\"Nuestro trabajo es la vida\": Spiritual Transformations in Organizing for Farmworker Justice

“Nuestro  trabajo  es  la  vida,”  Spiritual  Transformations  in   Organizing  for  Farmworker  Justice     By  Tomás  Alberto  Madrigal,  Ph.D.  candidate  at  the  University  of  California  at  Santa   Barbara,  researcher  and  analyst  at  Community  to  Community  Development,  and   volunteer  for  Familias  Unidas  por  la  Justicia.     “Organizing…is  about  transforming  the  individual  to  value  his  or   her   work   and   to   see   the   value   they   have   in   the   whole   food   system.  The  transformation  is  not  just  with  the  worker;  it  is  the   transformation   in   the   relationships   to   the   land,   to   the   community,   to   the   grower,   to   other   workers.   To   elevate   the   farmworker   presence   in   the   food   production   system   is   how   we   create  and  develop  leadership  and  farmworker  unity  so  that  they   can   create   opportunities   for   change   and   develop   perceptions   of   why  we’re  here  and  exist.”         –Rosalinda  Guillen,  Executive  Director  C2C,  November  2004   Burlington,  WA  –  The  ongoing  labor  struggle  at  Skagit  County’s  largest  multi-­‐ million  dollar  berry  farm  is  of  great  importance  to  anyone  who  eats  fresh,   processed,  or  frozen  berries,  but  it  is  of  particular  importance  to  the  faith   community.   For  those  in  the  faith  community  who  believe  in  the  moral  obligation  to  make  the   present  world  more  just,  the  ongoing  transformation  of  the  lives  of  farm  workers   and  the  communities  where  they  live  provides  a  glimpse  of  the  capacity  of  humanity   to  work  for  a  greater  good  and  to  change  the  world.   Background   On  July  11,  2013  over  200  farm  workers  and  their  families  organized  a  work   stoppage  in  the  blueberry  fields  of  Sakuma  Bros.  Farms,  where  many  had  worked   for  over  a  decade.  The  strike  was  called  due  to  unfair  and  onerous  piece-­‐rates:  the   farm  workers  had  picked  at  that  price  the  day  before,  and  many  had  not  even  made   the  equivalent  of  minimum  wage  because  the  berries  were  not  yet  ripe.  The  workers   collectively  decided  not  to  work  the  next  day.  As  a  result,  one  picker,  Federico   Lopez,  was  fired  and  his  family  (wife  and  infant)  were  evicted  from  their  one  room   cabin  at  the  company’s  labor  camp.  Lopez  sought  the  support  of  a  few  friends-­‐-­‐ including  Ramon  Torres,  the  soon  to  be  president  of  the  union-­‐-­‐and  knocked  on  all   of  the  doors  of  Labor  Camp  2  to  ask  the  other  farm  workers  for  their  support  to  ask   for  his  job  back  and  to  not  be  evicted.    

