Farm Labor Organizing Committee FLOC, AFL-CIO

...called upon to challenge the deplorable conditions of the broader workforce that remains voiceless, powerless, and invisible to mainstream America...
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Chatham and Orange County Democratic Parties Pass Resolution to Support the Reynolds Campaign

On April 10, 2010, the Democratic Parties of both Chatham and Orange County (NC) voted unanimously to support justice for Southern farmworkers by joining “FLOC in its call for Reynolds tobacco to take responsibility for the oppressive conditions in which tobacco farmworkers labor.”

In the Reynolds struggle, as in past campaigns, it is encouraging to know we are not alone. As FLOC membership continues to fight for the right to organize and to change the system, there exists a broad network of people across the country who have taken up our struggle. Big corporations may be rich and powerful, but in the past the balance has been restored by a critical mass of people who truly believe in the American ideals of justice and equality. 

 FLOC would like to thank these organizations for their solidarity and we look forward to standing side by side in the struggle for justice.

 

RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT TOBACCO FARMWORKERS

WHEREAS, the fact that farmworkers are excluded from the worker protections of the National Labor Relations Act, are often paid sub-poverty wages and yet still survive at subsistence level is not only a tragedy but a moral disgrace hidden from the eyes of most Americans; and

WHEREAS, farm work remains the second most dangerous type of work in the US due to exposure to deadly pesticides, heat stroke and the additional threat to tobacco farmworkers who can absorb the amount of nicotine found in 36 cigarettes each day during their work; and

WHEREAS, tragedies which occur in the fields are due to industry-wide problems that must be addressed by those who have control over the tobacco market; and

WHEREAS, Reynolds Tobacco’s billion dollar profit comes as a direct result of those who labor in the fields planting, tending and harvesting their tobacco;

BE IT RESOLVED, The Chatham County Democratic Party joins the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) in its call for Reynolds Tobacco to take responsibility for the oppressive conditions in which tobacco farmworkers labor and work with FLOC to create changes that will improve the lives of growers and farmworkers alike.