Toledo Blade

September 18, 2004

A milestone for FLOC

THE historic agreement between the Toledo-based Farm Labor Organizing Committee, North Carolina growers, and the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. Inc., is an impressive achievement in FLOC's long and difficult struggle to provide better working conditions and higher wages for migrant workers.

And it sets the seal on the tenacity and vision of union leader Baldemar Velasquez, who for more than three decades has waged an incessant, vigorous, and ultimately successful campaign to improve the lot of migrant laborers, a campaign that began in the fields of northwest Ohio.

The milestone accord with Mt. Olive and the North Carolina Growers Association, which represents roughly 1,050 farms raising a variety of crops, will cover almost 8,000 migrant workers, in the process more than doubling FLOC's membership.

It will make the union the largest labor organization in the state, another significant achievement for Mr. Velasquez. In so doing, it represents a profound change in the relationship between corporations, industry groups, and their employees in a traditionally non-union state.

The migrants covered by these agreements have visas issued under what is known as the H-2A program of the U.S. Department of Labor, and it is important to understand that they are here legally and properly documented, doing work crucial to the viability of regional agriculture.

The pact calls for specific wages based on hourly work or the amount of a particular crop picked; for grievance procedures, and outside verification of adherence to the labor pact. Most American workers take similar conditions of employment for granted, but to the laborers Mr. Velasquez represents, these are landmark improvements.

Growers also benefit from the agreement. Outside verification of contract compliance and a formal grievance system will allow farmers to demonstrate they are treating their workers appropriately, avoiding what Mr. Velasquez describes as the "terrible negative image" of maltreatment of migrants.

In 1986, FLOC graduated from forging agreements with individual growers when it reached a pact with the Campbell Soup Co., Vlasic Pickle, and growers. This week's accord in North Carolina similarly increases the influence and stature of the union, and of Mr. Velasquez, its founder and still its leader.