[Marxism] Mt. Olive kills, say farmworkers

["Charles Brown" <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

        Mt. Olive kills, say farmworkers

Members of FLOC protest in front of a Famer Jack Food Market, calling for
the store to stop selling Mt. Olive pickles.
<http://www.michigancitizen.com/clients/michigancitizen/8-19-2004-1-41-52-PM
-8530480.Olive.gif>     
Members of FLOC protest in front of a Famer Jack Food Market, calling for
the store to stop selling Mt. Olive pickles.    
By Diane Bukowski
The Michigan Citizen

DETROIT - "Mt. Olive exploits farmworkers to their death," says the Farm
Labor Organizing Committee, which launched a campaign Aug. 13 to remove Mt.
Olive pickles from Farmer Jack stores in Michigan.

Members of FLOC, carrying bright red flags sporting the farmworker eagle,
picketed the East Jefferson Farmer Jack store. They said they were asking
shoppers to boycott the pickles, not the store, but also want the company to
cease carrying the product.

"Workers in Mt. Olive's fields in North Carolina get no breaks, no water;
they're at the total mercy of the employers," said Beatriz Maya, national
boycott director for the campaign during the demonstration.

Maya said one farmworker, Urbano Ramirez, died of heat exhaustion in the
fields in 2001. His family found his body days later after it was badly
decomposed. Instead of providing water, the foreman sold beer to the
workers, Maya said. Alcohol consumption actually exacerbates dehydration.

"The grower was only fined $1,800 and nothing more was done about it until
FLOC found out about the death and began organizing." she said.
While farmworkers harvesting Mt. Olive cucumbers make $1.80 per 100 pounds,
FLOC-represented workers in Ohio make $6.30 for harvesting the same amount,
Maya said.

FLOC, a national union with 5,000 members, has been trying to organize Mt.
Olive workers for two years. The union launched the boycott because they say
Mt. Olive CEO Bill Bryan refuses to speak with them. On its Web site, Mt.
Olive adamantly takes a hands-off approach to FLOC complaints.

"Union representation is up to employees and their employers," the company
says. "We respect union representation decisions reached by our suppliers
and their employees.In every case, these suppliers and their employees
determine the question of union representation wholly independent of
influence from Mt. Olive. Our North Carolina cucumber suppliers and their
employees should have that same right."

Maria Ward, director of community relations for Farmer Jack, said she
likewise disputes "the validity" of the FLOC demands, and reported that the
company is not willing to negotiate with the union.

"Other stores in the community, including Meijers, Kroger, Walmart and
CostCo, carry Mt. Olive pickles too," she said. "This type of scare tactic,
by picketing our store, is not going to create an atmosphere for
discussion."

Ward, however, said Farmer Jack stores in Ohio have already taken the
pickles off their shelves, and said the union plans to target Meijer's and
other stores in the future.

The Farmer Jack community relations director added that Mt. Olive controls
all levels of production, including field crews and growers, because it sets
prices and other standards for the industry.

FLOC says that despite the fact that farmworkers are covered by state and
federal health and safety regulations, only union intervention will ensure
enforcement.

"In North Carolina, in 1998, the Department of Agriculture added three
inspectors of field pesticides, totaling seven," Maya said. "None of the
inspectors is bilingual. It will take them 43 years to inspect all the farms
that are certified to use pesticides in the state."

E-mail: dbukowski@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




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