From: Morgan Guyton (mguyton@floc.com)
Date: Tue Feb 19 2002 - 15:18:05 EST
Dear USAS,
Greetings from the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC). We are a
national farmworker union operating in the midwest and southeast. We
are currently fighting the Mt. Olive Pickle company in North Carolina.
Your National Coordinating Council just endorsed our boycott this
January and sent a strong letter to Mt. Olive Pickle. I am hoping that
some of your chapters will participate in our week of action March
17-24. We saw what you did for PCUN and we hope that you will use your
momentum to help us win in NC! Please write mguyton@floc.com or call me
at 419-243-3456 x 5 if you're interested in the week of action. You
will be hearing from me or one of the USAS regional coordinators soon
about looking for Mt. Olive Pickles in your campus convenience stores.
Solidarity, Morgan Guyton
-----------------------------------------
NATIONAL WEEK OF ACTION AGAINST MT. OLIVE
MARCH 17-24, 2002
FARM LABOR ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (FLOC), AFL-CIO
CONTACT: MORGAN GUYTON, MGUYTON@FLOC.COM, 419-243-3456 x 5
Workers on Mt. Olive-contracted farms in eastern North Carolina face a
pickle jar of oppression:
*** Overcrowded and substandard housing
*** A lack of portable toilets or hand-washing facilities in the
workplace
*** A "guest worker" program that restricts immigrants to one job with
one boss
*** Wages far below the poverty line
The Mt. Olive Pickle Boycott was launched on March 17, 1999. Celebrate
the third anniversary by dumping Mt. Olive pickles!
-------------------------------
WHY BOYCOTT?
Over 3000 workers have signed cards authorizing FLOC to help them
negotiate a reasonable three-way contract between Mt. Olive, its
contracted farmers, and the workers. Mt. Olive provides its farmers
with the seeds they use and sets strict standards for the growing
process; unfortunately, adequate work conditions are not in their
regimen.
Mt. Olive refuses to be accountable for the farm workers' conditions;
farmers tell us they can't provide adequate work conditions when they
aren't getting peanuts for their pickles. Since the National Labor
Relations Act (NLRA) excludes farmworkers from the right to
secret-ballot union elections and other labor representation
protections, we have no choice but to boycott companies like Mt. Olive
when they refuse to negotiate. More than any other type of worker,
FARMWORKERS DEPEND ON YOUR SOLIDARITY TO WIN OUR LEGITIMATE LABOR
RIGHTS!
---------------------------------
SUGGESTED ACTIONS:
1) PICKLE-PICKET!
This requires *very little* of your time! Get all your friends and
fellow social justice crusaders together to picket or leaflet a store
with you for 1-2 hours. We'll send you a
pickle-picket-packet with a sample press release, slogans for signs,
talking points, leaflets to xerox & distribute, and whatever else you
might need. Got lots of friends? You can picket more than one store!
Got more than a few hours? You can picket more than one day!
2) PICKLE-DUMP!
This is the fun one! Get everyone in your neighborhood, church, union
local, or community organization to "come clean" by giving up their Mt.
Olive pickles.
Then let your favorite Mt. Olive distributor know that people don't like
sweatshop pickles by returning them and/or publicly disposing of them en
masse! We will help you tailor a fun event that will attract the media
and strengthen labor and Latino solidarity in your community.
3) INVITE FLOC TO SPEAK!
FLOC organizers and members are willing to travel to your community to
give presentations and workshops as well as have a presence at your
public event(s). Please help us raise money to hire more boycott
organizers in the South! Write back immediately if you are interested
in a speaking event for your community!
----------------------------------
STORES TO TARGET:
KROGER, HARRIS TEETER, FOOD LION, A&P, FOOD EMPORIUM, GIANT, SAFEWAY,
CAMPUS CONVENIENCE STORES (SUDEXHO, ARAMARK, POSSIBLY OTHERS)
Kroger is a juicy target since it carries 20% of Mt. Olive's sales. We
have convinced 129 Krogers in Ohio, Michigan, and West Virginia to dump
Mt. Olive pickles. However, despite over 500 consumer letters,
mid-Atlantic Kroger's has refused to carry only union brands like
Vlasic, Green Bay, Heinz, Aunt Jane, or Dean Foods. Since Kroger is a
union chain, please contact us before planning an action there. In
places without a Kroger, other stores should be targeted. All the
chains in the list above carry Mt. Olive pickles; check your local store
to verify. If you live on the West Coast, you're outside of Mt. Olive's
market (but we can think of clever things for you to do anyway!).
-----------------------------------
CITIES WITH PLANNED EVENTS (SO FAR)
Washington, DC; Miami, FL; Plant City, FL; Tampa, FL; St. Louis, MO;
Asheville, NC; Chapel Hill, NC; Charlotte, NC; Durham, NC; Raleigh, NC;
Greenville, NC; Cincinnati, OH; Toledo, OH (The list grows daily!)
------------------------------------
Please contact the Farm Labor Organizing Committee for more information
on the Mt. Olive Pickle Boycott and our other campaigns, particularly if
you are interested in setting up a FLOC support committee in your area!
Call Communications Director Morgan Guyton at 419-243-3456 x 5 or email
mguyton@floc.com. Visit us on the web at www.floc.com!
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