NFWM News & Action Alerts
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In this issue:
- Harvest of Justice 2019 is in full swing!
- Include Farm Worker needs in Shaping Policy: a Guide for Candidate Questions
- Tune in soon for a webinar co-hosted by Faith Trust Institute
- The latest update from FLOC
- More coming events!
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The 2019 Harvest of Justice season began on Labor Day, September 2 and lasts through World Food Day, October 16
th
. This is an opportunity to raise awareness about farm workers, to take action with and for them, and to support the National Farm Worker Ministry. Join us as we focus on standing with farm workers against gender based violence. New resources are available: weekly flyers, a short video, and ideas for ways to observe Harvest of Justice in your church and community. Now available
here
.
The video
“Maricela’s Story: Standing with Farm Workers Against Gender Based Violence”
highlights the work of farm worker partners and allies as they address gender based violence. Thanks to the support of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), Leticia Zavala, their organizer, and Maricela, a member of FLOC, tells the story of how Maricela was affected by sexual harassment as a farm worker woman, and how they addressed this harassment together. The film also highlights allies including the United Farm Workers Union and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Weekly flyers
feature aspects of gender based violence and provide prayers, quotes, farm worker information, and solidarity actions that can be taken to support farm worker efforts. Follow NFWM throughout the season on
Facebook
and
Twitter
for weekly reminders and video clips from Maricela’s story.
Be sure to consider getting your church/congregation/community to plan an event during Harvest of Justice season or host a house party for friends! Gather for a fellowship meal, show the video, offer opportunities to take action, invite participants to sign up for NFWM’s e-news and Action Alerts and then take an offering to support this ongoing work to connect the faith community to the farm worker movement. For ideas, visit
our web site.
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Guide: Questions for Candidates
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By Susan Samuels Drake, NFWM staff 1962-1973, California, Julie Taylor, Executive Director
No matter what your political persuasion, we can find ways to educate and motivate political candidates to be aware of farm worker needs.
Here are some talking points/questions that you can use, with links to background information:
1.
What would you do about the following conditions in farm labor, some of which American taxpayers must cover since employers sometimes fail to?
3.
Would you support and help enforce legislation that gives the people who feed us the right to collective bargaining and to join a labor union without retaliation? Farm workers were excluded from the 1935 National Labor Relations Act.
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Oct. 3 Webinar: Gender-Based Violence in the Fields
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When the
#MeToo
movement exploded, one of the most powerful public responses came from a coalition of 700,000 women farmworkers writing in solidarity with other women facing workplace harassment and abuse. This statement raised the public’s awareness about the vulnerability that so many farmworkers face. Join us for a conversation with leaders in the Farm Workers’ Rights movements as they discuss the ways that faith communities and individuals can assist farm workers in their demands for safe and just workplaces. This webinar coincides with National Farm Worker Ministry’s annual
Harvest of Justice program
.
Presenters: Leticia Zavala, Farm Labor Organizing Committee; Julie Taylor, National Farm Worker Ministry; Justice for Migrant Women
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FLOC staff in North Carolina and volunteers (including the Triangle Friends of Farmworkers) are working together to stand with farm workers facing intimidation, abuse, and wage theft. They are also delivering food since a bad crop has impacted some farm workers and growers, and others are dealing with a corrupt farm labor contractor impacting six farms in Eastern Carolina.
In recent weeks, delegations of farm workers, union organizers and volunteers have been delivering letters to growers about conditions that need to be addressed. About this, Baldemar Velasquez said, “The farm labor contractor Salvador Barajas has stolen workers’ wages. This corrupt labor contractor is providing the workers NO breakfast any day, and NO meals on Sunday! And he is stealing the wages they fairly earned. Brave farm workers are putting their jobs and pay on the line so they can win their rights. What does a movement for justice take? It takes small campaigns, led by a couple of leaders and protected by many believers!”
This is also about having union recognition, something FLOC has been calling for in the tobacco industry for years, asking them to require basic human rights in their supply chain. The tobacco companies have not taken any significant action. They have chosen, instead, to try public relations and meetings and negotiations but there has been no meaningful change.
“After 12 years of calling for real action, all these companies have done is set up phony audits and a complaint hotline run by GAP Connections, an industry front group they all created together. We are calling on these companies to put their money where their mouth is and improve pricing and purchasing practices so that growers and workers can have safe, fair, and stable jobs,” said FLOC President Baldemar Velasquez. “Companies can claim they require higher standards, but if they pay growers who use these Farm Labor Contractors the same price for tobacco as the good growers who hire directly and provide good conditions, their commitments are worthless and this is the inevitable result.”
Often, farm worker management and recruitment is outsourced to Farm Labor Contractors. It is a tactic to avoid directly hiring workers, paying good wages, providing decent housing and complying with union benefits. This work is delegated in order to save the grower money, but the savings are often passed on to the workers through the Farm Labor Contractor who exploits them for personal gain, including intimidation and threats of retaliation.
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NFWM Supports These Boycotts led by our Farm Worker Partners.
We hope you will, too!
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National Farm Worker Ministry | 919.807.8707 | nfwm@nfwm.org | nfwm.org
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