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
THE MT. OLIVE PICKLE BOYCOTT
With an estimated
seasonal influx of 100,000 migrant farm workers into North Carolina each year (of an
estimated 300,000+ migrants in all jobs in that state), the majority of them poor and
undocumented Mexicans and Central Americans, this boycott addresses a demographic and
social crisis of large dimension. The rise of
global free trade has accelerated the impoverishment of subsistence agricultural
communities in Mexico and Central America. The dumping of US grain surpluses at below
market prices is one such example, resulting in the loss of livelihoods for thousands of
small farmers in Mexico and other Central American countries. The poor state of these
national economies cannot provide employment opportunities for these displaced farmers and
migration to the US, both legal and illegal, represents their only hope. Impoverished
rural Mexicans and Central Americans are now coming to the U.S. in record numbers as a
mobile, largely undocumented and vulnerable workforce. These are the workers that end up
in the fields of North Carolina (and other states) and who are subjected to the poor
working conditions that FLOC is attempting to improve.
FLOC’S
Position
The Farm Labor
Organizing Committee (FLOC) initiated a boycott of the Mt. Olive Pickle Company on March
17, 1999. The boycott was initiated after the refusal of the management of Mt. Olive
Pickle Company to enter into negotiations with the Union. The stated reason for the
boycott is to bring Mt. Olive to the bargaining table to negotiate for fair wages and
livable working conditions for farm workers on the North Carolina farms which supply Mt.
Olive with cucumbers. The boycott is aimed at securing the right of farm workers to
organize through FLOC in order to collectively bargain for decent hours, overtime pay,
safe drinking water and proper sanitation in the fields and in workers' housing.
FLOC is seeking
to negotiate a three-way contract between Mt. Olive, the growers and the workers. Such a
contract would be modeled after those in Michigan and Ohio, involving Campbell’s Soup
and Vlasic Pickles and seeks to extend organizing gains made in the past two decades where
7,000 farm workers now benefit from fairer working agreements. To date, more than 200
organizations have endorsed the boycott and a number of Kroger stores in NE Ohio have
removed Mt. Olive products from their shelves, in response to consumer demands.
In choosing to
boycott Mt. Olive, FLOC contends that the Company benefits from the current system that
exploits farm workers and is in a position to make positive changes. As a leader in the
industry in North Carolina, Mt. Olive is in a position to exert influence over the growers
it contracts with and to establish a precedent for labor relations in the fields and fair
working conditions for farm workers.
MT. Olive’s
Position
Mt. Olive
contends that it is being unfairly and unjustly targeted by FLOC and that many of the
accusations being leveled against the Company are false. In defending the Company, CEO
William Bryan’s main contention is that Mt. Olive does not employ farm workers and
therefore bears no responsibility for their wages and other working conditions. According
to Mr. Bryan, Mt. Olive enters into contracts with its cucumber suppliers and growers who
are independent of the Company’s control and while he seeks to do business with
responsible suppliers he thinks it is wrong for him to force a union contract on them.
Mr. Bryan states that many of the accusations of abuse of farm
workers are not true of the cucumber industry and of the Mt. Olive Company. In addition,
he questions the credibility of FLOC’s assertions that unionized workers in Michigan
and Ohio are paid a higher rate. Mr. Bryan
points to Mt. Olive as a responsible “corporate citizen” citing the many
community initiatives and organizations the company supports as well as the working
conditions and the benefits the company offers it’s own employees.
While being
highly critical of the tactics used by FLOC in attempting to get the Company to negotiate,
Mr. Bryan stated that he is not opposed to union representation for the farm workers.
However, he is not willing to engage in negotiations with FLOC, but instead suggested a
discussion involving all interested parties including processors, growers, government
agencies, churches etc. Mr. Bryan was very vague on who should convene such a meeting and
for what specific purposes.
The Position of
the North Carolina Ecumenical Community
The North
Carolina ecumenical community is not united on this issue. Many local congregations have
supported the boycott while others have not. While the North Carolina Council of Churches
has supported the boycott, some denominational bodies at the state level, have not. The
Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, through the Bishop and the Priests’ Council, has
issued a strongly worded statement in endorsement of the boycott. The actions of the
Bishop and the Priests’ Council is a reflection on the Catholic Church’s
“long standing commitment to economic justice for farm workers.”
This lack of consensus among the churches is not surprising given the historical, social and political circumstances within North Carolina and the economic implications for local communities and churches. North Carolina is a “right to work” state and is clearly part of the “non-union south” where unionization is seen as a threat to the status quo. The church, as an extension of the local community, reflects the values and beliefs inherent in that community. Some local churches do not support the boycott because it may be seen as a threat to the economic well being of their members, their communities and of the churches themselves. At the same time, the ecumenical community is one source of strong support and advocacy for the boycott. Many local congregations organize activities such as picketing, leaflet distribution and lobbying of retailers to remove Mt. Olive products from their shelves.