North Carolina migrant farmworkers win landmark victory with FLOC

More than 15,000 migrant farmworkers in North Carolina won a landmark victory with the help of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), providing a major step toward achieving fairness, equitable treatment and dignity in the employment process for guest workers. The settlement the farmworkers received as a result of 17 months of litigation ensures that workers coming from Mexico will no longer be forced to endure illegal wage deductions or pay exorbitant transportation costs to work in the fields of North Carolina. FLOC, which received a national charter from the AFL-CIO last month, represents 10,000 farmworkers in the Midwest and North Carolina. "This is a breakthrough for farmworkers that will allow even more farmworkers to win a voice on the job," said FLOC President Baldemar Velasquez. "Through non-violent campaigning we will reach out to others and make a difference for many more farmworkers and their families." On Mar. 10 the Wake County Superior Court in Wake County, NC issued a settlement in a class action suit spearheaded by FLOC against the North Carolina Grower's Association (NCGA) and all of its approximately 1,000 current and former grower members. The suit sought to force growers, under both the federal minimum wage law and the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act, to pay for all visa and transportation costs for temporary workers under the H-2A guestworker program. The settlement issued on Mar. 10 provides a settlement fund of $1.475 million to compensate temporary agricultural workers for the illegal wage deductions they suffered under state and federal law. It also ensures that growers live up to their obligations by paying recruiting, visa, border crossing and transportation fees in Mexico or the US, which will save farmworkers an estimated $4 million over the next two years. "Farmworkers in North Carolina will finally receive what they so greatly deserve: a fair and just process for getting work," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "This is an extraordinary win for not only farmworkers but for everyone concerned about justice and fairness." North Carolina farmworkers won a union in 2004 when, after a five-year boycott of Mt. Olive Pickle, they signed a collective bargaining agreement with the NCGA and Mt. Olive Pickle allowing farmworkers in a guestworker program to have a union for the first time. The innovative partnership between FLOC and the NCGA was lauded as a positive development for growers and farmworkers. The innovative partnership between FLOC and the NCGA provides a steady workforce for growers and collective bargaining rights for the workers they hire. The recent settlement requires all growers in the state to abide by its provisions concerning the visa and transportation costs for guestworkers, regardless of whether their workers are covered by the NCGA collective bargaining agreement with FLOC. Because growers will no longer be able to shirk their responsibility to temporary employees by leaving the NCGA and thereby negating the union contract with FLOC, the settlement is expected to strengthen farmworkers' ability to form unions. FLOC is a major force on behalf of migrant farmworkers in the Midwest and in North Carolina. Taking on large corporations like Campbell Soup and Mt. Olive Pickle, FLOC has successfully won contracts for farmworkers that have led to improved working conditions, increased wages and benefits–and better prices for small farmers.