National Farm Worker Ministry 438 N. Skinker Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63130 (p) 314-726-6470 | (f) 314-726 6427 | nfwm@nfwm.org HARVESTING FOR MT. OLIVE: A NATIONAL FARM WORKER MINISTRY DELEGATION REPORT During the month of June 1999, we members of a National Farm Worker Ministry (NFWM) delegation visited four labor camps in four North Carolina counties (Greene, Lenoir, Nash, and Wilson) in order to listen to the experiences of the harvesters who pick the cucumbers that the Mt. Olive Pickle Company processes. The smallest camp housed only a handful of workers, the largest, hundreds. The workers whom we visited had had very little or no prior contact with union organizers of any kind. All of the visited camps housed farm workers who picked cucumbers bought by the Mt. Olive Pickle Company. We had come to see first hand what the conditions are like so that we could report our eyewitness experience to our colleagues and to others. Below are some highlights and impressions of that experience. OBSERVATIONS NFWM accompanied a Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) North Carolina organizer to a labor camp housing Hispanic workers under the H-2A "guestworker" program. There were about 10-12 men living in a house with a small kitchen. They were reluctant to speak about their jobs or living conditions, so the organizer shared his own experiences as a farm worker and explained why he was with the union. The workers seemed very interested in what the organizer was saying, but still were not willing to talk about their own situation. Two of the workers had first worked in the U.S. during last year's picking season, and the rest were working here now for the first time, so they didn't know what was considered "fair" wages or acceptable hours and breaks. They were upset to find out other workers contracted under the H-2A program were getting paid 15-20 cents more per bucket than they were. Finally, one of the workers said that they had been told many things about the union - one thing was that the union was trying to get rid of the H-2A workers because they do not qualify for a union contract. The organizer explained what FLOC was doing, why they were organizing, the success in Ohio and the benefits of a union contract. When the visit was over, the workers seemed hesitant as to what to believe. Another camp was visited where there were about four very young workers. Another worker in his late forties, interested in hearing what the FLOC organizer had to say, immediately started to talk about how low their wages are. These were also H-2A workers, including the older man, who said that this would be his last time contracted under the H-2A program because he was too old to be hired. He said that in the offices in his hometown there is a sign that says "Jobs available for young men between ages of 18 and 25 years" because growers are looking for young, fast working guys. This man was interested in learning more about FLOC and organizing. At another labor camp, the farm workers had been working in the fields for 12 hours. While this is not necessarily a typical day, we were visiting during the "peak" of the season—the few weeks when the cucumbers are ready for picking. The grower told NFWM that his workers had been in the field harvesting cucumbers from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. that day. On some days it's only ten hours, others fourteen, he added. We also learned that on the day of our visit the crew of about 16 workers had picked 35 "boxes" of cucumbers and that one "box" weighs 1,000 pounds. The grower also said that it was important that we not keep them up too late because tomorrow they'd have the same schedule. The grower expressed resentment that other, non-H-2A growers right down the road got away with providing much shabbier living conditions. He said that the requirements of the H-2A program are stricter. When asked what he'd like to change about the program, he said that he'd like to see the workers pay for part of their upkeep. He mentioned that they get an hour and a half lunch break, that they can leave the fields and go home to eat comfortably, and that if they need to take an extra break, he doesn't keep them working nonstop. The grower, who knew in advance that we would be coming, stayed with us throughout the entire visit, except for a brief interval. We were told that we were free to visit his workers, but only if we checked with him first. When we arrived at the farm workers' housing, a farm worker greeted us, and then three others came out of their bedroom-in total, eight workers were living in the house. The house on the inside did not appear as run-down as had been seen in other labor camps; in fact, a FLOC organizer had mentioned that this was one of the best camps in North Carolina. During our visit with the workers, the grower monopolized the conversation, answering questions that had been addressed to the workers (even personal questions such as names and hometowns). He also uninvitedly helped himself to some of the workers' food and handled items that didn't belong to him. While the grower was in the room, the workers did not express any complaints about the conditions, even