UUSC volunteers explore social justice concerns of North Carolina farm workers

UUSC workcamp volunteers express their support for farm workers in their
dispute with the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. by picketing outside a supermarket.
(Photos by Lori Khamala)

Twenty three volunteers from around the country participated in a new Unitarian Universalist Service Committee workcamp in North Carolina, examining the living and working conditions of migrant farm workers

The workcamp, called “Justice in the Fields,” brought together people ranging in age from 16 to 77 who share a commitment to translating their social justice values into action. They explored a variety of issues, ranging from legal challenges to health concerns of farm workers to their struggle to earn a living wage.  In the evenings, volunteers visited farm workers at their camps, where they shared meals, stories and learned more about the conditions under which the latter work and live.  The workcamp was hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greenville, N.C.

“The workcamp put faces and names on farm workers and clear images on how they live and the problems they face,” said. Al Benford, a workcamp volunteer from Manchester, Conn.“My next steps are primarily toward changing society, impacting racism/classism where I live.  I will certainly incorporate my awareness from this experience in all that I do.”

Susan Casey-Leininger, a 17-year-old volunteer from Cincinnati, Ohio, was impressed by the warmth and hospitality of the North Carolina farm workers, most of whom are from Mexico.  “They've been sweet.  They've been intelligent.  It's my compassion for these people that makes me want to do something.”

Noting the friendly reception from the farm workers, volunteer Mimi Gingold of Cincinnati, Ohio, said she appreciated “the openness, the candor, the trust extended to us by the farm workers.  They are strangers in our strange land, distanced with time and space from their families and friends, exhausted after 12-hour days of back-breaking, sweaty field work.  And as we left, they sent us off with the phrase, ‘Esta es su casa.'  This is your home.”

In addition to camp visits, volunteers learned about labor unionization and toured the North-Carolina-based Mt. Olive Pickle Co.  One of the organizations involved in planning the workcamp, Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), is working to unionize farm workers, and believes corporate involvement is necessary.  The Mt. Olive Pickle Co. has  refused to bargain with the farm workers, stating that unionizing is between the farm workers and the farmers. The volunteers showed their support of farm workers by  picketing and handling out leaflets at a local grocery store, encouraging shoppers to boycott Mt. Olive Pickle Co. and to support farm worker rights.

The Service Committee has conducted workcamps for the past six years on social justice issues such as the burning of African American churches in the South, conditions on Native American reservations and promoting intercultural understanding. The North Carolina workcamp is an extension of UUSC's work with farm worker communities. For the past three years, volunteers have participated in community rehabilitation projects and examined the living and working conditions of farm worker communities in the Yakima Valley of central Washington state.

This past spring, college students from around the country participated in an Alternative Spring Break workcamp with the Luiseno Indians on the La Jolla Reservation in San Diego County, Calif. The Service Committee is planning to return next spring for another workcamp, designed to accommodate the interest and schedules of college students but open to people of all ages.

In organizing the North Carolina workcamp, UUSC worked with several organizations in North Carolina, including:  National Farm Worker Ministry, FLOC, Student Action with Farmworkers, Greene County Health Care Clinic, and Legal Services of North Carolina.  Other area churches also provided support, specifically, the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durham, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh, Unitarian Coastal Fellowship of Morehead City, and Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of New Bern.

For more information about UUSC workcamps, click here. For more information on FLOC and the Mt. Olive boycott, visit FLOC's web site.

Click here to visit the Greenville Workcamp 2002 in pictures.