Serendipitously,  Rosalinda  Guillen,  the  executive  director  of  Community  to   Community  Development,  had  conducted  an  interview  for  the  area’s  only  Spanish-­‐ language  radio  station  broadcasting  from  Skagit  Valley  College  the  very  same   morning  of  the  strike.  While  on  air,  she  advocated  for  farm  worker  rights  and  spoke   against  the  H-­‐2A  guestworker  program,  likening  it  to  slavery.  The  farmworkers   immediately  called  Rosalinda  Guillen  and  invited  her  to  their  confrontation  with  the   company  executives  and  management.   From  the  very  beginning  one  of  the  points  of  unity  for  the  emerging  farmworker   union  was  a  farmworker  prayer,  written  by  the  late  César  E.  Chávez.  The  prayer  just   happened  to  be  taped  to  the  back  of  Guillen’s  clipboard  and  she  recommended  that   it  be  read  in  Spanish  in  a  call  and  response  fashion.     Prayer  for  the  Farm  Workers’  Struggle   Show  me  the  suffering  of  the  most  miserable;     so  I  will  know  my  peoples  plight.   Free  me  to  pray  for  others;   For  you  are  present  in  every  person.   Help  me  to  take  responsibility  for  my  own  life;   So  that  I  can  be  free  at  last.   Grant  me  courage  to  serve  others;   For  in  service  there  is  true  life.   Give  me  honesty  and  patience;   So  that  I  can  work  with  other  workers.   Bring  forth  song  and  celebration;   So  that  the  spirit  will  be  alive  among  us.   Let  the  spirit  flourish  and  grow;   So  that  we  will  never  tire  of  the  struggle.   Let  us  remember  those  who  have  died  for  justice;   For  they  have  given  us  life.   Help  us  love  even  those  who  hate  us;   So  we  can  change  the  world.   Amen.     -­‐César  E.  Chávez,  UFW  Founder  (1927-­‐1993)     The  farmworkers  regrouped  after  an  initial  meeting  with  the  farm  President,  Ryan   Sakuma,  and  members  of  the  management.  There  they  formed  a  ten  member   representative  committee,  and  generated  a  list  of  fourteen  demands  that  the  entire   group  of  workers  ratified.  The  farm  workers  also  elected  Ramon  Torres  as  President   and  Felimon  Pineda  as  Vice  President,  in  order  to  lead  the  negotiations  with   management.   Since  that  summer  day  in  2013,  their  organization  Familias  Unidas  por  la  Justicia   (United  Families  for  Justice)  has  become  a  recognized  independent  farm  worker   union  at  the  Washington  State  Labor  Council  AFL-­‐CIO,  and  their  membership  has  

doubled  as  they  secured  many  victories  for  the  farm  workers,  including  broadening   the  interpretation  of  Washington  state’s  labor  and  tenancy  laws  to  uphold  their   rights  as  an  independent  union  and  as  tenants.   Transformation  in  the  Leadership  of  Familias  Unidas  por  la  Justicia   In  Burlington,  this  spiritual  transformation  is  most  visible  amongst  the  leadership  of   the  union.  In  the  face  of  being  stereotyped  as  “violent,”  “drunk”  and  “lazy”  Mexican   thugs  by  Sakuma  Bros  Farms  executives  and  their  anti-­‐union  consultants,  the  farm   workers  have  run  a  clean  unionization  and  boycott  campaign,  proving  to  their   employer  that  there  is  strength  in  the  farm  workers’  moral  imperative  to  “Speak   Truth  to  Power”.    

  Ramon  Torres  leading  a  picket  line,  Photo  by  James  Leder  

Even  so,  union  President  Ramon  Torres  has  been  the  main  target  of  Sakuma  Bros.   Farms  smear  campaign.  In  the  face  of  continued  threats  by  the  anti-­‐union   consultants  who  consistently  threaten  his  safety.  For  example,  his  vehicle’s  brake   line  was  mysteriously  cut  while  parked  in  one  of  Sakuma’s  labor  camps  after   another  vehicle  was  ruined  by  having  sugar  poured  into  the  gas  tank.  His  wife  was   chased  down  rural  roads  in  a  white  muscle  car  driven  by  either  Rhett  or  Ryan   Searcy  in  2013,  and  was  afraid  to  go  to  the  bathroom  because  these  anti-­‐union   consultants  would  enter  the  women’s  restrooms  on  their  nightly  “patrols”  of  the   labor  camp.  Torres  said  the  following  regarding  these  and  other  incidents,  