when asked directly by the grower himself and told to tell the truth. When the grower stepped out of the room for a while, we were able to hold a more relaxed conversation with the workers. We explained briefly to the workers who we were as NFWM, and asked them if they were comfortable speaking in front of the grower. A few of the workers shrugged, still a bit reticent. We then asked the workers, with one of us translating, what in their situation they would change if they could. One worker said, and others agreed, that they would like to be paid what was agreed upon. They had been promised 28-40 hours of work a week, but because the grower hadn't had much work for them in the "off-peak" season before the harvest, they had instead averaged only 20-28 hours a week. At that point, the farm workers started to talk more openly about their situation. It turned out that the glowing report we'd gotten from the grower about the working conditions was not accurate; the workers have not experienced the mealtimes, breaks and other amenities the grower had just proudly described to us. All the workers strongly agreed that it would be very hard for them to complain about abuses and conditions because they could not afford to jeopardize their jobs. A little income is better than nothing. Anyone who had dared to speak up in the past had been blacklisted (one worker emphasized this by "slitting" his throat with his thumbnail). Word is spread of any H-2A workers who have spoken up about their working or living conditions, and those workers are sent back to Mexico and do not get rehired. One worker told us, "The reality is that we are treated like slaves. I think dogs are treated better than we are." And when asked if that included this grower who had just said how well he treats them, all the workers nodded yes and responded, "all growers in North Carolina, including this grower." Upon going to visit other workers, we noticed that the house was dark when we arrived, and the workers most likely had gone to sleep, but the grower walked in and called loudly to them to come out to meet us, even though we had said we would prefer not to bother them. We visited another, larger farm, employing about 600 workers. Shortly after we arrived, a bus drove in, carrying some workers. We were impressed with the hospitality expressed by one of the workers, who welcomed us to his quarters, graciously gesturing us in and inviting us to sit down. We entered a small wooden room with "windows" (open shutters, screens only, no glass) in one wall and four beds - there was no floor space for cabinets or chairs or other furniture. Three other workers were sitting on the beds - cots, really, placed only about 18 inches apart, with old, badly misshapen bedsprings. Three of us also sat on the beds, and one selected a cucumber bucket, upturned, for his seat. The room was small - about 10x11 feet - and the walls were painted black. The National Farm Worker Ministry seeks to be present with and support farm workers as they organize to overcome powerlessness and achieve justice, equality and freedom. We are an interfaith organization that educates people of faith and their institutions about the conditions facing farm workers in this country, and mobilizes support for farm workers7 efforts to improve their living and working conditions. Over seventy-five years of ministry with farm workers has convinced us that union contracts are the workers best hope for a better life. Farm workers have been excluded from much of the legislation protecting other workers. When legislation is in place, it is rarely enforced. A union contract not only helps ensure decent wages, benefits and protection from dangerous pesticides, but it includes a grievance process which means that the workers themselves are able to enforce protections that are built into the contract. It makes a tremendous difference. For some workers a union contract means that for the first time they are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. So when FLOC began organizing in North Carolina, it was natural for the Ministry to be there with them from the beginning, placing staff for the campaign there, bringing in our Board members from around the country for meetings there, etc. We knew that the churches had played a pivotal role in the FLOC struggle in Ohio and Michigan. Harry Carroll, vice-president ofHeinz, admitted to an NFWM gathering in 1994 that it was the support of the churches more than any other group, that pushed companies to sign contracts. But it is important for the churches to be present with farm workers not just because we have large constituencies and can be effective. We who participate in the work of the National Farm Worker Ministry do so out of our faith in a God who demands justice and equality in relationships. We believe that when workers, owners and managers sit down to negotiate contracts, there is a significant shift in the power equation and their relationships take a step closer to those that Christ envisioned and modeled. We believe that a union can facilitate communication rather than hinder it. Many of the churches in North Carolina have been very supportive on this campaign -from providing food and