Farmworkers Continue Strike Against Campbell's and Liby's

1983 marks the fifth anniversary of a bitter strike by migrant farmworkers against Ohio tomato growers, and the third year of a national boycott against Campbell Soup Company and Libby Company, a subsidiary of Nestle's. The two multinational corporations process most of Ohio's tomatoes.

Both actions were initiated by the Farmworker Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), an independent union representing over 2,000 farmworkers. The continuation of the strike into its fifth year illustrates that little has changed for most American farmworkers in the last 30 years.

In Ohio, fruit and vegetable pickers - mostly transients from Texas and Florida - work for an average wage of $1.96 an hour under conditions which have led to an average life expectancy of only 49 years, according to FLOC. The low wages, the union says, force small children to work in order to support their families, exposing them to dangerous pesticides and preventing them from attending school.

FLOC was founded in 1967 by migrant worker Baldemar Velasquez. The union was successful in the late 1960s in negotiating contracts with individual growers in northern Ohio. In August, 1978, the union led a walkout from the tomato fields in a four county area in Ohio, making it the largest agricultural strike in Midwest history. The union - then as now - was seeking a contract with the growers and canneries which would provide fair wages, adequate housing and safe working conditions. Over 2,500 migrant farmworkers have signed strike authorization cards since the strike began, agreeing not to pick in the four county area, or to work elsewhere for farmers with Campbell or Libby contracts.

The boycott against Campbell's and Libby's was initiated in 1979. FLOC recognized that individual growers - small farmers who are tied to one-sided contracts with the large corporate processors - were in no position to raise wages significantly or provide basic benefits, such as health insurance or housing.

FLOC decided to target the processors because the giant companies receive the greatest share of the industry's profits. According to Cruz Phillips of FLOC, "Farmers as a whole now receive 9% of the industry's gross receipts. Workers in the field and the canneries receive 4% each, which means the canneries such as Campbell's and Libby's receive 83% of the industry's gross receipts."

FLOC's new strategy has attempted to enlist the support of growers in initiating a three-way contract bargaining process among farmworkers, growers and processors. The strategy has been endorsed by several legislators in the state.

Last March, State Senator Neal Zimmers introduced an agricultural collective bargaining bill into the Ohio legislature. The bill would institutionalize three-way bargaining, and force the processors to talk with the union. Campbell's and Libby's have so far refused negotiations with FLOC, although Campbell did hold "exploratory discussions" with FLOC last spring under the auspices of the Boston Catholic archdiocese.

"It would be improper and presumptuous for Campbell Soup Company to interfere" between growers and their workers, says one Campbell executive.

Zimmers disagrees. "It's important to involve the processors or the ultimate purchasers of the tomatoes from the farmers because they are the ones that ultimately set the price that the farmer receives for the tomatoes," he says. In remarks to the Ohio legislature, Zimmers said his bill would "resolve farmers' ability to protect their own interest while also giving migrant farmworkers rights they've been denied. "

FLOC considers Zimmers' legislation to be crucial to their struggle for collective bargaining. Because of the effectiveness of the strike, mechanization has been stepped up, displacing many workers as well as concentrating tomato production among the largest growers who can afford the mechanical harvesters.

FLOC's efforts today are directed towards continuing the strike and expanding the boycott. (Consumers are being asked to boycott all Campbell Soup and Libby products.)

FLOC has also initiated a campaign against Campbell's "Labels for Education" program, a sales promotion campaign which allows schools to exchange Campbells labels for school equipment. Over 1000 schools, mostly in the Midwest, have ended their participation in the campaign, according to the union.

FLOC has boycott support committees in about 40 communities and full-time organizers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston and Philadelphia. Labor endorsements for the strike and boycott have come from the Indiana and Ohio State AFL-CIO, the United Auto Workers International, the United Farmworkers Union and numerous locals. Support has also come from over 60 religious organizations, Protestant and Catholic. Community and professional endorsements range from local food coops to the Detroit City Council and the National Lawyers Guild.

Campbell recently agreed to debate FLOC on January 30 at Notre Dame University after students there imposed a ban of all Campbell and Libby products on campus. "Anytime Campbell agrees to sit down and talk to a group of farmworkers," says Philip Miranda, representative to the FLOC executive board, "you know you're making progress."

This article was based on a report by Jim Terry, an Indiana graduate student researching the history of farmworkers in the Midwest. FLOC can be contacted at 714% S. Saint Clair Street, Toledo, Ohio 43609