Farmworkers Push Tobacco Giant Reynolds to the Table

[Omaha Steve]

http://labornotes.org/2012/05/farmworkers-push-tobacco-giant-reynolds-table

Eduardo Soriano-Castillo
| June 8, 2012


The perseverance of Farm Labor Organizing Committee activists in North Carolina paid off in early April when Reynolds American finally agreed to meet with the union. FLOC has been demanding since 2008 that the tobacco giant discuss working conditions for tobacco pickers.

The Ohio-based union, which has organized pickers in the tomato and cucumber fields, says 30,000 North Carolina tobacco workers suffer from sub-minimum wages; green tobacco sickness caused by high doses of nicotine absorbed through the skin due to lack of adequate protective gear; squalid living conditions; and insufficient drinking water, increasing the risk of heat stroke.


Tobacco workers and supporters marched outside the shareholders meeting of Reynolds American in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in early May. Forty-five attended the meeting to ask questions and report on dangerous conditions in the fields. Photo: Janie Lakeman.


The long-awaited dialogue will take place under an “Industry Council” with representatives from the North Carolina Growers Association; Altria Group, the parent company of Phillip Morris USA; Reynolds American; and FLOC. The union already holds a contract for 6,000 agricultural workers with the growers association.

On FLOC’s agenda will be health and safety, a grievance process, fixing deplorable housing conditions, and the right for tobacco pickers to organize without fear of retaliation.

FULL story at link.