On Sunday, August 6, nearly 50 farmworker members of It’s Our Future/ El Futuro Es Nuestro (IOF) gathered in Goldsboro, NC to determine next steps for the organization. Board members ran the meeting, led by president Felipe Montán. Vice President Eli Porras joined the meeting from Mexico via Zoom, as his “crossing date” has been postponed multiple times by the NC Growers Association. It’s Our Future began as a reform caucus within the farmworker union FLOC, but IOF has grown and established itself as its own worker-led organization with its own priorities. IOF leaders made it clear from the outset that the purpose of the August 6 meeting was to discuss the work of IOF and determine priorities, not to respond to the recent US DOL call for a new FLOC union election. Coordinators still do not have any further information about parameters or how the election is to be conducted. (IOF will certainly keep supporters informed on any new developments.)
Determining Priorities: During the meeting, workers voted on which priorities IOF should focus. By far, the top three issues were: Mistreatment by growers, Kitchen access & living conditions, and H2A recruitment of “Activos.” As discussed in the July 2023 IOF newsletter, the “Activos” issue refers to workers being accepted- or not- for H2A guestworker contracts in NC when they are still in Mexico. The FLOC union contract was supposed to ensure seniority in recruitment for union members, but those members who have been critical of FLOC leadership have met resistance getting recruited and becoming “Active” workers, despite years (or even decades) of successful recruitment in the past.
The meeting also included awards for the IOF TikTok Challenge, in which winners received gift baskets of supplies themed around pesticide protection and healthcare.
More than 20 farmworker supporters volunteered to drive workers from labor camps in remote rural areas. IOF is so grateful for those drivers who helped make the meeting possible. Triangle Friends of Farmworkers (TFF), now coordinated by Justin Flores, is the group organizing drivers. This is always a great need, so please join TFF for updates on how to support farmworker organizing and to get involved! Contact Justin to join: flores.justin.nc@gmail.com.
|