WORKER MINISTRY

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WORKER MINISTRY
National Farm Worker Ministry
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• Do not take advantage of a hired man
• who is poor and needy,
• whether he is a brother Israelite
• or an alien living in one of your towns.
• Pay him his wages each day before sunset ,
  because he is poor and counting on it
  Deuteronomy 2414-15

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Whose hands harvest the food on our table?
What are their lives like?
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85 of our fruits and vegetables are harvested by
hand
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The average annual income for a farm worker in
the U.S. is 11,000.
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Farmworkers are often paid by the piece, not by
the hour.
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In Florida tomato fields, workers earn 40 to
50 per 32 lb bucket. In order to make 50.00
they must pick 125 buckets.
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Farm workers are not eligible for overtime pay,
despite regularly working 12-14 hour days.
Several workers have died across the U.S. as a
result of exposure to extreme heat.
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• Woe to him who builds his house by
  unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by
  injustice who makes his neighbor serve him for
  nothing, and does not give him his wages
• Jeremiah 2213

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Far too often, farm workers live in isolated
locations and have trouble accessing needed
services. Their housing is hidden behind tree
lines away from main roads.
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• Structurally unsound buildings
• are not unusual

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EXAMPLES OF FARM WORKER HOUSING
living room
Windows only in front wall
No kitchen workers must purchase their meals
from the crew leader who hires them.
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When no mattresses are provided, workers may
sleep on small cots, on the floor or on cardboard.
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Kitchens can be ill-equipped, not maintained,
and unsanitary
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Lack of storage for food and for clothes
No privacy in showers
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Inadequate laundry facilities, especially for
work clothes contaminated with pesticides.
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Health of Farmworkers

• Farm work is one of the most dangerous
  occupations in the country, yet few workers are
  covered by workers compensation
• Farm workers suffer from higher rates of heat
  stress, dermatitis, influenza, respiratory
  illnesses and tuberculosis
• Farm workers continue to die due to heat related
  illnesses.

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Pesticides are a serious threat to the health of
farmworkers
Empty pesticide buckets just yards from
farmworker housing
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Farmworkers Organizing

• United Farm Workers, founded by Cesar Chavez
  Dolores HuertaCA, AZ, TX, WA, FL, PA
• Farm Labor Organizing Committee OH, MI, NC
• PCUNTree Planters and Farmworkers United of the
  Northwest Oregon
• Coalition of Immokalee Workers Southwest Florida

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Farmworkers Call for Justice

• Farmworkers have been excluded from National
  Labor Relations Act, protecting other workers
  when they organize
• Farmworkers must rely on uspeople of faith and
  consumers to help them leverage power
• Recent boycott victories Taco Bell, Gallo Wine

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• Exodus 1249
• There shall be one law for the native and for
  the stranger who sojourns among you.

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• National Farm Worker Ministry
• An interfaith organization supporting farm
  workers as they organize for justice
• Member organizations include nearly 40 national,
  state and local religious bodies

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• NFWM
• Started in 1920s as charity outreach
• In 1960s, Cesar Chavez challenged the church to
  support farmworker organizing for CHANGE, not
  just charity
• Today, we mobilize churches to support
  farmworkers organizing for justice, empowerment
  and equality
• We connect people of faith with farm workers

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Is your faith community represented?

• Alliance of Baptists
• California Church IMPACT!
• Catholic Migrant Farmworker Network
• Central Conference of American Rabbis
• Church of the Brethren
• Church Women United Illinois
• Church Women United - So. California/So. Nevada
• Cumberland Presbyterian Church
• Christian Church (DOC), Disciples Farm Worker
  Ministry
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Division
  for Church and Society
• Franciscan Friars, Province of Santa Barbara
• Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls
• The Loretto Community
• NFWM Florida Advisory Group
• North Carolina Council of Churches, Farm Worker
  Ministry Committee
• Orange County Interfaith Committee to Aid Farm
  Workers
• Oregon Farm Worker Ministry
• Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters
• Pinellas Support Committee of the NFWM

• Sarasota-Manatee Farm Worker Support Committee
• School Sisters of Notre Dame, Shalom North
  America
• Sisters of Charity, BVM
• Sisters of Charity of Nazareth
• Dominican Sisters of Peace
• Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi
• Society of the Sacred Heart
• Southern California Ecumenical Council
• Unitarian Universalist - Migrant Ministry
• United Church of Christ Justice and Witness
  Ministries
• United Methodist Church - General Board of Church
  and Society
• United Methodist Church General Board of Global
  Ministries
• United Methodist Church - Women's Division

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• Amos 521-24
• let justice roll down like waters, and
  righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

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NFWM Offices

• North Carolina
• Florida
• Oregon
• Missouri
• California

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NFWMs Work

• Provide truth tours, workshops and publications
  that educate the public about abuses in the
  agricultural industry

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NFWMs Work

• Secure endorsements from religious bodies for
  farm worker campaigns and advocate for the right
  to organize, labor agreements, and policy change.