“From  my  point  of  view,  God  does  everything  for  each  one  of  us,  so  we   each  already  have  a  destiny.  So  whatever  happens  to  me,  I  attribute  to   God.   I   am   afraid,   but   nothing   becomes   of   this   fear…if   I’m   able   to   change   something,   I’m   going   to   change   it.   And   I’m   going   to   fight…if   something   happens   to   me,   it’s   for   something   else,   because   God   has   everything  prepared.”   The  aggressive  anti-­‐union  campaign  appears  to  unravel  the  moment  you  have  the   opportunity  to  hear  Torres  speak.   In  the  year  since  the  first  strike,  Torres  has  become  a  leader  for  the  farmworker   movement.  His  success  leading  over  1000  people-­‐-­‐across  three  states  and  two   countries,  holding  meetings  in  three  languages-­‐-­‐demonstrates  that  there  is  a  depth   to  his  character.   Torres  was  born  in  Guadalajara,  Jalisco  in  Mexico.  In  his  youth  he  worked  as  an   assistant  to  his  father  in  construction.  After  finishing  high  school  he  worked  for  two   years  in  a  shoe  factory  where  he  made  about  $140  (US  dollars)  per  week.     He  decided  to  leave  for  the  United  States  after  his  father’s  death,  a  loss  that  shook   him  to  the  core.  He  began  working  in  the  fields  of  the  San  Joaquin  and  Yakima  Valley.   There  he  learned  to  prune  grapevines,  pick  apples,  pick  cherries,  pick  grapes,  to   stack  pistachios,  and  ultimately  how  to  pick  berries  in  Burlington,  Washington.   He  met  his  wife  in  Delano  and  adopted  her  daughter  when  they  wed.  Their  desire  to   be  together  caused  them  to  seek  employment  in  Burlington  because  Sakuma  Bros.   Farm  was  known  for  employing  and  housing  families  in  their  labor  camps.     In  2012,  his  first  year  in  the  Sakuma  fields,  Torres  noted  the  mistreatment  of   indigenous  farm  workers  from  Guerrero  and  Oaxaca.  He  was  one  of  the  few  mestizo   identified  farm  workers  who  lived  amongst  them  and  he  soon  became  friends  with   his  co-­‐workers.  This  friendship  spanned  back  to  his  home  in  the  San  Joaquin  Valley   where  many  of  the  migrant  farm  workers  also  wintered.   Though  he  was  initially  reluctant  to  step  up  into  a  leadership  position,  Torres  has   lived  up  to  the  responsibility.  Since  the  2013  uprising,  Torres  has  led  10  further   strikes  and  work  stoppages,  led  a  national  berry  boycott,  secured  the  endorsement   of  the  AFL-­‐CIO  and  other  labor  unions,  and  defended  the  union  in  Washington  State   courts  where  they  have  gained  unprecedented  legal  victories,  including  an  $850,000   settlement  for  wage  theft,  a  case  based  on  an  early  win  where  Torres  secured  $6000   in  back  wages  for  30  youth  from  Sakuma  Bros.  Farms  that  had  been  stolen  during   the  strawberry  harvest.   The  Spiritual  Transformation  of  Labor  Organizing   Rosalinda  Guillen  once  described  labor  organizing  as  a  spiritual  experience,  in  her   words,  “as  close  to  God  as  one  can  get”  in  an  interview  conducted  by  Maria  Cuevas  in   2004.  More  recently,  Guillen  spoke  about  about  the  story  of  The  Valley  of  the  Dry  

Bones  (Ezekiel  37:1-­‐14).  In  a  world  where  most  people  have  experienced  a  life  of   poverty  and  exploitation,  social  movements,  like  that  of  Familias  Unidas  por  la   Justicia,  breathe  life  to  the  tired  and  dried  up  bones  of  a  strong  people  that  have   every  reason  to  abandon  hope  for  justice.   Guillen  said  that  we  have  to  believe  in  something  bigger  than  ourselves,  something   communal,  something  collective,  in  order  to  cultivate  some  form  of  unity  to  be  able   to  draw  from  each  others  strength.  Strength  passes  from  person  to  person  as  they   share  that  common  breath  of  life.     That  is  the  way  that  faith  works,  for  Familias  Unidas  por  la  Justicia  their  faith  in   justice  for  farmworkers  has  held  their  growing  social  movement  together.  As  Vice   President,  Felimon  Pineda  poetically  put  it,  “Nuestro  trabajo  es  la  vida,”  (Our  work  is   life)  framing  the  physical  work  of  growing,  sorting  and  harvesting  fruit  as  giving  life   to  the  entire  country.  The  same  could  be  said  of  their  political  work  that  renews   faith  in  all  who  believe  in  justice.   All  people  and  all  religions  believe  in  justice.  But  like  the  story  of  the  Valley  of  the   Dry  Bones,  many  of  us  in  our  isolation  begin  to  lose  hope,  until  the  breath  of   movements  fills  our  lungs  and  brings  our  weary  bones  back  to  life  that  we  may  live   to  fight  for  justice  together.  For  in  dignity,  there  is  room  for  us  all.  Together  we  can   change  the  world.