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FLOC  pact  in  N.  Carolina  'historic'  Agreement  with  growers  calls  for  better  wages,  conditions  Toledo  Blade  (Ohio),
September  17,  2004  Friday,  BUSINESS;;  Pg.  B8,  560  words,  KADI  HODGES  SPECIAL  TO  THE  BLADE

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Toledo  Blade  (Ohio)
September  17,  2004  Friday    
City  Final  Edition

FLOC  pact  in  N.  Carolina  'historic'  Agreement  with  growers  calls  for  better
wages,  conditions
BYLINE:  KADI  HODGES  SPECIAL  TO  THE  BLADE
SECTION:  BUSINESS;;  Pg.  B8
LENGTH:  560  words

RALEIGH,  N.C.  -­  "I  am  one  pickle  packer  who  is  glad  to  be  out  of  a  pickle,"  said  Bill  Bryan,  president  of  the  Mt.
Olive  Pickle  Co.,  the  nation's  second  largest  pickle  producer.
The  company,  the  Toledo-­based  Farm  Labor  Organizing  Committee,  and  the  North  Carolina  Growers  Association
signed  an  agreement  that  ended  the  union's  five-­year-­old  boycott  against  the  Mt.  Olive.  
It  provides  for  better  wages  and  working  conditions  for  the  migrant  workers  and  for  potentially  higher  prices  paid  to
participating  farmers  by  Mt.  Olive,  which  is  based  in  Mount  Olive,  N.C.,  about  70  miles  southeast  of  Raleigh.
In  all,  the  agreement  with  Mt.  Olive  and  a  related  union  and  farmer  agreement  could  cover  as  many  as  8,000
workers  at  more  than  1,000  North  Carolina  farms  for  a  variety  of  products,  from  pickles  to  tobacco.  FLOC  has
sought  the  accords  since  1999.
Signers  at  the  the  Community  United  Church  of  Christ  in  Raleigh  were  flanked  by  migrant  workers  wearing  shirts
that  read  "Hasta  la  victoria!"  or  "Until  victory!"
FLOC  had  contended  that  cucumber  growers  were  exploiting  migrant  workers  by  paying  less  than  minimum  wage,
providing  substandard  housing,  and  blacklisting  workers  who  complained  about  working  conditions.
Organized  labor,  religious,  and  social  justice  organizations  joined  FLOC's  protest.  Boycott  endorsements  came
from  the  AFL-­CIO,  National  Council  of  Churches,  and  others.
Bob  Edgar,  general  secretary  of  the  church  council,  attended  the  signing  and  jovially  offered  Mr.  Bryan  $20  for
pickles.
Mt.  Olive  products  were  pulled  from  shelves  at  several  grocery  stores  nationally,  including  Kroger  and  Farmer  Jack
in  Ohio.
"It  was  the  pressure  of  the  boycott,"  said  Baldemar  Velasquez,  FLOC  president.  "There  was  so  much  scrutiny,
attention,  shedding  light  on  the  abuses  in  agriculture.  Eventually  they  had  to  do  something  to  make  it  go  away."
Mr.  Bryan  said  that,  while  he  disagreed  with  the  tactics  employed  by  the  union,  he  respected  its  perseverance  and
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was  pleased  to  resolve  the  issue.
"It's  been  a  long  wait,"  he  said.  "But  you  can  enjoy  some  good  Mt.  Olive  Pickle  products."
Although  the  Toledo  union  and  Mt.  Olive  representatives  have  periodically  negotiated  for  years,  real  progress
began  this  summer  when  the  North  Carolina  Growers  Association  invited  FLOC  representatives  to  an  open
dialogue.
Stan  Eury,  association  president,  said  that  support  for  an  agreement  had  grown  significantly  among  farmers.  He
characterized  the  agreement  as  "the  most  progressive  agricultural  worker-­employer  accord  in  the  nation."
Mr.  Velasquez  said  major  points  of  contention  were  issues  of  hiring,  blacklisting,  and  grievance  procedures.
The  contract  includes  clauses  that  guarantee  union  representation  for  the  workers;;  creates  a  grievance  process  for
workers;;  establishes  that  a  neutral  party  will  be  used  to  resolve  disputes  between  the  union  and  farmers;;  and
allows  the  union  to  request  reports  of  chemicals  and  pesticides  used  in  the  fields.
It  also  provides  for  higher  wage  rates  and  gives  workers  at  least  a  half-­day  of  rest  after  working  seven  consecutive
days.
Mexicans  yesterday  celebrated  their  independence  from  the  Spanish,  and  FLOC  organizer  Leticia  Zavala  called
the  signing  "a  new  Mexican  Independence  Day."
About  2,500  migrant  workers  have  signed  union  cards,  but  many  more  are  expected.  The  agreement  authorizes
the  employers  to  deduct  union  dues  from  their  paychecks.
LOAD-­DATE:  December  2,  2004
LANGUAGE:  ENGLISH
PUBLICATION-­TYPE:  Newspaper