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NFWMs Work

• Mobilize vital public support locally and
  nationally through support groups, an action
  alert system, demonstrations and boycotts.

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NFWMs Work

• Distribute resources for prayer and reflection
  throughout the year on themes related to farm
  worker justice.

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NFWMs Work

• Link people of faith with workers in labor camps
  to reduce farm worker isolation and build
  cross-cultural relationships.

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Victories NFWM Has Contributed To

• Gallo of Sonoma Campaign
• On September 14, 2005, the United Farm Workers
  signed a contract with Gallo, securing a wage
  raise and a grievance process, as well as other
  important gains for the farm worker who pick the
  grapes used to produce their wines.

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Victories, cont.

• Mt. Olive Boycott
• On September 16, 2004 an historic labor
  agreement was signed between Farm Labor
  Organizing Committee (FLOC), North Carolina
  Growers Association, and the Mt. Olive pickle
  company. This contract was signed after 5 ½
  years of boycott.

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Victories, cont.

• Taco Bell Boycott
• On March 8, 2005, the Coalition of Immokalee
  Workers (CIW), representing many tomato pickers
  for Taco Bells parent company, Yum Brands,
  signed a agreement with Taco Bell to increase
  wages and help improve workers living and
  working conditions.

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Victories, cont.

• Following the Taco Bell agreement, CIW launches
  successful campaigns with other fast food
  companies and then food retailers and food
  service companies.
• Coalition of Immokalee Workers sign agreements
  with McDonalds in 2007 Burger King, Subway
  Whole Foods in 2008 Bon Appétit, Compass Group
  East Coast Growers in 2009

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Victories, cont.

• Threemile Canyon Dairy campaign
• July 2007 Union contract covering dairy farm
  workers at mega-dairy in Oregon
• Followed by contracts at Willow Creek Dairy and
  Beef Northwest feedlots

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Current Projects

• The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and
  Security Act
• AgJOBS would allow immigrant farm workers to earn
  the legal right to permanently stay in this
  country by continuing to work in agriculture and
  reforms the current H2A guestworker program,
  providing growers with a safe and stable
  workforce.
• AgJOBS was reintroduced in the Senate in 2009
  however no action has yet been taken on it.
• NFWM also supports comprehensive immigration
  reform.

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Current Projects, cont.

• Reynolds Tobacco, North Carolina The Farm Labor
  Organizing Committee (FLOC) is calling on
  Reynolds Tobacco to take responsibility for the
  oppressive conditions in which tobacco workers,
  from whom Reynolds profits, labor in NC. Reynolds
  is refusing to talk with FLOC.

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Current Projects, cont.

• Giumarra Campaign NFWM supports the UFW and the
  workers at the company of Giumarra Vineyards in
  their struggle for a union contract.

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Current Projects, cont.
CIW Fair Food Campaign (Chipotle, Publix, Kroger,
Sodexo, Aramark) Coalition of Immokalee Workers
continues its Fair Food Campaign to increase
wages for Florida tomato pickers and establish an
industry-wide code of conduct developed with the
full participation of farm workers.
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• Exodus 239
• You shall not oppress a stranger you know the
  heart of a stranger, for you were strangers in
  the land of Egypt.

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What You Can Do

• Pray and reflect
• Write a letter
• Volunteer
• Organize locally
• Donate
• For more information on all current campaigns
  and action alerts, visit our website at
  www.nfwm.org

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• Sources
• Public Voice for Food and Health Policy, 1989
• National Center for Farmworker Health,
  www.ncfh.org
• Agriculture Council of America, and Paul Lilly,
  North Carolina State University
• National Agriculture Workers Survey, US DOL March
  2000
• Halting Heat Death, www.kget.com (posted 7/13/06)
  
• Photographs courtesy of
• Coalition of Immokalee Workers
• Student Action with Farmworkers
• Derek Long
• NFWM staff