On July 21, over 100 farmworkers met in Wilson, North Carolina for the third annual meeting of El Futuro Es Nuestro or It’s Our Future (EFEN/IOF), more than twice the turnout for previous gatherings. It was an eventful and inspiring farmworker-led meeting, in which leaders established processes for membership, addressed major issues of concern in the fields, and held IOF’s first open election process to elect new leadership.
Workers joined the meeting from counties across North Carolina and represented states from across Central Mexico. The meeting focused on three main priorities - reports from the many IOF working committees, the No More Deaths campaign, and election of new IOF leadership.
Committee leaders reported on IOF activities under their purview, including:
Membership Committee: Establishing a membership structure and process for members to join.
Farm & Food Workers Relief Committee: Assisting more than 2,100 workers apply for the USDA $600 assistance for those who lost income due to COVID, for a total of over $1.2 million. Many IOF members helped sign up other workers for this benefit.
Comms Committee: Operating a robust communications plan focused on Facebook and TikTok, and sharing the many media spotlights garnered by IOF members and staff.
Organizing Committee: Supporting collective action campaigns in specific labor camps around housing issues like forced meal plans, air conditioning, and washing machines.
Policy Committee: Participating in advocacy initiatives aimed at Mexican policymakers related to ending corruption at the border and accessing Mexican social security benefits.
Union Democracy Committee: Continuing to push for democracy within the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) by holding the union accountable when members grievances are not addressed and ensuring the union is not using member dues for internal election campaigning.
Health & Safety Committee: Training members on collective responsibility for heat protection, collecting and distributing heat kits, as well as using the OSHA Heat Safety app.
Food Assistance Committee: Guiding workers who need food assistance when work is slow on how to approach food pantries.
Grievance Committee: Supporting the resolution of worker grievances with individual employers, the NC Growers Association, FLOC, and the US Department of Labor (DOL). The farmworkers' main issues include mistreatment, recruitment violations, and age discrimination. In a recent case, an older worker was fired within two days for not working fast enough.
Executive Committee: Establishing the IOF organizational structure, in addition to overall priorities, and internal election procedures.
Not One More Death Campaign
At the IOF meeting, the Health & Safety committee led small group discussions on the primary demands of the Ni Una Muerte Mas or Not One More Death campaign. This is more important than ever as high temperatures are breaking heat records every week in eastern North Carolina, leading to worker deaths in the fields such as the passing of Juan Jose Ceballos. Below are the campaign priorities which IOF members are pressuring the NC Growers Association to adopt, along with comments from meeting participants about the importance of these items:
Right to Medical Attention: “Sometimes we don’t get medical attention, and we don’t speak up about it for fear that they will take away our chance to work. But medical care is necessary, especially when working in tobacco because without that care, we won’t be able to work at all.”
Breaks: “Breaks are essential to be able to regain strength so that our body can keep doing the work. If they give us breaks, we can rest a little while and be able to hydrate so we can recuperate our energy.”
Emergency Plan: “[It’s important to] help out in the case of heat stroke or heat cramps. We should make sure that all our coworkers are drinking enough water so that they can work, not only when they are feeling bad. We should have emergency numbers like 911 and follow the heat statuses in the [OSHA] app.”
No Retaliation: “We shouldn’t experience any retaliation for standing up for our labor rights, either from the grower or the supervisor.”
Functional Kitchens: “We all have the right to have a kitchen, or for the boss to give you the opportunity to cook your own food.”
Air Conditioning: “It’s important [to have air conditioning in the housing units] because of the high temperatures and to be able to get a good night’s sleep. It’s also important so that kitchen goods can be kept at a healthy temperature.”
Access to Water: “Having access to water is vital. We need it for drinking and also for our personal use in the camp.”
Access to Bathrooms: “[It’s important to] have access to basic services like hot and cold water, and in some cases making sure there is an indoor bathroom, so that you aren’t confronting any danger like snakebites. Having portable bathrooms in the fields is an obligation of the growers.”
As part of the Not One More Death campaign, and in remembrance of farmworkers who have died in the fields, IOF is hosting an event on September 1st in Rocky Mount. We will need drivers to help workers participate in the event. Stay tuned for more details.
Our heat-safety drive continues! Help IOF supply health and safety advocates with items from this Amazon Wish List. You can help prevent heat stroke and save lives.
Farmworker Leaders for a Farmworker Organization: IOF’s First Election
IOF leaders are committed to democracy within our organization, especially considering that we were founded out of an attempt to make FLOC more democratic and worker-led. That’s one reason our first election is so significant. The board of directors, which has served over the last year and a half, has done an incredible job of launching our organization and we are so proud of all they have accomplished. And we’re also proud of the board’s desire to foster and grow new leadership.
