forwarded by Michael Hoover > Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 03:04:46 -0500 > Subject: [fla-left] [protest report] Tampa: Justice for Farmworkers > > This article is taken from the June 1999 issue of the Industrial Worker, > the newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World, http://www.iww.org/ > > Gainesville IWW GMB: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Orlando IWW Group: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Tampa IWW Group: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > For information on the Farm Labor Organizing Committee: > http://www.iupui.edu/~floc/ > For information on FLOC's boycott of Mt. Olive Pickles: > http://www.iupui.edu/~floc/nc.htm > > FLOC Fight for Humane Conditions for Farmworkers Continues > > Union Si! > > Bearing an eagle silhouette, and the words "Hasta La Victoria," the > red, black, and yellow banners of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee > (FLOC) flapped in vivid opposition to a backdrop of grey skies over Tampa, > Florida. On this Saturday morning, the sky yielded a soft rain: a release > from the week-long heat. Fernando Cuevas Jr. sheltered his younger > brother under his umbrella, while organizer Dan Belgrad offered to share > his umbrella with a new supporter who arrived at the Food Lion > supermaket at 10 am. Shoppers, used to living in a land of perpetual > sunshine, hurried to their cars. FLOC organizers decided shoppers > would not be receptive to flyers and picket signs as they dodged > the drizzle so the rally was postponed. > > In the fields, Fernando Cuevas Sr. observed, rain changes nothing. If there > are cucumbers to pick, they pick. If it rains, they work. If the sun beats > down, > they work. The workdays are long: ten, twelve, fourteen hour days are > common. It's a marriage of sorts, this relationship between > farmworker and field, between men, women,children, who live in squalid, > crowded quarters on the land they work until it's time to move onto the > next crop. Asked if farmworkers have employer-provided health insurance, > Cuevas replied they don't need it, explaining that pickers don't get sick. > "We can't afford to," he said, adding that if they get sick, they work anyway. > Organizer Teresa Ivey, a Tampa activist and nurse practioner agreed. > Ivey works at a Plant City clinic where many of her patients are migrant > farm workers' children. They don't go to the clinic themselves, she said, > of the adult farm workers. "They bring their children." > > "They (the government) are federally subsidizing what employers > should be paying for," Cuevas said. > > Employers in Southern right-to-work states like North Carolina, > where Mt. Olive Pickles is based, are openly hostile to unions. > While organizing in North Carolina, Cuevas says his life was > threatened by growers. He was told, "The Yankees won the war, > but us Southerners never freed the slaves. We use them now > as sharecroppers." Eigthy percent of North Carolina farm > workers are Hispanic. > > Farm workers in non-union South ern states are paid under a > complicated piece-work system that many workers don't understand. > Without a contract, they are open to exploitation. "There is no > enforcement to make sure workers get paid the minimum," > said Cuevas. In contrast, union workers in states like Ohio > and Michigan are guaranteed a minimum of $6 an hour. > In 1993, sharecropping in Ohio and Michigan was eliminated by > agreement, and farm workers became employees with rights. > > Cuevas said their goal is to "organize the South." FLOC has > fought this war before. In 1978, the Unionclashedwiththe Campbell > Soup Company when Ohio farm workers went on strike in fields > contracted to that company. At issue were sub-minimum wages, > exclusion from protective legislation, poor sanitation, health care, > and housing. A national consumer boycott of Campbell and its > major supporters eventually succeeded in securing a contract > in February 1986, between FLOC, Campbell, and35 family farmers. > Contracts with Heinz, Vlasic, and 49 growers followed in 1987. > Though for the moment rained out, FLOC promises to be back. > On this unlikely day, the union picked up four new supporters. > More pickets are planned for June and July in various South > Florida locations. > > Cris D'Angelo-Tampa
