56 FLOC members from various states in Mexico convened in Monterrey March 19th and 20th for the annual H2A Guestworker leadership conference. Members brought new levels of passion for the farmworker movement and continued to build ownership in their union.
Over the course of two days, members outlined what they would like to see FLOC accomplish this season and in the upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the North Carolina Growers Association (NCGA). Members also signed up for the new Union worker-representatives program, committing to numerous organizing campaigns, gave feedback on the functioning of the seniority based bid system, learned about FLOC’s history and Board of Directors, and agreed to pursue further steps to achieve justice for Santiago Rafael Cruz, a FLOC organizer assassinated in 2007.
On the second day of the conference, members attended one of the following trainings: worker’s compensation, how to process grievances, how to speak to media, how to organize your fellow workers and communities, and supply-chain organizing strategy. Afterwards, representatives from each training session reported back to the group to share information and practice what they had just learned.
Thank you to everyone who attended or supported the conference. We are so excited for our members to begin the 2016 agricultural season and use what they have learned to take farmworker organizing to the next level!
Special thanks to the Solidarity Center of the AFL-CIO for sponsoring the event.