wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Labor agreement ends Mt. Olive pickle boycott

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8479 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04410
September 17, 2004

Labor agreement ends Mt. Olive pickle boycott

Five-year effort successfully concluded

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - A five-year boycott of the Mt. Olive Pickle Company in North
Carolina - which was led by the National Council of Churches and supported by
the Presbyterian Church (USA) - came to an end this week with the signing of
an agreement between the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and the North
Carolina Growers Association (NCGA).

	The collective bargaining agreement, signed Sept. 16, covers 1,000
growers in North Carolina and an estimated 8,500 legal (federal "H-2A") guest
migrant workers from Mexico and other Latin American countries who work on
North Carolina farms each year.

	"This agreement gives these farm workers in North Carolina the
justice they deserve," said NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar, who traveled to
Raleigh, NC, for the signing of the agreement.

	"NCGA initiated discussions with the union because it saw an
opportunity to strengthen its H-2A program in North Carolina," said Mt. Olive
spokesperson Lynn Williams.

	In settling the boycott, Mt. Olive agreed to:

	* expand its code of corporate conduct for North Carolina growers and
suppliers;

	* increase cucumber prices paid to North Carolina and Ohio suppliers
by 2.25 percent annually for the next three years; and

	* provide a 3 percent annual supplement to growers who provide
Workers Compensation insurance coverage to their farm workers.

	Mt. Olive had previously refused to negotiate with the union on the
grounds that its suppliers were not employees and so the company could not
get involved with labor disputes. The same reasoning has been used by Taco
Bell in refusing to broker labor agreements with tomato pickers in Immokalee,
FL, where another PC(USA)-supported boycott is ongoing.

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