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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Farmworker Walk for Justice, Oregon, June 18-24 |
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by Campaign for Labor Rights
Email: CLRmain (nospam) afgj.org (unverified!)
Phone: 202-544-9355 |
08 Jun 2001
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A coalition of religious, labor, youth, environmental, and human rights organizations who share a committment to justice and dignity for all workers have organized a walk through the Willamette Valley in Oregon on June 18-24. |
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<><><><><> Labor Alert, posted June 8, 2001
In this Alert: 1. Farmworker Walk for Justice—in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, June 18-24. 2. Recent Update—on the PCUN struggle and the international boycott of NORPAC 3. Ongoing Action—how students can identify NORPAC products in their dining halls. 4. Background.
[Information in this Alert provided by PCUN, and the coalition organizing the Farmworker Walk for Justice]
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FARMWORKER WALK FOR JUSTICE
On June 18-24, hundreds of people will walk throughout the Willamette Valley and experience first hand how farmworkers live and labor in Oregon’s fields. The Walk for Farmworker Justice (WFJ) represents a broad-based coalition of religious, labor, youth, environmental, and human rights organizations that advocate on behalf of farmworkers. Organizers of the event hope to bring local and national attention to the plight of Oregon farmworkers, who are struggling for justice and the right to bargain collectively.
The Walk for Farmworker Justice is committed to creating both an inclusive event and an enduring coalition that is accessible, a safe space, free of racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia and all other forms of oppression and prejudice.
The Walk is already drawing a reaction from growers in the area. On June 7th, two Walk organizers were hanging posters and handing out WFJ leaflets to farmworkers in Yamhill County. They put some posters up on a utility pole at the entrance to NORPAC grower James Shelburne\'s labor camp. Shelburne took one look at the poster and tore it down, stating that our organizers \"didn\'t know what they were doing.\" Shelburne is the same grower who was convicted earlier this year of having attacked a PCUN organizer. The PCUN organizers left the area following Shelburne\'s outburst, but later returned to replace the posters he tore down.
For more information on the Farmworker Walk for Justice, call (541) 607-8097 or visit PCUN on the internet at www.pcun.org.
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RECENT UPDATE
Last month, as a result of U.S. countrywide student pressure on Bon Appetite (the fourth largest college and university food-service provider in the U.S.), Bon Appetite Management, announced their decision to no longer use any NORPAC products. This decision will apply to all of their facilities nationwide, including the dining halls of close to 70 universities. Earlier this year, PCUN and Campaign for Labor Rights brought the issues surrounding the NORPAC boycott to Bon Appetite’s CEO, Fedele Bauccio\'s attention by way of a speaking tour with stops scheduled at Bon Appetite schools. Much to his credit, Bauccio agreed to stop using NORPAC products for the duration of the boycott.
What\'s happening now? A front-page article appears in the June 7th edition of Agricultural Weekly Capital Press, entitled \"Food Vendor Joins PCUN boycott, A spokesperson for NORPAC, the target, said Oregon ag. will suffer.\" The article sounds the alarm for Oregon agriculture in the first paragraph, stating; \"What PCUN, the farmworker labor union hails as a victory in its boycott campaign against NORPAC Foods, the [growers’] co-op says threatens to undermine Oregon\'s entire agricultural reputation and economy.\"
NORPAC spokesperson Brian Bell said; \"A loss of this business to NORPAC has a negative effect on many people in Oregon agriculture...It\'s a direct effect on NORPAC and an indirect effect on others throughout Oregon ag.\"
Bon Appetit\'s CEO Fedele Bauccio defended his decision to stop using NORPAC products; \"The most important thing is that we prefer to buy from people we feel are treating employees properly.\"
The article also mentions an informal Senate Committee hearing held last week; \"to hear various points of view on the matter [the NORPAC boycott].\"
PCUN President Ramon Ramirez and NORPAC President Rick Jacobson both provided testimony at the hearing. We believe this may signal the industry\'s attempt to introduce, either this session or next, a so-called \"collective bargaining bill\" that will provide no additional protection for farmworkers and will outlaw strikes and boycotts.
