Leticia Zavala, Farm Labor Organizing Committee Dudley, N.C.

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/heartofthemovement/hom_leticia_zavala.cfm

Leticia Zavala, Farm Labor Organizing Committee
Dudley, N.C.

Leticia Zavala has spent much of her life among farm workers in the fields. Every year until she went to college, she migrated with her parents from Florida to Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania to pick vegetables and fruits.

Now, Zavala, 26, is back in the fields, organizing migrant farm workers for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC). Seven days a week during the May-October peak picking season, Zavala talks with workers in the fields. She spends the rest of the year organizing community support for the workers.


Leticia Zavala

"We need to organize in the fields and communities," she says. "As immigrants, we need to demand respect. We basically are feeding the country and are not being respected for it."

Zavala learned the value of unions and the struggles that come with organizing as a child. Her parents were members of the union as far back as 1986 when FLOC signed an agreement with Campbell Soup Co. after an eight-year fight.

"The way we win is through the support of consumers," she says. "We go to colleges and churches to organize support groups so when the workers come back, there will be people who will provide transportation, translate and provide services, teach English lessons or be on call in emergencies."

Zavala Helped Mt. Olive Pickle Workers Win a Voice@Work

FULL story at link.