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Labor Organizations
Farmworkers are the backbone of the agricultural system, because they
perform the actual labor in producing the crops. These farmworkers are subject
to a host of decisions made at higher levels which affect their living and
working conditions. For example, since they are usually paid by a "piece"
rate (such as a set price for a basket of tomatoes) rather than hourly wages,
they are not subject to minimum wage laws. In the pickle industry, the "sharecropper"
system imposes even more severe abuses. Farmworker families are treated
as independent contractors rather than laborers, and thus are denied even
minimal benefits like workers' compensation and are exempt from such labor
standards as child labor laws. The effects of this system on farmworkers
are poverty wages, underemployment, poor housing and sanitation, and exposure
to hazardous pesticides. Farmworkers have had little opportunity for input
into these decisions, and, at best, can only react to them once they learn
of impending or actual events.
The table crops industry in the Midwest is a good example of an abusive
agribusiness system. The system is dominated by large multinational corporations,
whose policies and operations are designed around their annual production
and profit goals. These corporations stipulate unilateral contracts with
growers before the Spring planting season, specifying such conditions as
price structures, strains of crops to be planted, and pesticide use. The
growers receive comparatively high returns from these crops, though they
are subject to weather and other risks. Growers in turn arrange with crewleaders
(labor contractors) to recruit field workers, for which crewleaders receive
returns usually based on the earnings of their workers.
In the effort to empower farmworkers to participate directly in decisions
that affect them, a number of labor organizations have formed over the years.
These include the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), the
Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), the Farmworker
Justice Fund, the Farmworker Association of Florida (FAF), and
the Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Northwest Treeplanters
and Farmworkers United (PCUN).
The primary focus of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW)
is to organize and administer contracts in California, Florida and Washington.
Crops include almods, apples, citrus, grapes, mushrooms, nursery, roses,
strawberries, vegetable. Currently, the UFW is engaged in a nationwide campaign
to gain pledges of support for organizing in California strawberry fields.
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) focuses on the organization
and administration of multi-party agreements with tomato/pickle processors,
farmers and farmworkers in Michigan and Ohio. FLOC is currently obtaining
national church and organizational endorsements for its North Carolina field-organizing
campaign.
Finally, the Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) are
focusing on organizing in crops including berries, broccoli, corn, cucumbers,
nursery, and zucchini for wage increases and other benefits, with contracts
as the ultimate goal. Their current actions are a boycott of Steinfield's
(pickles, sauerkraut, relish) and NORPAC (frozen and canned fruits, vegetables,
juices, primarily under the FLAV-R-PAC and Santiam labels) to win better
working conditions at Kraemer Farms, supplier to Steinfield's and NORPAC.
In addition, PCUN is boycotting Wholesome and Hearty products (GardenBurger)
until W&H breaks ties with NORPAC sales.
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