NORPAC\'s statements are the strongest indication yet of the impact of the NORPAC boycott. At the same time, we sincerely hope that NORPAC gets the message that it\'s now time to sit down and negotiate. If what Bell states is indeed true, we\'d hope that other affected members of the agricultural community would add their voices to the call that it\'s time for NORPAC to sit down and negotiate in order to put an end to this boycott.
PCUN strongly commends Bon Appetite for taking the position it has in support of Oregon farmworkers.
Watch for PCUN updates later this summer and into the Fall as we build from the Bon Appetite victory and tackle the next leg of this struggle. PCUN is currently developing the next steps of the boycott strategy, and several other large food-service providers are being researched as possible targets for the campaign.
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ONGOING ACTION
Students across the United States and Canada have been investigating the dining services on their campuses to see if NORPAC products are being used. Students in the U.S. were a key force in pressuring Bon Appetite to boycott NORPAC, and students in Canada were instrumental in getting Sodexho-Marriott-Canada to comply with the boycott. PCUN and Campaign for Labor Rights are counting on students to build on these recent victories next Fall. We must continue to add strength and depth to the national network supporting PCUN workers in their struggle so that we can successfully take-on larger food-service providers in the months to come.
How to Identify NORPAC products: All bags and cans of fruits and vegetables have a code, besides the bar code and sku underneath, which will identify the product as produced by NORPAC or not. On all bags, regardless of the brand name, the number 5 preceding the code is the key to identifying NORPAC. The same situation applies to cans, except the letter \"E\" identifies NORPAC products.
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BACKGROUND
PCUN is a union of farmworkers who are employed by a group of growers in Oregon, U.S. These growers are members of NORPAC, the largest grower group west of the Mississippi and seventh largest frozen fruit and vegetable distributor in the U.S. PCUN workers have been struggling for improved living and working conditions for more than ten years. The workers and their allies have described the fields that produce for NORPAC as \"sweatshops without walls.\"
Farmworkers in Oregon have no legally guaranteed right to paid breaks, and many work 12-14 hours a day, 6-7 days a week with the only guaranteed rest time being one-half hour for lunch. Supervisors will scold workers for simply standing up to stretch in the strawberry harvest, which requires workers to stoop over in an uncomfortable position. In the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower harvest, workers are forced to keep pace with a tractor. Hand injuries are common, as workers cut the vegetables with knives and struggle to keep up to the fast moving tractor.
Many NORPAC growers have a history of violating the few existing laws to protect farmworkers. These include: insufficient bathrooms in the fields; no soap for hand-washing; water contaminated with high levels of fecal coliform bacteria; and other violations that pose serious health hazards to workers. Also, the pesticides used in the fields can be quite dangerous and workers rarely are given proper safety equipment to wear.
In addition to threats and volatile working conditions, these farmworkers have been subject to \"right to work\" fees, mandatory housing and transportation costs and often they are cheated out of wages. After deducting these costs, the hourly wage of these NORPAC employees averages out to be well below minimum wage.
The labor camps are substandard and cannot provide for a good night’s rest before another long work day. In one camp, workers were sleeping on the floor, on thin pieces of carpet and even cardboard, and in decrepit vans parked outside the trailer. They had no access to kitchen facilities and thus had to buy food prepared and sold by the camp operator. Only one of the three showers was functioning properly, and the four outdoor port-a-potties were overflowing and in need of service.
In order to combat these injustices, some of the smaller growers from the NORPAC group have signed contracts with PCUN, recognizing the union and agreeing to bargain collectively with the workers. But the larger growers refuse to engage in talks with the union. In spite of repeated attempts by PCUN and the religious and community organizations, NORPAC growers have refused to engage in dialogue. Instead, workers have been threatened, fired and evicted from housing simply for defending their rights and human dignity. Action must be taken now to help these farmworkers!
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