housing for farm workers and their supporters while marching, to speaking out from their pulpits, or at meetings, gatherings and rallies. They seem to recognize that FLOC is interested in addressing the causes, not just the symptoms of a problem they've known about in their state for many years. They are tired of seeing their brothers and sisters in the fields suffer, and they believe that FLOC can make a difference. Now that FLOC has been compelled to call a boycott in the hopes that that economic pressure will bring Mt. Olive to the table, it is essential that those churches stay in there and support that boycott. Sometimes in the church we think our role is to reconcile - and that heated campaigns and boycotts have no place. In fact, there is no true reconciliation until a conflict is resolved. This conflict won't be resolved until farm workers are guaranteed better wages, working conditions and respect, and a process to keep those in place when the public stops watching. We may look for the ambiguity that enables us to avoid controversy, but scripture doesn't give us a lot of choice in situations like this; we are clearly called to stand with the poor. We spoke with two of the four workers. The man who welcomed us said that this was his first year working in North Carolina. He was from Mexico and, when asked what he would like to be different, prefaced his remarks with the statement that he would like a lot of things, but realized that Mexican workers come here to do what American workers can't or won't do. He had four young sons in Mexico and did not expect to see them this year. He was direct and friendly and said he had seen no violence in the camp. He didn't know where the cucumbers he picked would go, and he said he was just hearing about the union for the first time-he didn't know if it would be good or not. He had worked in Florida picking citrus and found harvesting cucumbers much harder than picking citrus because of the constant stooping over. His main complaint was the low pay and the extreme difficulty of stoop labor. This worker also complained of their complete dependence on the crew leader. These workers were mostly undocumented and were supervised by crew leaders who were also the coyotes who brought the workers directly from Mexico to the labor camp in North Carolina. There were two crew leaders in this camp, and each crew leader had about 60 workers. The crew to whom we spoke had been here one month. There were also a number of other camps on this farm-later, we saw some of them across the acres and acres of cucumbers. Another worker had heard about this camp from other workers in Florida, and he also found a difficult part of the experience to be dependence on the crew leaders, especially for transportation in this isolated place. He works about six months of the year and makes about $5,000 at this farm; the workers do planting and harvesting of cucumbers, tobacco, and sweet potatoes, which are not finished until November. (There is no heat in this housing, and in November it can be quite cold in North Carolina.) For picking cucumbers, these workers receive 60-65 cents per five-gallon bucket. A bucket sells for 80- 85 cents at the grading station; the crew leader gets the 20-cent difference. The FLOC organizer commented that wages here have not increased in three years. The worker said that nine percent of his paycheck is taken out for Social Security, taxes, and the like; these workers are not H-2A workers. Also, workers each pay $45.00 per week to the crew leader for food, whether or not they themselves work and are paid that week. For the $45.00 food payment, which includes only two meals a day, they receive mostly rice and beans. They are charged extra for coffee, drinks, and pastries. When asked what the biggest problem is, workers 1 and 2 agreed that it is low wages. They also mentioned 8- to 14-hour days with two 15-minute breaks and one hour (unpaid) for lunch. When asked if they have any outside contacts or activities, they said no, it is either work or la casa, but they did indicate a volleyball net that they had strung up outside. It was an isolated area, and there was no transportation available. One worker said that he was very glad that we came; they get so few visitors at the camp. Furthermore, we learned from the same worker that, although there are problems, "No one dares to speak up. If you complain, they take you off the list to work again. Therefore, the workers won't speak out. It's too high a risk." A large man had begun pacing back and forth in front of the window, at one point peering inside through the screen and at another point calling inside "We are here to work!" (even though the workday was over). After this man passed by several times, one of the workers stepped out of the room. A delegation member asked the worker who was sitting next to her who that man was, and he said in a soft voice, "that's the crew leader's brother" and then walked out of the room, too. The worker who had invited us in began to look a little nervous and thanked us for visiting and stepped out of the room. It was now the workers' dinner time, and we took our leave from the room. Outside the room, we talked among ourselves and