National Pesticide Forum: Videos
Social Justice and Food Production, Baldemar Velasquez
Bridge to an Organic Future, the 27th National Pesticide Forum,
April 2009, Carrboro, NC
Baldemar Velásquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), AFL-CIO, was raised as a migrant farmworker. After an incident when his father was cheated out of promised wages in front of the family, Baldemar began organizing workers to stand up for their rights, which led to the founding of FLOC. In 1979, FLOC workers called for a strike and boycott against Campbell Soup. They made many sacrifices for the cause, and suffered many abuses. But after eight years, FLOC, Campbell Soup, and the growers made history by signing three-way labor contracts. FLOC's organizing has also led to contracts with Heinz, Mt. Olive Pickles and others.