Combative Farm Workers in Only Indigenous-Led US Union Win Labor Rights Defenders Award

Pioneering labor union Familas Unidas por la Justicia, or FUJ, the only grassroots Indigenous-led union in the United States, will be honored Wednesday for its defense of workers' rights by the International Labor Rights Forum, ILRF. Formed by the workers themselves, the growing union represents over 500 Mixteco, Triqui and Spanish-speaking migrant laborers in Skagit and Whatcom Counties, Washington.

RELATED:
On National Strawberry Day, Farmworkers Continue Union Struggle

In the course of FUJ's struggle — which formally began in July, 2013 — the worker-led organization drew national attention to the deplorable working conditions in U.S. agriculture while building solidarity with counterparts in Mexico, setting an example for independent labor organizers across the U.S.

“Our union is different because the leadership is 100 percent farm workers,” FUJ President Ramon Torres told teleSUR. “For the most part, our union is built by farm workers volunteering their time to make the union strong.”

“No one has a salary, not even the executive board,” Torres added.

FUJ has been embroiled in disputes with one of the Pacific Northwest's largest berry growers, Sakuma Brothers Farms, largely without the support of larger unions. The union spearheaded a boycott against massive berry distributor Driscoll's, which relies on Sakuma. The boycott call was echoed by labor rights advocates across the Pacific coast, from Washington to the agricultural regions of Sacramento and Oxnard, California — as well as in Mexico's Baja California, where the hand pickers of San Quintin waged a fierce struggle against local Driscoll's grower BerryMex.

The successes of FUJ were won through strikes, informational pickets, and solidarity that poured in from across the country, culminating in a historic vote by workers last September to formally recognize FUJ as its union. The hard-fought win, which came in the face of legal actions and other attempts by Sakuma to undermine workers' efforts, allowed FUJ to negotiate a fair working contract, earning the union the title of 2017 Labor Rights Defenders from the ILRF.

“The award is important to us because it demonstrates that farm workers have the capacity to organize and lead themselves,” FUJ President Ramon Torres told teleSUR. “Also, it shows that we have the capacity to organize at a high level even when many people discriminate against us especially for being Indigenous, immigrants, or poor people.”

RELATED:
US: Fighting Berry Pickers Expose Lies Behind Fair Trade Labels

Throughout its years of organizing, the group was forced to rely on its own ingenuity and resourcefulness, subsisting on volunteer labor alone, the support of local solidarity groups like Community to Community Development and the morale of a combative workforce intent on winning its demands for fair treatment and recognition.

“Early on we decided that we were not going to ask for membership dues until we had a contract, so it was difficult to organize without resources,” Torres said. “During the campaign to win the union vote, we had many of the rank-and-file workers leading the workplace organizing, explaining what it meant to be in the union to undecided workers.”

“When people would see the farm worker leadership it changed the public perception of who we as farm workers really are,” Torres added. “We were able to show that we have dignity even if we are immigrants.”

The union hopes to take the lead in implementing system-wide changes in U.S. agriculture, where workers are often unrepresented and mistreated while traditional unions' bargaining power diminishes as workers lose confidence in a leadership increasingly seen as collaborating with company management against labor's interest.

RELATED:
Ecuador Household Workers Fight for Rights, Against Tax Havens

Asked about what future he sees for agricultural workers in the U.S., Torres strikes an optimistic tone.

“We see better wages, living conditions and a better future for our kids,” Torres said. “We want to form worker cooperatives and change the food system from the bottom up.”

The labor forum, which bills itself as “dedicated to achieving dignity and justice for workers worldwide,” will also be honoring the combative Honduran agricultural workers' union STAS — Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Agroindustria y Similares — and Eve Ensler, the author of Vagina Monologues and founder of One Billion Rising.