WORKER MINISTRY

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WORKER MINISTRY
NATIONAL FARM

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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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• There are 2-3 million farmworkers in the US.
• 90 of them are Latino.

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Farmworkers are often paid by the piece, not by
the hour.
The average annual income for a farm worker in
the U.S. is 11,000.
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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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Farmworkers 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, farmworkers 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

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EXAMPLE 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
• Farmworkers suffer from higher rates of heat
  stress, dermatitis, influenza, respiratory
  illnesses and tuberculosis
• Farmworkers 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- So.
  California/So. Nevada
• Cumberland Presbyterian Church
• Disciples of Christ
• Episcopal Church - Migrant Ministry Committee
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Division
  for church and Society
• Franciscan Friars, Province of Santa Barbara
• Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls
• The Loretto Community
• National Federation of Priests councils
• 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

• Sarasota-Manatee Farm Worker Support Committee
• School Sisters of Notre Dame, Shalom North
  America
• Sisters of Charity, BVM
• Sisters of Charity of Nazareth
• Sisters of St. Dominic of Akron, Ohio
• 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 Church of Christ - Council for Hispanic
  Ministries
• United Methodist Church - General Board of Church
  and Society
• United Methodist Church General Board of Global
  Ministries - Mission Context and Relationships
• United Methodist Church General Board of Global
  Ministries, Women's Division
• U.S. Catholic Conference Migrant and Refugee
  Services- Office for the Pastoral Care of
  Migrants and Refugees
• Washington Association of Churches
• Wisconsin Council of Churches, Migrant Ministry
  Committee

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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), the union representing many tomato
  pickers for Taco Bells parent company, Yum
  Brands, signed a contract with Taco Bell to
  increase wages and help improve workers living
  and working conditions.

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Current Projects

• Threemile Canyon Dairy campaign NFWM is
  supporting United Farm Workers as they organize
  to end the discrimination, intimidation,
  substandard wages and working conditions that
  characterize work there.

Photo by Steve Witte
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Current Projects, cont.

• The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and
  Security Act of 2005 (AgJOBS)(S.359/ H.R.884)
• Senate Sponsors Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), Sen.
  Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
• House Sponsors Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT), Rep.
  Howard Berman (D-CA)
• AgJOBS would
• Create an earned adjustment program enabling
  some undocumented farm workers and H-2A guest
  workers to obtain temporary immigration status
  with the possibility of becoming permanent
  residents of the U.S. and
• Revise the existing agricultural guest worker
  program, the H-2A temporary foreign agricultural
  worker program

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Current Projects, cont.

• McDonalds Campaign NFWM supports the Coalition
  of Immokalee Workers (CIW) in trying to extend
  the Taco Bell victory to other fast food
  restaurants so that all the farm workers who pick
  tomatoes for these chains have access to fairer
  wages and reasonable working conditions.

Photo courtesy of www.ciw-online.org
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CK Mondavi Boycott

• United Farm Workers (UFW) members called for a
  nationwide boycott of -- Charles Krug, C.K.
  Mondavi and CR Cellars wine labels -- until the
  company comes to an agreement with its vineyard
  workers.
• Krug-Mondavi has subcontracted all its vineyard
  workers, rather than renew their union contract.

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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