ST. LOUIS - Wed Nov 10 - Baldemar Velasquez, the labor leader, and William Bryan, the corporate executive - signatories to a recent historic labor accord that ended the five and one-half year consumer boycott of the Mt. Olive Pickle Company -- were honored today with the “Excellence in Peace and Justice Award” of the National Council of Churches and Church World Service, meeting here in their annual General Assembly.

Bryan is President, Treasurer and Director of the Mt. Olive Pickle Company, Mt. Olive, N.C., the largest independent pickle company in the United States. Velasquez is Founder and President of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), which organized the boycott and won the support of more than 300 organizations, including the National Council of Churches, United Methodist Church, United Church of Christ and Alliance of Baptists.

At issue was the right of farm workers in North Carolina to unionize. The agreement negotiated with the North Carolina Growers' Association and with Mt. Olive, covers over 8,000 H2-A "guestworkers,"  including those who pick the cucumbers for the growers who supply Mt. Olive Pickle Company. Under the agreement that was signed Sept. 16, these workers, all from Mexico, were the first such workers in the history of the United States to win union representation and a contract.

“Bill and Baldemar, today you stand together at this podium,” said the Rev. Michael Livingston of the International Council of Community Churches, the NCC/CWS Assembly’s President Elect. “But less than two months ago, you sat across the table from each other -- and with representatives of the North Carolina Growers Association. You were engaged in tough three-way negotiations…. Yours was not an easy task. But the historic agreement that you reached and your presence here today is a visible demonstration of the reconciled relationships that - with hard work and the grace of God - can arise from conflict.”

Livingston saluted Bryan especially “for the courageous and innovative spirit that you displayed in entering into North Carolina’s first labor agreement with farm workers. We give thanks for your willingness to incorporate this important measure of justice into your business practices.

“Our audience today will want to know that the agreement is significant not only as a first of its kind and because of the number of farm workers involved, but also for the size of the industry that they supply,” he continued. “Mt. Olive Pickle lays claim to being the largest independent pickle company in the United States, packing and selling more than 80 million jars of product each year, for which it processes 120 million pounds of cucumbers and peppers. You also may want to know that the company contributes approximately $450,000 annually-in product and in financial contributions-to organizations in the Mt. Olive community and in markets that the company serves.”

Livingston saluted Velasquez for his “deep commitment to justice for people living in poverty, and for your persistent and creative leadership, not only throughout this most recent boycott, but also as the president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee for more than 35 years.”

Born in Texas, Velasquez is the son of migrant farm workers and began picking berries and tomatoes when he was six. While in college (he was the first in his family to graduate), he formed the Toledo-based Farm Labor Organizing Committee in 1967.

“Under Baldemar’s visionary leadership, FLOC has gained national and international recognition for its efforts,” Livingston said. “He pioneered the use of three-way negotiations among the union, growers and corporate food processors, recognizing that it is the large corporations that set the price for the produce they buy. He also addressed the gap created because the National Labor Relations Act does not cover farm workers.

“His response was to negotiate an independent commission that functions as a labor relations board and is recognized by the agriculture industry. And he has worked with Mexican unions so that multinational corporations that operate both in the U.S. and Mexico could not succeed in pitting workers of the two countries against each other. Over the decades, Baldemar and FLOC have negotiated agreements that have transformed the lives of the people who pick cucumbers and tomatoes in Ohio and Michigan. The new agreement promises to do the same in North Carolina.”

Velasquez and Bryan accepted their awards during a luncheon that also honored civil rights pioneer Dorothy Height (J. Irwin Miller Award), Eden Theological Seminary Professor Michael Kinnamon (Excellence in Unity Award), and “Music with a Mission” composer and performer Tim Janis (Excellence in Hope Award) for his support to individuals and institutions battling cancer and AIDS.

Recipients of the NCC-CWS Excellence in Peace and Justice Award must, among other qualities, “live out the church’s calling to be an instrument and sign of God’s mission of reconciliation, justice and peace; seek the realization of God’s realm through social and political action; advocate principles such as engaging civic leaders on the values and ethics affirmed by our faith, rebuilding communities to bring an end to cycles of violence, working for economic, racial and/or environmental justice, supporting affordable and accessible health care for all, advocating equitable education opportunities for all children, protecting and promoting civil liberties.”

Church World Service is a global humanitarian aid agency and ministry of 36 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations, working in partnership with local organizations to support sustainable self-help and development, meet emergency needs, aid refugees, and address the root causes of poverty and powerlessness. The National Council of Churches USA is the largest ecumenical association in the United States, whose 36 Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and African-American member churches in turn encompass 45 million adherents in more than 100,000 local congregations in all 50 states.

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Photos by Kathleen Cameron.  Top: Bryan, General Assembly President Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr.  Bottom: Awardees with NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar (left); Assembly President Elect Michael Livingston, and representatives of the United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church and Alliance of Baptists.

Media Contacts:
Ann Walle, Church World Service, 212-870-2654, awalle@churchworldservice.org
Carol Fouke, National Council of Churches, 646-258-8896; cfouke@ncccusa.org