Report On The Mt. Olive Pickle Boycott By The Farm Labor Organizing Committee
And
Migrant Farm Worker Conditions In North Carolina And In the United States

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 

In March of 1999, the Farm Labor organizing Committee (FLOC), an Ohio based labor union representing farm laborers initiated a consumer boycott of Mt. Olive Pickle products. Mt. Olive Pickle Company, located in Mt. Olive North Carolina, is the largest independent pickle producer in the United States. It is also the nation’s second largest processor of pickles and pickle products. According to FLOC, the consumer boycott was called following unsuccessful attempts to bring the management of Mt. Olive to the table to negotiate improved wages and working conditions for farm workers who produce the cucumbers processed by Mt. Olive. In April of 1999, the Board of Agricultural Missions unanimously endorsed the boycott. 

The Board of Agricultural Missions, at its April 2000 meeting, adopted a resolution reaffirming its support of the boycott.  The resolution further directed that a delegation of staff and board visit North Carolina to observe the working conditions of farm workers, to discuss the boycott with interested parties and to prepare a report to be shared with the Governing Board of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCC).  Although some offices of the NCCC such as the National Ministries Unit and the Racial Justice Working Group have endorsed the boycott, the issue has not been presented to the Governing Board.  A four member delegation from Agricultural Missions visited North Carolina and met with the following individuals and organizations, among others:
Ms. Regina Luginbuhl, Agricultural Safety and  Health Section, North Carolina Department of Labor
Mr. William Brian, CEO, Mt. Olive Pickle Company
Sister Evelyn Mattern, North Carolina Council of Churches
Rev. Jimmy Cummings, North Carolina Commission of Church and Society, United Methodist Church
National Farm Worker Ministry Board and staff
Baldemar Valsequez, FLOC President
FLOC field organizers 

June 16-19, 2000,  the delegation visited labor camps, the Mt. Olive Pickle processing plant (at the invitation of Mr. William Bryan) and attended part of the meeting of the Board of the National Farm Worker Ministry.