Our goal is to create an equitable, agricultural supply chain that centers farm workers, not corporate profit.
The current agricultural system is based on the rampant exploitation of our comrades in the United States and across the globe. Our brothers and sisters toiling in fields outside of the United States work for abysmally low pay, some have directly reported making $1 a day. These goods are then imported into the country and sold at a price cheaper than food grown in the U.S. This current system serves only one group, global transnational corporations. These companies increase their profit, while simultaneously exploiting workers globally and undercutting small, labor-intensive farming here in the U.S., leading to a loss in some of the only unionized farm workers in the country.
Our mission is to make sure that the agricultural products sold in the United States are not made with exploited labor, whether it’s grown in the U.S. are globally.
To achieve this, our strategy is three-fold:
- Maintain and expand union representation on farms in the United States.
- Support farm workers around the world in their fight against exploitation through building labor solidarity.
- Use every means possible to hold corporations accountable for their commodity pricing.
On September 8th, FLOC introduced and passed the resolution Supporting A Global Labor Movement at the North Carolina AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention. The NC State AFL-CIO and affiliates resolved to work with global unions and counterparts across the globe to support their efforts in building an effective transnational labor movement built on shared solidarity, with the goal of holding transnational corporations accountable and building sustainable supply chains. Read the resolution here.
Farm Worker and Small Family Farmer Initiative
Achieving this strategy requires strategic partnerships, including those who suffer from the current system: small family farms. To launch this newly formed initiative, FLOC brought together the North Carolina Growers Association, our partner in our collective bargaining agreement, various farm groups, and nearly a hundred workers together to the current unsustainable agricultural supply chain that is leading to both the disruption of small family farms and union jobs in the United States, and the incessant exploitation of our farmworker comrades across the globe through collective action.
Following this meeting, a working group is being formed to establish concrete actions on achieving our common goal of a sustainable agricultural supply chain for all involved. Read more about the event here.
