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
PREFACE
The issue of
justice for farm workers is one that has plagued this society for much of the 20th
Century. As we enter the 21st Century the problem is further complicated by
developments in the world’s economic and political spheres. Free trade within the context of economic
globalization subjects local communities, including farmers and farm workers, to
conditions and circumstances which affect their lives but over which they have no control.
Events in the grain producing areas of the Midwestern United States impact the lives of
subsistence corn producers in Mexico and other parts of the world.
Economic
globalization has its winners as well as its losers. Some of the losers from Mexico and
Central America join the ranks of the migrant farm workers in the US in search of a
livelihood that is denied them in their home countries. These workers, although essential
to the agricultural industry, are at the bottom of the economic ladder. They represent a
voiceless, powerless and exploited community; largely hidden from public view.
The issue of
justice for farm workers is not a North Carolina issue. It is a national disgrace. While
the focus of the work of the delegation is on the cucumber and pickle industry in North
Carolina, we found it difficult to separate North Carolina from the rest of the United
States. To do so would be to localize and minimize a systemic national problem. The
delegation’s report therefore addresses the issue from a national perspective while
focusing on North Carolina.
Just as it is
difficult to separate North Carolina from the rest of the country, it is difficult to
separate Mt. Olive Pickle Company from the rest of the agricultural industry in North
Carolina. While it is true that Mt. Olive, as a processor, does not employ farm workers,
the Company is an integral part of the system that contributes to and benefits from the
exploitation of these workers. Mt. Olive is
in a position to influence and improve the conditions of farm workers who produce the
cucumbers that the Company uses. The basic issue is one of justice for farm workers –
one that is larger that the current conflict between FLOC and Mt. Olive. It is not about
the personnel policies of Mt. Olive as a corporate employer nor is it about FLOC and its
organizing methods.
This report, in
many instances, cites references and draws conclusions that are national in scope and may
or may not reflect actual conditions in North Carolina or in the cucumber/pickle industry.
This is not to infer that these are the specific conditions in North Carolina or in the
industry. However, there is evidence to support the conclusion that the conditions of farm
workers in the US and in North Carolina, generally, reflect the conditions of workers in
the pickle industry.
We wish to thank
the following individuals and organizations: Ms. Regina Luginbuhl of the North Carolina
Department of Labor, Baldemar Velasquez and the field organizers of FLOC; Mr. William
Bryan, CEO of Mt. Olive Pickle Company and his staff; Rev. Jimmy Cummings of the United
Methodist Conference of North Carolina, the National Farm Worker Ministry and Sister
Evelyn Mattern of the North Carolina Council of Churches.
J. Benton
Rhoades, Rev. Willis Goodwin (Board Representatives);
Winston Carroo, Stephen Bartlett (Staff).
Agricultural
Missions, Inc. 475 Riverside Drive; Room 624, New York, NY 10115.