A FARMWORKER SUNDAY SPECIAL REPORT

Union holds ground

DENISE O’TOOLE KELLY | FLORIDA CATHOLIC MANAGING EDITOR

Posted: 11.02.07

Federal law makes it difficult for farmworkers to organize for collective bargaining.
ED FOSTER JR. | FC FILE

Though the farmworker association and the Immokalee coalition have demonstrated clout with state government and in the marketplace, they are not unions with power to negotiate with growers for compensation and benefits. Federal law makes it difficult for farmworkers to organize for collectively bargaining.

A few hundred mushroom pickers and packers at Quincy Farms in northwest Florida in 1999 became the only farmworkers in Florida to be covered by a union contract, and remain so; they are members of the California-based United Farm Workers. In the year ahead, the union will push for a federal law to provide legal status for farmworkers, said Evelia Menjivar, union administrator for the contract.

ONE :: Agricultural laborers, advocates celebrate progress | TWO :: Immigrants' Rights, Workplace Safety
THREE :: Tomato Prices | FOUR :: Union Holds Ground | FIVE :: Meeting Families' Needs