The Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) is seeking volunteers to drive state farmworkers to their regional union meeting in Greensboro on Sunday, July 8th (exact location TBA). "Project Solidarity" volunteers are needed to drive migrant workers from labor camps around
the state to the meeting, which will last from 12 to 6 p.m. and include a meal and workshops. It is a full day committment that includes a donation of gas and miles on volunteers' vehicles. Volunteers need not speak Spanish. FLOC also is collecting funds to offset the cost of gas
for drivers.
To sign up or to make a donation, contact Alexandria Jones of the National Farmworker Ministry in NC, at ajones@nfwm.org or 919-489-4485.
For more information, contact Nego at friskyscootch@yahoo.com.
Background information:
Two years ago, after many years of struggle, FLOC won the largest union contract in NC history, and now represents the 5000 H2A farm workers that labor in our fields every season. H2A is the temporary work visa that grants these workers their coveted 'legal status.' However, 5,000 is a very small fraction of the estimated 120,000 - 200,000 undocumented migrants who work the fields in NC. These workers must all be contacted individually, which is one of the
many arduous tasks of FLOC organizers.
Farm work is incredibly labor-intensive and very dangerous, especially when there is so little protection for worker's rights and safety, as is often the case in the exploitative farm-labor system that relies on the labor of hundreds of thousands of low wage workers with no legal status to be here in the first place. In the past 3 years alone, at least 12 workers have died in the fields of NC.
Recognizing that individuals and the economy of our state are utterly dependent on the work of these vulnerable people, FLOC's "Project Solidarity" provides volunteers an opportunity to not only help in a concrete way, but also to better educate themselves on the many issues that farmworkers face. For fledgling Spanish-speakers, this is a great opportunity to practice and engage.