were shortly joined by another farm worker, who was very forthcoming about his experiences. While we were speaking with him, another busload of workers arrived from the fields. It was almost eight o'clock. The worker said he was so sorry he'd come here because he was earning so little and treated so badly. He told us that the coyote charged $1,500 to bring them to work here, promising them they would easily get the jobs they were seeking. This worker was a tractor driver in Mexico, and he wanted to earn enough money driving a tractor in the U.S. to go back and buy his own tractor. He'd traveled with 43 other men, cramped in the back of a truck (one man's arm was so cramped the whole time that he couldn't use it later). They were turned back several times, so that it took three months to get here. The worker also described a harrowing 9-hour walk across the Arizona desert. When they arrived at the camp, he learned that he would not be driving a tractor; they were told that everyone had to do field work. The coyote/crew leader also announced that he was going to charge them each $1,700 because the trip had been so much harder than he had expected, but the men stood up to him, insisting it be the $1,500 originally agreed upon. The morning after they had arrived, they were taken to work. The man with the injured arm asked the grower to give him an aspirin or take him to the doctor, but the crew leader said to wait until the end of the day. The end of the day and the following morning came and went, and the man was in terrible pain. Since the crew leader ignored him, the injured man, with the help of another worker, ran away. The crew leader was so angry that he was now guarding the rest of the workers, because he deducts from their paychecks the installments for the $1,500. The workers estimate to be in debt to him for about two years. CONCLUSIONS Most of the farm workers we heard from were concerned about working under a fair wage/hour arrangement. In some cases, agreements on the amount and/or type of work offered had been broken arbitrarily by the grower or crew leader. In other cases, workers had not been not provided with enough information to judge for themselves whether or not they were receiving a fair wage. We would describe the housing that we observed, with one exception, as rundown and crowded. Furniture consisted of beds only, with crates and buckets brought in for use as chairs. Electric lights were not always installed. Electric fans or other such comforts were not evident-electricity was not always available. In all of the situations that we witnessed, the powerlessness of the workers was palpable. This powerlessness seemed to stem from several different roots: Intimidation: In some cases, it was subtle, in others quite overt. Workers' privacy, even in the evenings, was not respected. Workers had no free choice as to who did and did not visit them; "no trespassing" signs, requiring all visitors to report to the grower's office, were observed in one camp, and in another camp visitors had to be approved and accompanied by the grower. Growers, crew leaders, and their operatives could be expected to look inside or enter workers' rooms at any time. Food that workers had prepared for their evening meal was sampled without permission. Isolation: With no means of transportation and no communities within walking distance, workers were virtually trapped at the camp, or at the mercy of the grower or crew leader to travel anywhere. Indebtedness: Workers begin and remain in a state of indentured servitude to the crew leader. Inability to Speak Freely: Of course, we've known and reported before that one cannot expect farm workers to speak freely about conditions in the presence of their employer, but we have just had a vivid example of this reality. Regardless of how much of a "family" atmosphere the grower thinks he is providing, it is impossible for workers to speak their mind or complain of unfairness to the grower without fear of losing what little income they have. In some cases, workers spoke to us with a sort of hopeless resignation-in other cases, with a smoldering anger-about the conditions under which they must live and work. The stark, dingy accommodations at some of the camps we visited were insulting and unacceptable, but the workers on their own have no avenue at the moment for changing those conditions. RECOMMENDATION Upon witnessing the level of powerlessness present in the situation of the pickle workers who harvest crops for the Mt. Olive Pickle Company, we renew our support of FLOC's organizing efforts to obtain a contract that would give these workers a voice in determining their living and working conditions. Because the Mt. Olive Pickle Company, which benefits the most from these workers' servitude, refuses to discuss such a contract, we urge all people of faith to support FLOC's boycott of Mt. Olive products until such a contract is signed. Members of NFWM Delegation: Sr. Evelyn Mattem, Program Associate, North Carolina Council of Churches Joan Papert Preiss, Board Member, National Farm Worker Ministry Veronica Meneses, Action Coordinator, National Farm Worker Ministry Mary Anne Haren, Administrator, National Farm Worker Ministry