Indigenous Farmworkers Forge New Fronts for Labor Struggle in Washington State

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A farmworkers union is building local and global solidarity as it fights back against big growers in Washington state.

For farmworkers in Skagit Valley, Washington, the year passes in crops. In February, flower and bulb season starts. By the end of spring, it’s berry season, which continues through hot and smoky summer months and winds down in autumn. As the weather cools, the work shifts to pruning. There is less work during this part of the winter, and it is harder to earn enough money, but before long, flower season has started again, and the cycle repeats itself.

Building on this foundation, Familias Unidas has tried to step beyond their local situation, leading them to work on a state, national and international level. In 2015, the union brought a case to the Washington Supreme Court,ultimately made it law for workers compensated by piece rate to be given paid rest breaks. Piece rate pay , has been standard in agricultural work for decades.

Looking back on the struggle against Driscoll’s, Franks reflected that “it turned a small local dispute into an international one,” and shed light on the bigger picture of industrial agriculture around the globe. The newly formed Familias Unidas union and the leaders of the San Quintin movement joined forces. Both parties said they would continue to boycott until both workforces received concessions.

 

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