Join the May 2016 UFW convention marking recent farm worker contract & legal gains plus the new drive for fair treatment as farm work goes global
Hundreds of farm worker delegates and many more supporters will celebrate important union contract, legal and regulatory victories at the United Farm Workers’ 20th Constitutional Convention and Awards Dinner on May 19-22, 2016 at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, Calif. They will also break new ground as the UFW champions new protections for farm workers across state and national boundaries as globalization transforms agriculture.
Save the dates and mark your calendar to attend this momentous milestone in UFW history.
The union recently negotiated with the state of California to win beefed up enforcement of heat regulations that are preventing deaths and injuries from extreme heat. Among many new UFW contract gains is creating the best-paid tomato workers in America. The union worked closely with the White House and President Obama so his executive order on immigration protected many more farm workers. The UFW is pushing major federal class action lawsuits over minimum wage and hour violations, and sexual harassment.
Now the union is proactively working globally to improve farm worker pay and protections, especially in Mexico and Latin America. The UFW founded a consortium of unions, consumer and environmental groups, growers and major buyers working through the Equitable Food Initiative. EFI aims to produce safer and higher quality food under conditions that meaningfully boost wages and safeguards for farm workers in the U.S. and abroad.
Globalization is revolutionizing agriculture. Retailers are demanding growers supply produce year-round. So the Equitable Food Initiative is bringing about fundamental change as retailers such as COSTCO will purchase from growers—and pay premium prices—if growers observe fundamental labor, safety and environmental standards. Enforcing these standards is EFI’s stringent “Responsibly Grown. Farmworker AssuredTM” certification system. See: http://www.equitablefood.org
The UFW created another organization, CIERTO, to train workers across national borders in food and worker safety—and to work with management to improve conditions and practices benefiting both workers and consumers.
Finally, the UFW Foundation continues providing thousands of farm workers and other poor immigrants with crucial community outreach and services such as health insurance enrollment and immigration legal representation.
You are invited to join in solidarity with the UFW as it breaks new ground during the union’s 2016 constitutional convention and Awards Dinner on May 19, 20, 21, & 22 in Bakersfield. Please let us know when you RSVP the days you plan to attend and the number of people who are coming. You will be provided further details as the convention nears.