Copyright  2004  The  Blade
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Raleigh News

Raleigh  News-­Observer
September  16,  2004

Mt.  Olive  pickle  boycott  ends
N.C.  unionization  gets  historic  boost
By  KRISTIN  COLLINS,  Staff  Writer
The  five-­year  boycott  of  Mt.  Olive  Pickle  Co.  will  end
today  as  part  of  a  deal  that  will  unionize  thousands  of
farmworkers.
Engineered  by  the  Ohio-­based  Farm  Labor  Organizing
Committee,  the  agreement  will  produce  the  largest
unionization  in  North  Carolina  history,  state  AFL-­CIO
officials  said.
The  agreement,  to  be  signed  this  morning,  has  two
parts:
*  Mt.  Olive  will  raise  the  price  it  pays  farmers  for
cucumbers  by  about  10  percent  over  three  years.  Part
of  that  increase  will  be  passed  to  workers  who  pick
cucumbers.
The  company  also  will  encourage  farms  that  grow
cucumbers  for  Mt.  Olive  to  allow  workers  to  have
"visitors,"  including  union  organizers,  without
interference.
"We  consider  it  an  investment,"  company
spokeswoman  Lynn  Williams  said.  "We're  very  relieved
to  have  this  over."
*  The  N.C.  Growers  Association,  which  uses  a  federal
program  to  supply  foreign  labor  to  about  1,000  farms,
will  recognize  a  union  run  by  the  organizing  committee.
Many  of  those  farms  grow  cucumbers  for  Mt.  Olive.
It  is  this  piece  of  the  deal  that  union  officials  say  will
bring  the  most  change.
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"Workers  have  never  been  able  to  speak  for
themselves,  and  the  union  agreement  gives  them  an
opportunity  to  do  that  without  fear  of  retaliation,"  said
Baldemar  Velasquez,  president  of  the  Farm  Labor
Organizing  Committee.
The  union  has  been  recruiting  members  on  farms  for
years.  Union  officials  say  that  about  2,500  of  the
Growers  Association's  8,500  workers  already  have
signed  union  cards.
They  couldn't  become  an  official  union  until  today's
agreement,  which  authorizes  employers  to  deduct
union  dues  from  paychecks.
Responsibility  cited
The  organizing  committee  launched  a  boycott  of  Mt.
Olive  Pickle  Co.  in  1999,  saying  the  Wayne  County
company  had  a  responsibility  to  improve  working
conditions  on  farms  that  grow  its  pickle  cucumbers.  The
company  refused  to  budge,  saying  labor  issues  should
be  handled  by  farmers.
No  North  Carolina  groceries  ever  pulled  Mt.  Olive
pickles  from  shelves.  But  several  major  groups  joined
the  boycott,  most  recently  the  National  Council  of
Churches  and  the  United  Methodist  Church.  The  union
staged  several  protests  a  year  outside  groceries  and
company  headquarters.
"We've  continued  to  see  good  growth  in  our  sales,"  said
Williams,  the  company  spokeswoman.  "But  it's  certainly
been  a  frustrating  thing  to  deal  with,  and  it's  time  and
attention  taken  away  from  growing  our  business."
As  part  of  the  agreement,  the  company  will  raise  the
price  it  pays  for  cucumbers  2.5  percent  each  year  for
three  years.  It  is  a  privately  held  company,  and  Williams
wouldn't  say  what  it  paid  this  year.  The  company  also
will  pay  a  3  percent  bonus  to  farmers  who  offer  their
