)
FLOC Fall 2006 Newsletter (December 2006)
FLOC and NCGA Renew Contract (PDF file)
Press Release: FLOC and NCGA Renew Contract (PDF file)
FLOC Convention
Several video clips of the Convention are posted on You Tube.
Since FLOC began representing H2A agricultural "guest workers" under labor contracts in 2004, we have had continuous activities to work with Mexicans coming North to work in the U.S. These include educating them about their rights and actions to support their rights, including fighting the corruption in the "guest worker" recruiting process in their home country.
For more information on FLOC's work in Mexico, see:
FLOC in Mexico
Reports from Mexico 2007
Ohio farmworkers are now included in minimum wage provisions, largely through the efforts by FLOC to get the state to revise a new ruling that would have excluded farmworker from receiving just earnings for their work. See:
FLOC Denounces Ohio Minimum Wage Exclusion
Community Meeting with Local Sheriff
FLOC sadly remembers one of our longest and strongest supporters, Dick Wiesenhahn.
For more information, please see Dick Weisenhahn.
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© FLOC 2009