As we close out this year, we give thanks to all of you who support our work. Occasionally we step back and ask ourselves, “!?En Que Nos Metimos?!” (What have we gotten ourselves into?!) But IOF is thriving and functional, and that is thanks to the support we received from you and many others. As organizers, we grab our strength from different spaces. We get a lot of our strength from the field and from the workers, and we also get a lot of our strength from those who support our work from the sidelines. It is an inspiration to feel the strength and feel the push, not only thinking about the immediate needs but also the big picture, and thinking from other perspectives. Thank you all for being there the past two years, and thank you for sticking with us through the challenges and victories to come.

What a year! We’ve had an incredible first full year of organizing in the fields. 

Look what we've been able to do in 2023 with your help:

• 2 IOF staff members were officially brought on (thanks to Southern Vision Alliance!)
• 6 IOF worker spokespersons appeared in news outlets (in over 12 publications!)
• 10 donor-advised funds & foundations supported our work
• 35+ collective actions were taken by IOF workers, including grievances about workplace conditions, recruiting and coordinating fellow workers for public  events, and acting as labor camp liaisons to local food pantries
• 40+ leaders have emerged within IOF membership
• 100+ domestic Christmas Tree workers were visited in Western NC
• 163 separate farms were visited by IOF coordinators, many of them multiple times, where workers' rights information was distributed
• 716 surveys, were collected on working conditions 
• 2000 workers were registered for USDA $600 financial support 
• Nearly 50,000 miles were traveled by IOF coordinators for outreach

Thank you for helping us far exceed our goals!

In July, we received notice that the US Department of Labor would proceed with conducting a new FLOC presidential election because of the many irregularities with the 2022 election. After no communication with us for several months (purportedly because FLOC could not produce an accurate membership list), the US DOL has asked both FLOC and IOF for their slate of candidates.

We still have very few details: we have no idea how they plan to calculate membership, if "Associate Member" votes (weighted heavily towards the former leadership) will be equal to dues-paying member votes, if virtual participation will be allowed, where or even when a new potential election could take place. However, the request for slate names clearly indicates that the DOL is moving forward. 

IOF’s membership is very divided in how to respond to the DOL’s efforts and how much time and energy to spend on a new election. Each individual has a very distinct personal opinion. Some members don’t want to ever affiliate with FLOC again, because they feel so betrayed and because the union has lost so much credibility. Some members want IOF to move forward as a nonprofit organization that advocates for workers independently. And still others feel a strong sense of ownership of the union contract they fought for and paid dues into - in some cases, over decades! -  and are prepared to fight to take back their union into more democratic control. 

While each person may have a individual opinion, one IOF leader voiced the desire to move forward as a unified body:  “Our members are ready for whatever it is that the group decides.”

• WFAE, NC Health News, Nov. 14: : Migrant worker’s death prompts calls for extreme-heat labor laws, among other articles, including  Enlace Latino, Nov. 6: Exigen justicia por los trabajadores agrícolas fallecidos en Carolina del Norte.  Attendees chanted “Ni Una Vida Mas”, “Not One More Lost Life” at a vigil honoring José Arturo Gónzalez Mendoza and other NC farmworkers who died of heat-stress and other causes. The Raleigh event was organized by the Farmworker Advocacy Network, It’s Our Future, Casa Azul de Wilson and NC FIELD shortly after Dia De Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead.

• Carolina Public Press, Dec. 13: “Migrant farmworkers in NC face a challenging system”. This article, which mentions multiple heat-related farmworker deaths, details concerns of working in the fields, both in the agricultural system as a whole and in the H2A program in particular. IOF members as well as well as co-coordinator Maria Mejia are quoted, in addition to other farmworker advocates in the state. The article also mentions a new H2A rule proposed by the Department of Labor which would increase farmworker protections. (Here’s a Farmworker Justice briefing about that proposal.)  

• NC Newsline, Dec. 18: “Women and people of color hold majority on Gov. Cooper’s new environmental justice council.”  Congrats to IOF’s own Justin Flores for being appointed to this new state agency! The article reports that “the EJ Advisory Council is charged with addressing environmental injustices in North Carolina. This includes working with Historically Black Colleges and Universities to research the effects of multiple pollution sources — also known as cumulative environmental impacts — on predominantly non-white and low-income communities.” (In the article, Justin is erroneously listed as the Vice President of FLOC.)