The rules for the election were set by the board, who determined that there would be an open nominations process. Workers were nominated from the floor for the roles of president and vice president, and each made a statement about why they wanted the role and what their priorities would be. Each of the six nominees lined up in the front of the hall, and workers lined up behind their candidate of choice, creating a visual representation of this democracy in action. The highest vote-getter won the role of president, and the second highest won the role of vice president.
Another, similarly organized, vote took place for the role of secretary-treasurer, and an additional four members were elected at-large to the new board.
Former president Felipe Montán then officially transferred the leadership, marking a very peaceful and supportive start to the new season of IOF officers.
Outgoing board members reflected on their service and what it meant to support new leadership. Eladio commented, “It was an honor to pass on the torch and to hear other comrades congratulate us for the work that we have done, and to accomplish an organization of all farmworker leaders. Many workers were enthusiastic to see the work and accomplishments that we have done.”
Outgoing board member Marino reiterated that the past board would be available to support the new leadership: “We will continue to stay connected, each and every one of us that has moved on to make space for the new board members. I want to make it clear that we will not leave you, we will support you all. When I started, I did not know much and will continue to learn. What happened on Sunday is a good thing. We are not leaving, we are sharing and passing on the torch. It was very democratic, we have a new group of leaders.”
Congratulations to the new board members - Pascual, Victor, Armando, Abel, Pedro, Juan, and Adan! We wish you all the best.
Volunteer Drivers Helped Make it Happen
Workers could not have attended this important meeting without the support of more than 40 volunteers who drove sometimes hundreds of miles to pick up workers from their isolated labor camps in rural North Carolina to bring them to the event. We are incredibly grateful to the dozens of supporters who took so much time to help make this happen.
It was a meaningful experience both ways. Erin Callahan, a first time driver, reflected on how much she learned from Felipe on their drive to Duplin County, about agriculture in Mexico and in North Carolina, about the process of and reasons for coming to the US to work for nearly 20 years, as well as about the forming of the IOF organization.
Callahan commented, “Being able to support such a unique and important gathering was gratifying in itself. But through the conversation, I feel like I was given so much more than I gave. I just offered a ride!”
Not all drivers had such an easy time. Farmworkers have so little control over their schedules that there were many last-minute cancellations. At least 30 workers had to cancel on Sunday morning due to a number of factors, including grower-introduced roadblocks. Read on for examples of why some workers had to cancel.
One driver arrived at the labor camp only to have the grower tell the workers that they were free to go to the meeting, but couldn’t come back to the camp if that’s the choice they made.
One camp of 20 workers, who were all signed up to attend the meeting, had been asking the grower for more hours of work all week and were denied the opportunity. That was the case until Sunday, the usual day off, when they were told they’d be working until 4 p.m. The IOF meeting was at 2:30 p.m.
One driver was five minutes away from the camp when we heard that the grower showed up to take the workers to get their checks cashed, and told them that was their only opportunity. By the time the driver arrived, the workers were already gone.
One camp of workers who had RSVP-ed to the meeting was surprised on Sunday morning with orders to clean up the entire camp that day.
Despite the roadblocks, over 100 workers were able to attend the IOF meeting because of such an amazing show of volunteer support. We are so grateful for this solidarity!
Former IOF President Felipe Montán expressed his appreciation for the drivers and said, "The outgoing Board of Directors of El Futuro Es Nuestro or It’s Our Future thanks you for your immense support as volunteers and drivers. Thank you immensely for your time and collaboration with us and for believing in our organization. We hope to continue with that enthusiasm and support from each one of you. A big hug and a thousand thanks."
FLOC Election: A Brief Update
The US Department of Labor (DOL) has continued to investigate matters surrounding the a new FLOC election, mandated after the DOL found gross irregularities in the 2022 election. The new election was supposed to take place by September 2024, but it seems unlikely that deadline will be kept.
IOF was informed that there would be an election site in North Carolina, unlike in 2022, and that mail-in ballots would be accepted, also unlike in 2022. However, there are few other details. We still do not have an official list of FLOC members as required. We presume FLOC has not turned over this information to the DOL.
We do know that FLOC’s numerous “associate members”, non-farmworkers who make a $30 donation to join the union, will again have the same right to vote as farmworkers covered under the FLOC contract. Unfortunately, that means that non-farmworkers, friends and family of FLOC president Baldemar Velasquez, politicians, and even random individuals could still potentially determine the outcome of this election, if and when it happens.
We are aware of four individuals who have filed election-related complaints against FLOC and Velasquez that the DOL is investigating, including use of union resources for Baldemar’s campaign, threats towards workers who don’t support Baldemar, and lack of representation for workers protected by the union.
We will keep you posted and regardless, the workers will be at the forefront of everything IOF does.
This article was adapted from an email newsletter written by El Nuestro El Future or It's Our Future.
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