employees  workers'  compensation.
Williams  said  the  agreement  will  allow  the  company  to
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avoid  bargaining  directly  with  the  union,  but  benefit
workers.
"We  both  won,"  Williams  said.
Worker  protection
Many  legal  farm  workers  will  see  the  most  significant
impact  from  the  deal  with  the  Growers  Association.
Those  who  signed  union  cards  will  pay  2  1/2  percent  of
their  salaries  in  dues.  In  return,  they  will  get  a  process
to  handle  grievances  and  protection  from  arbitrary
firing.  The  union  also  will  help  workers  establish
medical  clinics  and  other  programs.
Under  the  agreement,  workers  do  not  have  the  right  to
strike.  They  also  won't  automatically  get  higher  pay  -­-­
unless  they  pick  cucumbers  for  Mt.  Olive.
Velasquez  said  the  union  will  pressure  other  major
companies  that  buy  North  Carolina  crops  to  increase
their  prices  as  well.
The  Growers  Association,  based  in  the  Moore  County
town  of  Vass,  is  the  biggest  source  of  legal  farmworkers
in  the  state,  and  Director  Stan  Eury  says  it  supplies
about  60  percent  of  North  Carolina's  cucumber  pickers.
The  association's  workers  are  only  a  fraction  of  North
Carolina's  migrant  farmworkers,  many  of  whom  are
here  illegally.
Eury  said  he  agreed  to  the  deal  to  bring  greater
credibility  to  his  group,  which  he  said  has  been  under
attack.  He  said  the  grievance  procedure  will  reduce
lawsuits.
Legal  Services  of  North  Carolina,  a  federally  funded
agency  that  represents  the  poor,  sued  the  association
and  its  members  more  than  a  dozen  times,  claiming
that  workers  are  exploited.  The  most  recent  suit,  filed  in
April,  alleges  that  the  association  is  a  criminal
organization  that  intimidates  workers,  bilks  them  of  their
wages  and  blacklists  them  if  they  exercise  their  rights.
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"We're  tired  of  reading  all  the  negative  things  in  the
papers,"  Eury  said.  "We  already  had  the  most
progressive  program  in  the  nation,  but  this  kicks  it  up  a
notch."
Growers  wary
The  deal  has  caused  rumblings  in  farm  country.
"I  don't  think  any  of  the  growers,  and  I've  talked  to  a  lot
of  them,  really  like  unions,"  said  Len  Wester,  a
Louisburg  cucumber  farmer  who  gets  workers  through
the  Growers  Association.  "But  if  we  don't  do  something
to  take  some  pressure  off  with  Legal  Services,  they'll
eventually  just  sue  us  completely  out  of  business."
The  union  will  cost  farmers  nothing.  But  the  N.C.  Farm
Bureau  says  it  is  opposed  to  unionization  and  is
working  to  provide  farmers  with  new  sources  of
seasonal  labor.
Regina  Luginbuhl,  head  of  the  state's  Agricultural
Health  and  Safety  Bureau,  said  the  deal  doesn't
address  the  worst  problems  on  North  Carolina  farms.
The  deal  targets  legal  workers  -­-­  who  are  guaranteed
legal  housing,  $8  an  hour  and  workers'  compensation  -­-­
rather  than  illegal  workers.
"The  undocumented  workers  in  unregistered  camps,
those  are  the  worst,"  Luginbuhl  said.
  
 

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